1917-D Buffalo Nickel For Grading

Good Details - cleaned.

Oh yeah - I keep forgetting he's back - I like to hear his evaluations on Buffalos...........He always provides excellent information!

Interesting coin. You have a very busy buffalo here.

Your coin has a nice lamination crack and a nice lamination on the reverse.

For grading purposes, it looks like your coin has LMDS obverse and LDS reverse dies, a weak Denver strike, and typical die clash polishing.

The surfaces on your coin are a bit hard to assess from the photos. There is some pitting on the central devices and too much reflectivity in the fields. I can't get a good feel for this, but there either has been aggressive polishing (whizzing?) or the coin has been acid treated. The devices are too bright, the fields (especially on the obverse) are too reflective, there are too many surface scratches, and the rims are too weak for the evident wear.

Here's where the puzzle comes in. If the luster is original, the coin has to be at least in the VF range, in which case the strike is epically awful, even for an early Denver buff. If the luster isn't original, the coin has to have been cleaned harshly, in which case the cleaning will affect the appearance of detail on the central devices. If the coin was whizzed, there would be less detail on the central devices, but if it has been acid treated, there will appear to be more detail than an original coin would display.

Looking past this puzzle, there is clear circulation wear. On the obverse, the rachis is missing from the first feather, the feather tie is worn, the lower ribbons have evident wear, and the rim is worn near LIBERTY. On the reverse the buffalo's head and tail and the "F" of FIVE and "S" of CENTS are merging with the rim. That would cap a grade at VF-35 or lower (except in PCGS la-la land, where they overgrade them to EF-40). The buffalo's head is clash polished, but the neck and upper back show wear consistent with VG-10 to F-12/F-15. Some of the details are sharper than others, such as the date, Indian's eye, brow, and lips.

Bottom line for me, from the photos this looks like a high VG or lower F coin that has been acid treated to a high F or low VF appearance in places. If so, it's still interesting for the reverse laminations.

If the field reflectivity is genuine luster, this needs to be rethought. That's my best guess here. Interesting coin.

TL;DR version, I'm tentatively at VG-10 or F-12 details, cleaned.

I'm not even going to add my 2 cents after FC's assessment. really glad to see him back in saddle here. I've learned so much.

for any newbies thinking of buying buffs in the raw. I would suggest you learn how to assess these coins so that you don't overpay. post them here for assessment especially if you're planning on spending more than a handful of dollars for it. there are just way too many things going on in this series and pretty much every year and mint have their own