1887 Nickel

oh WOW thats a great looking coin !

is that a slab I see the scratches on?

It is. It's NGC MS65.

It's got some significant die cracks on the reverse as well. Especially around OF and the A of AMERICA.

I'm thrilled with it!

That is a great coin. I have never noticed a V nick with die cracks before.

It's a beauty, like the die cracks.

Cwb8539,
Nice acquisition! Although I have to say the strike is extremely strong for an MS coin, particularly on the stars, the two ears of corn, and the obverse wire rim, it may very well be a misattributed proof. The Lib Nick proofs of 1887-1889 were carelessly made, the majority of proof blanks were not milled properly nor polished enough so that the great majority of them had uncirculated luster and were virtually undistinguishable from business strikes. The proofs in these three years were struck once with greater pressure than the uncs. The greater pressure meant the dies cracked more often than unc dies (probably from uneven striking pressure) and then discarded. The chief diagnostic of this is sharply detailed stars on one side, but relatively flat ones on the other. Whereas uncs of this vintage were very lightly struck, in order to lengthen die life, since nickel production ramped up in 1887. The unc strikes are typically mushy with EF-AU details, so a sharply stuck MS from 1887-89 is about as rare as an 85 or 86.

The 1889 proof nickels are so subpar, there are less than 10 in 65 cameo, whereas most of the other dates have at least a 100 certified coins in cameo. Nevertheless, you got a fine specimen there

Nice COin. I was going to give it a MS64 but could see it going MS65.

... So Beautiful! Nice die crack too!