1915-D 5c Buffalo Nickel

I'm late to the party again. (Home remodeling, round 3. I'm definitely ready to have the main bathroom back to functioning.)

At $97, you did very well on this one.

This is a classic 1915-D: mismatched dies, average strike, heavy die polishing, heavy bag marking. It's a tough date for eye-appeal specimens. The obverse is LDS and the reverse is EMDS. The strike has typical peripheral strength and central device weakness. On the obverse, note the nearly complete rachis and calamus on the second feather and the nearly missing detail on the braid. The reverse shows strong peripheral lettering and split tail, but significant loss of detail on the upper back. The obverse die was polished fairly heavily. Note the loss of detail on the tip of the second feather, on LIB of LIBERTY, on the neck and braid, and on the chin. These are from die polishing. The reverse has minimal polishing, mainly on the buffalo's head, to reduce the visibility of the second feather / head clash. EPU shows the clash without polishing, and there is very little polishing on the buffalo's right rear leg. (The differences in polishing reflect the different die states.)

The bag marks on this coin are an issue. Start with the multiple small contact marks on the higher points of the central devices, the hair above the braid on the obverse and the buffalo's shoulder. These are consistent with rough handling and storage in bulk by the Denver mint. There are also some significant obverse contact marks, including the gouges on the cheek and some longer scratches in the hair above the forehead and E-W in the hair above the braid. The reverse is better, with multiple small contact marks and a few less noticeable scratches, including one on the buffalo's face and a fairly heavy contact mark on the "S" of CENTS. One of the scratches on the cheek looks more recent than the other marks on the coin. (Maybe from a staple in a 2x2?)

The difficulty I have in grading this one is the flashback in the photos. I played with light and color, and was able to get a better feel for the coin. I still am not confident that the luster is unbroken. You have the coin in hand. Check the high point of the Indian's hair in the curve of the first strands located directly west of the forehead. Check the hair on the buffalo's head directly above the horn and the hair on the buffalo's back directly below the TAT of STATES. These are the areas that make me pause, both as possible evidence of light circulation and as possible (but unlikely) retoning after overdipping.

If there is wear, it is minor. The coin would straight grade AU-58 on both the obverse and reverse. If there isn't wear on the high points, the resulting issues are technical grade and whether the coin would be detailed. IMHO, the bag marks are not enough to detail the coin, and the older dipping is market acceptable. That leaves me where others see this coin - either AU-58 or MS-62. I just can't reach MS-63 with the multitude of contact marks.

At AU-58, you would snag $150-165 for this one. At MS-62, you would expect to snag something north of $200. Either way, that's a solid flip for $97. Well done!