Quarter And Nickel "Cud" Coins

The nickel appears to be a Cud. The term Cud means a piece of the die broke away at the edge. Then when the coin is struck the metal pushes up into this missing area leaving a high blank area as on your nickel. The same type of problem is happening on your quarters but the missing area is in the middle of the coin so this is called a die chip instead of a Cud.

On your nickel to confirm the Cud you should see a weakness on the reverse opposite the Cud because when the metal moves into the broken area of the die it doesn't have enough pressure to fill in the design elements on the opposite side of the coin. So take a look at this on your coin.

Yeah I agree with pyrbob..Find a better dealer who understands that consulting is part of the job, that is if he wants to sell more coins.

The most likely story about the dealer is that he's been questioned to death by novice collectors asking questions about things he doesn't know about or care about, and he gets tired of it. Not that I'm defending the dealer, but when I worked in a coin shop a story came out on Paul harvey about a 1943 bronze cent that was spent. We fielded at least 20 calls a day about people finding 1943 silver pennies thinking they were valuable. It gets tiring.

90% of all dealers don't know about errors or die varieties and most of them don't care either. They are in the business to make money, not to study coins. Dealers are always a bad resource for information about coins, because most of them wouldn't know a rare error or variety if it hit them in the head. Simple truth. Most also only know the barebones basics about coin history, designers, the designs, etc. They are buyers and sellers - not students of science.

Anyhow, a Cud, like others said, is ONLY on the edge of the design, like your nickel. A break anywhere else is a die chip, or if it runs in a line, it's a die crack. Most often these aren't 'interesting' to the general collecting public because they are minor and common. Some, however, have gained short-lived attention that goes away after the new wears off. Either way, there's rarely any long-term interest in die cracks and die chips.

Fine by me...I'll take those Close AM proofs for $4, if they insist.