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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,960 |
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Valued Member
423 Posts |
I'm almost done the nickel-nickels and was starting to look at silver 5 cents 1911-21 (George V) in the VF-EF grades. I was wondering what to look out for? Why are some coins all black and some well silver? How do you watch out for cleaned coins? Any insights or pics what a typical one should look like?
Cheers
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1248 Posts |
look out for the 1921...anything else does not matter...
However, you should be able to pick up a lot of them in higher grades for very little money..
11-21 I personally would not go less than MS62 (except the 21... any grade)
if you are in the market for one... a 1921 that is... let me know...I might have one 4 sale...
h
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
10743 Posts |
Gee...hhbkiddo, you've got a 1921 .05 cent piece, can you post a pic, I'd like to look at it.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
693 Posts |
r.p. call me, I have a set for you..........MM
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1733 Posts |
Don't get too caught up on 1921, of course they all matter and you can buy very nice samples at fairly decent prices. The big thing with all of these in higher grades is strike... they were actually fairly hard to get right probably because they were so tiny. Lot of them come out convex/concave and they had a fair bit of variety in some years. I think they are probably one of the most affordable series to collect in decent grades. One thing I watch for and can't accept is large rim hits. On a coin this small rim hits always make them look awful in hand (to me anyhow). I've seen TPG grading all over the map with these, far more than other coins and as a result it's more important to do a little research and concentrate on buying the coin and making your own call on grade. I absolutely love fishscales , always have. Will post up some piccys tomorrow. |
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Valued Member
 423 Posts |
hhbkiddo: I would love to collect MS coins, but with other hobbies and expenses I have to collect what I can afford. I like the 5 cent series and maybe one day I'll be able to upgrade. The 1921 is out of my price range, but do post some pictures of it - I'm sure lots of us would like to see one. I've seen some of your other coins and they are very nice to look at.
coinsrfun: I'm hoping to buy one or two, here and there type of thing. I just started collecting coins. As I said, I can't even tell why some are black and some silver and if they have been cleaned or not. I need to learn first, then buy. ;)
Ugly: I think if I were to buy a 1921 it would be one of the last coins I bought so I agree with you on not getting too caught up with it. Obviously everyone would like to have one, but the rest of them are just as nice if you enjoy looking at coins (to me). I will try to work backwards as I can learn that way and if I make a mistake it will be cheaper then on the Victoria series (which I really like) for example.
Thanks for the info - that was the type of info I was looking for. On the convex/concave issue - should I stay away from that or is it not possible? I seen some bent is that the same thing or are they two different issues?
Fishscales are definitely sweet. Looking forward to seeing some pics.
Edited by realpenny
06/09/2010 05:46 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1733 Posts |
They do bend quite easy but it is a different issue. Bent coins are of course damaged. I consider the concave/vex to just be a mint error and a common one for this series. I've never seen it receive much attention really, unlike it does on the larger coins.
If you were to target VF-20 for the 1900 and up, you would get most of them at around 8-12 dollars or less (down to 3) with the keys going for more of course. Sometimes you'll luck out and get AU in that price range. Pre-1900 is hit and miss with prices generally going up in the VF range as you get older.
PM me, I'll send you a couple nice starter coins for free to kick you off.
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Valued Member
Canada
304 Posts |
I can offer the following in VF:
1912
1917
1918
1919
1920
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1554 Posts |
 Hello RealPenny or should we change that to RealNickel now that you have a fancy for "fishscales". The series of nickels you are currently targeting have certain dates that are undervalued ie: 1912, 1914, 1915, 1916 in Mintstate grades and can be acquired for peanuts. Once in a while you'll find one pop up at at auction in an I.C.C.S., MS-63/64 and worth grabbing. I'd recommend instead of collecting the EF-AU grades, take a little longer and acquire each piece in slightly higher grades. The cost in the long run won't matter for these pieces will always hold their value and are truly beautiful in Mintstate. I recently acquired an I.C.C.S., Canada, 1887, MS-63 nickel from an Internet auction win. The scans did no justice to the coin, however, when I received the coin in hand, I was knocked off my feet! I could not imagine how something sooo small and soo old could have remained sooo beautiful and unspent for 120+ years?  Glenn  Edited by glenzy1
06/09/2010 2:20 pm
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Valued Member
423 Posts |
Some good info in here. I guess the only thing that is still unclear to me is toning/cleaning. Some coins I see are totally uniform black, some seem to have a gradual toning throughout the coin, and some are still bright silver. I guess toning can be "added" or "removed". I'll try to read up on toning to get a better understanding of it. If anyone wants to post up some pics and comment on the toning (if it has been dipped or is natural etc) please do.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
693 Posts |
Take any silver coin....place it on an oak plank for 50 years it will turn black....as midnight.....no easy answer for toning.....experience and touching is most bestest way to learn more gooder....lolol
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1733 Posts |
I started a thread like that Realpenny and before it got interesting with some of the better examples the thread went off track. Not sure if the worry was I was airing dirty laundry or what.
Cleaning really is fairly obvious, it's mostly done through ignorance and moderately easy to spot. Before you start a new thread just search for "cleaned" "artificial" and a few other keywords here on the forum as this crosses all countries.
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Valued Member
Canada
153 Posts |
My best tip for collecting 5 cent silvers? ..... have a real good set of eyes! They circulated heavily and early high grade examples are relatively hard to find. Suprisingly, they don't seem to be real popular with collectors, as the prices are fairly reasonable and, as suggested above, nice examples of most dates can be found sometimes cheap. They were so small & thin, they were easily bent or dinged, and their small size caused many of them to be stored in manila or paper coin envelopes from years ago .. so they wouldn't be lost. Any of the old papers are high in sulpher content and will turn almost any silver black, given enough time (years). It's a popular coin to dip to remove the really dark, uneven toning. Again, lots of fingers touched them, high sulpher paper, and so small that many hit the ground only to be found years later.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,960 |
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Posted 06/08/2010 8:18 pm
