"Worthless" 1883 Nickel?

To echo Grape in a way, I've always liked the No Cents nickel in my type set because it is reasonably high grade and low cost with a fairly nice design. I agree with others, I'd have said $7.

And sure, you could argue that base metals have no floor for their value, but what good is a floor when a nice Morgan goes for 10x the silver price? What good is the floor when a certain Buffalo nickel could go for over $40?

Coin collecting is all about who is interested in what, if it were all about the metals we'd all be bullion stackers and not rare coin collectors!

"Worthless" was a poor term for a dealer to use, but I could understand a dealer thinking perhaps "not worth their time as a business" for a lower value coin.

@ NumisEd , there are a lot of Nickel collectors out there and I am one of them. Nickels have been around since 1866 with the Shield design to present day Jefferson's . We call them Nickels but the real term for then is '' 5-Cent pieces '' with only 1/4 composition being Nickel . The exception are the War Nickels of 1942-1945 with Copper , Silver and Manganese used for these years . Once again there are collectors for every variety of U.S. 5 Cent pieces ( Nickels ); Just a slight correction , not to slap you in the head .

For what it's worth, I quite happily paid $7 for mine, and IIRC it was actually a little less nice than this.

But yes, this type was saved a lot and is thus relatively common in higher circulation grades (XF-AU). IIRC the 1883 With Cents is actually less common despite the higher mintage.

Not worth anything? Crazy talk. Just because someone has a bunch of an item doesn't mean it makes all the rest worth nothing. I can see a dealer not wanting to purchase it, but to call your coin worthless is just poor manners. I'd avoid a cranky old dealer that talked like that, there are many other coin dealers out there that won't bad mouth your coins even if they aren't something they would buy. Heck we all start somewhere.

My friend Dwight started collecting low end Lincoln cents, in the .25 cents to $5.00 range, later on in life he purchased the finest known 1913 nickel, and wrote a check for the entire SS Central gold treasure, probably the single largest numismatic transaction ($50 million+) ever done in one swoop. He continues to purchase amazing items of numismatic value and history.

Every coin is interesting to someone, and to shut down an enthusiastic person collecting, just because your are cranky, or rude, is just plain wrong. Sorry the dealer treated you that way, find other ones to shop at.

Heck I have well over 300 1864 Two Cent Pieces and I still spend a few hours every week looking at as many more as I can and I keep buying them too. I will never have enough of them.

T-Bop I kind of have to since I'm trying to collect one of each die marriage. Ala, Sheldon/Newcomb set of Large Cents, or an Overton set of Capped Bust half dollars. Then on a few interesting ones I need EDS, MDS and LDS - oh the obsession's we have in collecting. But I wouldn't want it any other way.

Here's the problem with some coin dealers - they've got to be a wise apple (I'd use a different word but it's a family friendly forum). Rather than say, well I gotta tell you we get a lot of these so it's worth minimal value to me - under $5 - and I'm not really buying these right now. Ok, fair enough and thanks for your time.

But no, dealer has got to be a jerk about it and then wonder why no one seems to come into the store anymore and this dang ebay is killing things for us little guys.

No, you're killing things plenty good for yourself all alone.

At my LCS people are always trying to sell things that have minimal value to the shop or at least way less than they were hoping for. I often note how they politely give the disappointing news the potential seller. The trick is to do it in a nice way, and it can be done.

This coin is a 138-year-old silent witness to history and survived in better shape than most. None of us will look that good at 138. Even if the monetary value does not incentivize a dealer to buy it from you ("worthless" is callous and ribald in tone, which from a coin dealer is tragic because sharing passion and excitement for the hobby seems to be the most fun part of being a dealer), this coin has undeniable value. Make sure it lives with someone who understands and appreciates this value and doesn't need a dollar amount to know how much to treasure/like something.