1984 Jefferson Nickel, Got This As Change, Looking For Opinions.

Except for the high rev rim it looks like it could be a partial collar (railroad rim) coin. The high rev rim couled be caused if it got stuck and received multiple strikes, but that would have caused the obverse side that was not restrained to have spread much more than it did.

If the rev side had been the wider one I would suspect a die cap with the rev die being the hammer die and the metal was just starting to curve up around the shank.

I was thinking the same way as john1, but I think if that were the case, it would have left that raised part of the rim in the center surrounded with two indented sides?
Jim.

I have a nickel that looks very similar to that except the edge is uniform on both sides. The concensus was that it was stuck in a large commercial dryer for a while... but I still have my doubts...

When a coin like this is not in pristine condition it becomes a guessing game. You hit most of the possibilities.

Two can be ruled out. It wasn't "spooned" and it is not a Dryer Coin. Spooning would not have been done and even if it was it would have rounded the entire edge and not a part of it.

The same would be true if it were a Dryer Coin.

There is an outside chance that it was a partial collar strike that ended up being circulated.

I lean more toward the "being pressed into a bezel or encasement theories" but still I can't be conclusive.

If the coin were a partial collar strike like that, the obverse would have had no rim and you can clearly see a rim. I also suspect that the diameter of the obverse on this coin is the same as that of the obverse on a normal nickel. If that is the case, the obverse on this coin could not have been out of collar (above the collar) during the strike.

The obverse also shows two little marks that were probably the result of someone using a small tool like a small awl or screw driver to pop the coin from it's encasement.

I don't think it will come apart as it is not related to any Magician's coins so don't try to damage it any further.

Anyway, that's pretty much my take on it. I lean strongly toward a damage of some kind done outside of the mint.

A newby here and just nosing around but why would you want to hit it with a sharpened screw driver. If it is glued and falls apart, don't you just mess up your coin?