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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,742 |
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Valued Member
United States
266 Posts |
I picked this up at a coin show. It looked better at the coin show. It looks weakly struck as opposed to worn, which I guess is typical of this coin. What would be the grade? I paid $35 - think I overpaid.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2953 Posts |
Well, I think that was a high enough price for it, but based on the photos, id put this at a F-12 grade. Yours also has the more interesting variety of the re-punched 1 of the date in the neck area, where you get a prong of the 1 sticking out above the neck point, and the base of the 1 sticking out of the base of the neck above the 1 of the date.
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Valued Member
United States
247 Posts |
I also grade it at F12, maybe F15. You do have the misplaced date in Liberty's neck. Flynn-Fletcher (MPD-001). It is probably the most readily available variety in the 3 cent nickel series and commands only a small premium. It is still a neat variety! It should even out from what you paid for it.
Edited by Finn70
08/19/2021 12:18 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
18640 Posts |
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Valued Member
 United States
266 Posts |
Thanks. I didn't even know about the repunched 1 variety.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Obverse details are very difficult to make out in this pic.
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Valued Member
United States
266 Posts |
Yes, that's why I was thinking it was a weak strike. Because I can't even see the "Liberty" on the tiara. It seems if the "Liberty" wore off, there would be more wear on the coin in general. Anyway, I already had a better version of this in my collection but at least this one is an error variety. I don't know what I was looking at when I was at the coin show.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4680 Posts |
I think there's enough meat on the bones for F15. Tough to make out from the lighting in the pics, but I think I'm seeing a good amount of multi directional hairlines, obverse primarily. If so it's a Details coin for me.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36558 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11880 Posts |
I don't think you can go with the grading guides on this one. The center of the obverse is weakly struck so you don't see the detail and lettering in liberty's crown. You can see that lettering clearly even in a coin that grades Good.
The reverse is the opposite. You can see almost all the vertical lines in III in the center of the reverse but the peripheral wreath and leaves have weak detail. At fine, you would expect the vertical lines in the central device to be worn smooth to some degree.
So the opposite striking weakness characteristics occur on each side of the coin. This one is tough to assess because only wear determines the grade of circulated coins. This could be anywhere in the VF to AU range but I am leaning more toward XF-AU side of the range. All the denticles appear sharp on both sides along the rims.
Having said that, the market may drop the price of this coin all the way down to the F-VF level due to the lack of detail.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2869 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3625 Posts |
The sharply different obverse and reverse strikes could also be due in part to differing die states. The mint's first experience with nickel coinage wasn't always a thing of beauty.
[EDIT: LIBERTY is there. It takes some playing with the photo to see it, but it's there. It is weak.]
Purely by appearance, this coin looks like a VF-25. I agree with @numismatic student that this coin could grade higher. There isn't much price differential in the mid-grades. Your purchase price is right in the ballpark for a mid-VF 1875. You did OK here. If it grades EF or higher, you are ahead a few dollars.
That's about as far as I can take this one based on the photos.
Edited by fortcollins
08/22/2021 7:35 pm
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,742 |
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Posted 08/19/2021 12:01 pm
