1866 Shield Nickel

After seeing the pictures I posted, I had to check out
Cherry Pickers Guide.

To me this coin looks like the one at the bottom of page 204.

I'm leaning toward a VF 35 or XF 40. I really like the die cracks above OF and below the 5.

My guess is that there is an RPD there.

I was thinking some of the experts on early nickels would jump in on this one.

IMO in the first years of making nickels the mint had a lot of problems with the die's. My photo grade book talks how Shield nickels can be weak on the reverse stars
and not to use the reverse for grading if this is the case. It also states to not use the shield to determine the grade on the obverse because the lines are often incomplete.

They refer to "how much" detail is on the obverse leaves.

IMO what I see with this coin is very little wear, but a lot of strike issues
- weak lines on the shield
- leaves have good detail
- stars have good detail
- all the letters are bold

strike issues
- as coindog mentioned die crack right at the rim above "OF"
- Die clash below the "5"
- Die chip on the letter "C" in cents
- the date is repunched

By looking at Cherry Pickers Guide you can see some very interesting die/strike issues on early Shield nickels.

IMO this coin would grade XF

Edit: Of course after posting that, I am curious if any members might have a slabbed Shield nickel graded XF.
It is always better to have a real coin to compare to.

The nickels are a tough alloy, and dies tend to deteriorate and crack at a much higher rate than dies for other coinage. Nickel dies were replaced at a much higher frequency; I imagine die cracks, chips, etc do not affect the value of these old nickels unless they are very extreme... at which point it may even drive the price down.

Great coin that looks VF-35 to me. Nice addition to your type set.