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1869 Shield Nickel Grade Please

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KauaiHawaiiGuy's Avatar
United States
613 Posts
 Posted Today  6H 43M ago Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add KauaiHawaiiGuy to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Last night I won at an ebay auction this shield nickle, and I think at a pretty good winning bid of $12.50 with free shipping. I don't have the coin in hand yet, but the images that were in the ebay listing were good enough to show here and ask for an opinion. And I have an extra question as well about your opinions of the grade.

I don't know much about shield nickles and so wouldn't know if any coins ever had weaker strikes. And the reason I mention this is because to me, comparing the obverse vs the reverse, the reverse appears to be about 3 or even 4 grades higher than the obverse. The stars are still very raised with lines separating the points. I also was reading about shield nickles and read that die cracks are fairly common so I assume that the cracks on the obverse though many (at the 9, to the right of the arrow, and running up the right side of the wreath) aren't going to significantly increase the value but would like your opinions on that also.

Well looking forward to your comments, and thanks.

1869-Shield-Nickel-Grade-Please
1869-Shield-Nickel-Grade-Please
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panzaldi's Avatar
United States
18985 Posts
 Posted Today  5H 43M ago  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add panzaldi to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
the Shield nickel (1866-1883) was the first U.S. five&-cent piece made from 25% nickel and 75% copper. This hard, brittle alloy was difficult to press into the die recesses, especially in the early years. The first 1866-1867 coins included "rays" between the stars on the reverse, which increased the pressure needed and caused die failures and weak strikes. the strike issues persisted into 1869 and its very common to see weak or incomplete details on both obverse and reverse and die cracks from the high pressure required. Heavy die polishing also occurred at that time.

when I look to assess these I typically look for a strong shield where the shield lines are fully struck and the star centers

your coin has a nicely struck up obv as attested to by the sharpness of the stars with full centers. there is a scratch through the 5. the reverse is very typical of a weak strike and the die cracks are indicative of the amount of pressure being exerted on the planchet. there is also a scratch on the NE corner of the shield and on the cross.

the obv is showing as an AU55 coin. the challenge comes in, as with any weakly struck coin, how to how much is strike and how much is wear. since the obv is showing as a nice mid AU coin I would expect that most of what we are seeing on the reverse is related to strike. its not normal to see extensive wear on one side of a coin and not the other.

I'm not sure if the scratches are bad enough to details the coin. this is a tough one to grade. the scratches appear to be old and toned over

there are a couple grades that can happen here

AU50 adjusted for strike
AU details (scratched)
XF45 straight (adjusted for strike) if this was mine i'd use this grade




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numismatic student's Avatar
United States
12016 Posts
 Posted Today  5H 1M ago  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add numismatic student to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
AU details scratched, grease-filled die. Looks like this coin was struck by an obverse die that had a lot of grease on it, impeding the transfer of many details in the center of the design. The peripheral motto and date seem very sharply struck. The die cracks indicate a failing die. Like panzaldi indicates, the reverse is sharply struck and indicative of an AU coin. The scratch detracts. A good deal at $12.50. Congrats.
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