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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,138 |
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Valued Member
United States
90 Posts |
After a long time of finding nothing, I stumbled onto this 2k5 Buffalo nickel that stuck out like a sore thumb. The color is extremely consistant throughout the coin, through all its scratches and divots... I've gotten excited about color of coins before, so I know to be skeptical, but this does seem different. I don't really have a scale to weigh it with at the moment, are there any other things I can check? THanks.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1807 Posts |
I wonder if it could be out of one of these sets?  Edited by rockdude
01/24/2009 12:20 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
90 Posts |
That's something I was wondering as well.. but, if it were gold-plated, wouldn't the deeper scratches show silver beneath it? I went over this with a very strong magnifying glass, I don't see any of the "silver" of a dime.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1807 Posts |
I would think that a scratch would show the underlying material however a dent would not.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
Business strike coins can and do have bag marks and scratches fresh out of the Mint. If you gold-plate a scratched coin, then you'll have consistent gold plating over the scratches.
One obvious thing to do would be to hold the coin side by side with a BU Golden Dollar and compare the color.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3507 Posts |
Hi All,
It's plated. If you watch the TV coin sellers, you would see that coins are damaged in this way all the time. In tough economic times just about anything like this can turn up in circulation or in a roll.
Also when those little souvenir sets are manufactured, they don't necessarily use UNC coins. As noted earlier. If there are scratches and dings on the coin before it gets plated, the plating covers the dings and scratches.
Finally, you can't get a Sacagawea planchet to set inside the collar used to strike a nickel. The planchet is too big. The coin struck here had to be on a planchet intended for a nickel.
Thanks,
Bill
Edited by foundinrolls
01/24/2009 4:04 pm
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Valued Member
United States
90 Posts |
Quote:
Business strike coins can and do have bag marks and scratches fresh out of the Mint. If you gold-plate a scratched coin, then you'll have consistent gold plating over the scratches.
One obvious thing to do would be to hold the coin side by side with a BU Golden Dollar and compare the color. Well, comparing it to a BU gold dollar probably wouldn't be fair... as this nickle has definitely seen better days. But, here's a comparison to the a better-conditioned 2000 dollar...  They're both about the same thickness really, but so is a regular nickle, so nothing special or definitive there... Quote:
t's plated. If you watch the TV coin sellers, you would see that coins are damaged in this way all the time. In tough economic times just about anything like this can turn up in circulation or in a roll.
Finally, you can't get a Sacagawea planchet to set inside the collar used to strike a nickel. The planchet is too big. The coin struck here had to be on a planchet intended for a nickel. Well, I think you might just be right on that one. Looking really closely at that mark on the back of the bison on the reverse of the coin, I think I see a small line of silver. It's... surprisingly difficult to tell the difference between gold and silver metalics at that magnification... oh well... Still nice to open your till and find gold, no mater how insignificant the amount :P Any sort of premium for this type of thing? Maybe a buck or two I imagine, in this condition. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
Midnight Fenrir - it's "nickel" - not "nickle", and it's probably plated. There are no copper based coins minted in the United States that are the right size to be minted as nickels without significant design loss.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2589 Posts |
there is also a possibilty it is toned instead of plated, if left under certain conditions nickels can get a goldish toning to them
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
I have a 1938-D (PCGS MS-64) Buffalo nickel that's nicely toned to a 'gold-ish' color (a perfect choice to keep company with my 2008 Buffalo Fractionals!), but I'd bet that your 2005 Bison is gold-plated. I just don't want to condone sure-fire but destructive "detection methods" like dipping or polishing the coin to take the gold plating off!  Edited by DNA
01/25/2009 7:16 pm
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,138 |
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Posted 01/24/2009 12:09 pm
