1921 Buffalo Nickel, Unslabbed

Photos are a bit dark to grade from but the coin does look MS something. Can you post better photos?

MS65

They don't come much better than this

I have never been able to figure out why Buffalo nickels tend to be so dark.

I would to love to know why.

really nice strike up. it would be nice to see better lighting in the photos but I have it at least MS65 and could go higher but need to see those surfaces

Another beautiful coin! For a Philadelphia issue, the 1921 Buff is a toughie. Start with the lowest Philadelphia mintage of the series, throw in overworked and mismatched dies, and lower than expected uncirculated survivorship, and it's an underrated coin. Yours is fantastic.

The obverse is struck from a later state die than the reverse. This results in some overall weakness. LIBERTY and the date are strong for the die state. There is some weakness in the feathers, upper hair, and eye, and this looks more like LMDS/LDS state than strike weakness. Overall, the obverse is an average strike for 1921. The reverse is spectacular. It is likely EMDS, and comparatively well struck. There is a full split tail, sharp eye, full and strong horn, solid detail on the Buffalo's lower front left leg and beard. All lettering is sharp. There is very slight strike weakness on the hair on the top of the Buffalo's head and upper back.

The surfaces are beautiful. There are few bag marks on the obverse, consisting of some minor scratching on the Indian's forehead. There are three contact marks on the reverse, one on the Buffalo's upper back, one on the Buffalo's belly, and a small mark above the split tail. Obverse and reverse rims are beautiful.

The two things possibly separating your coin from taking a 66 are the obverse die state and a very slightly soft strike. I would be extremely disappointed to see a two point deduction for this coin. IMHO, it is a rock solid 65. This coin has great eye appeal and would likely trade easily raw as a 65.