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 Replies: 29 / Views: 1,235 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2460 Posts |
i acquired this coin a little over three years ago for my type album. after studying it a while and nabbing some pix, I readied myself for posting this coin here back when I acquired it, but I held back. I surfed around the forum looking for other posts about the 1865 Three Cent Nickel. I found some and read them entirely. I held back primarily because the quality of the detail pictures is low. there is a lot of detail I need to get better pictures of. it'd help me to better explain what I'm seeing on the coin: lot of clashing. the clashing is on both sides, but is heavier on the obverse. in fact, I'm seeing multiple clash marks on the obverse, but only a single clash on the reverse. so here's the coin:   i'll post one or two detail pictures as I go along here. they're not the best, but you'll be able to see what I'm talking about. notice all the activity in the fields of the obverse. much of that is clashing from the reverse. first, the chop marks sticking out from Liberty's throat:  that's from the top of the column/1 from the reverse, and there are multiple marks. next, the date:  notice the clashing of the wreath leaf clusters around the date. there's also a die break on the 5 and in the denticles below it, with a crack connecting both. before I post more i'd like to hear thoughts & info re: the poor strikes of these coins. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
73628 Posts |
That's one heck of a Die Clash!  Nice example. Errers and Varietys.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2460 Posts |
yeah.. there's more to it. this coin seems to me to be clashed on the obverse multiple times, but only once on the reverse.
also notice those two extra flaps of metal at the top of the reverse, at about 11 & 2 o'clock. what exactly causes that? it seems like maybe the dies were not positioned exactly how they needed to be, or maybe the planchet wasn't positioned well. I don't know which. what causes that?
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Moderator
 United States
94728 Posts |
I like it! very nice coin (clash and all) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2460 Posts |
on the reverse, the Roman numeral 3 is this set of three columns (they very much resemble ionic columns). there is clashing to the left and right.  when I spin the coin 180*, the clashing on the left (your right) is Liberty's profile. see it?  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
73628 Posts |
Errers and Varietys.
Edited by Errers and Varietys
02/01/2026 10:35 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10478 Posts |
Sometimes it's harder to find a perfectly struck nickel 3¢ piece than ones with clashes and die cracks!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2460 Posts |
i have never heard of 'finning' before. interesting. I know what Cuds are, but I was reluctant to call it that. Quote:
Sometimes it's harder to find a perfectly struck nickel 3¢ piece than ones with clashes and die cracks! the past posts here on ccf re: the Three Cent Nickel say the same. hard to find a good strike. honestly, though, the clashing doesn't bother me. I like it. anyway, a few more pix:  the wreath bow on the reverse. I see a lot of die polishing marks, scratches/gouges and an interesting feature nearby:  just above the tip of the end of the ribbon on your right there's what looks to be a bit of wire on and around that berry in the wreath. is that a strikethrough? i counted four or five small cracks & breaks around the rim of the obverse. here's one at the end of STATES:  here's another small break at the E in UNITED that runs into the denticles and clashing all around the entire word:  there's also a bit of the D missing at the top of that letter. i was on an NGC web page and found this summary of this coin. explains a lot: Quote:This coin debuted in 1865 as a replacement for the despised three-cent fractional currency notes, themselves replacements for the hoarded silver three-cent pieces. Due to the urgency of retiring the notes, minting of this coin was very heavy before year's end. 1865 is a common date in all grades short of gem Mint State. The copper-nickel alloy was hard on dies, with the result that a great many 1865 pieces are seen with multiple die-clash impressions, die cracks and small Cuds. The challenge to the collector will be to find an example which is free of such distractions. With so many dies needed for such a large production, both repunched dates and doubled-dies are numerous and highly collectable. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
8726 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1108 Posts |
I don't know... Seems like a pretty beautiful coin to me. Then again, I don't really know much about Three Cent pieces. |
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Moderator
United States
187629 Posts |
Very nice! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2460 Posts |
Quote:
Here is a link for you to check out thanks for that. very interesting. those 1865s listed there have even stronger clashes than what my coin shows. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2460 Posts |
Quote:Seems like a pretty beautiful coin to me. Then again, I don't really know much about Three Cent pieces. same here. I love the old classic designs. even if the coin is not perfectly struck it's still much more attractive than most modern coin designs. cold weather keeps me indoors today so I can do some coin reading.  |
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Valued Member
United States
56 Posts |
MrPink2018. Nice coin in nice condition. I like your investigation. I have your coin previously documented in my reference. The obverse die was not processed correctly and thus early die cracking. I do not believe that this die lasted very long considering one crack almost halfway through Liberties head at this early die stage. The reverse die was processed correctly and withstood more abuse. Thus, less clash marks. Look below the date and notice that there is something going on. There is a very strong indication that the ball of the '5' is present within the denticles. There are numerous varieties which the date numerals are misplaced within the denticles. Way more than documented in Cherry pickers or Gifford. This is what makes the 1865 so much fun. I share a page from my reference which I use just for identification (buying). A lot of poor images online so most of the time I identify by die cracks. Not the greatest but usually I'm right. My example does not have the strikethrough around the berry, which can be cause by as little as a fiber from the Tech's rag. Makes yours unique. I have it as Variety 12 because I have not figured out a numbering system because I want to retain Giffords numbers. So, I bunch it in with B05, B06 ,B07...  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4587 Posts |
This is the first time the mint (tried) to strike 75-25 Copper-Nickel. The Flying Eagle / Indian Heads (until partway through 1864) were 88-12.
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2362 Posts |
Love the coin MrPink. Die clashes, Cuds, and die cracks are everything I enjoy about classic coins. I collect old copper and Bust Half Dollars. The only thing missing from your coin is a die rotation.  Member ANA and EAC "You got to lose to know how to win". Dream On by Aerosmith |
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Replies: 29 / Views: 1,235 |
Posted 02/01/2026 8:35 pm
