Uneven Wear Of Buffalo Nickels, Seems Strange!

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,242
BuffalosRock Pillar of the Community United States 500 Posts	Posted 07/18/2011 11:21 am Maybe it's the softness of the metal, but in looking at a lot of Buffalo nickels lately ( working on finishing a herd for an album ) I am surprised at how many have such differing grades for obverse vs. reverse. You'd think most coins would wear about the same on both sides. But with buffalos, I notice a lot of coins with very poor date definition, liberty worn down, feathers w/o detail, etc., yet a full horn and lots of detail and crisp lettering on reverse. Even more have a nice crisp date and little wear on the obverse yet the reverse will look AG3 at best with no horn and lots of wear. I've seen a few here or there, with fairly different obv/rev grades, in other coins but it seems to be a very prevalent phenomena in buffs. It does make me wonder about how many have been acid treated ( without that being stated ). Report this Post to the Staff

Ca Dreamin Valued Member United States 149 Posts	Posted 07/18/2011 11:47 am there were a lot of striking problems with Buffs-keep in mind that the reverse die was the hammer die, opposite of most coins, so that would explain a lot of what you describe. As far as date restoring, that should stick out like a sore thumb, and it shouldn't be too difficult to spot one once you've seen an acid treated coin. Report this Post to the Staff
BuffalosRock Pillar of the Community United States 500 Posts	Posted 07/18/2011 12:18 pm I pretty much ignore any coin that has an obviously "faked" date- and I agree that most are very obvious whether the seller admits it or not. But some pics are not that good/clear on ebay and some which look pretty real could be treated - is my guess. Striking issues could make some of the differences, but it just seems like some have a lot of wear on one side compared to the other. Seller's typically "grade" on the best side and it is funny, IMO, to see a coin listed as XF or AU with almost no horn - for example. Or with a full horn and then only half a date and the LIBERTY worn mostly away. Just seems strange that it happens so much more often in Buffs. Report this Post to the Staff
paleoguy45 Pillar of the Community United States 2936 Posts	Posted 07/18/2011 1:46 pm I agree with the aforementioned observations completely. I'm upgrading my set of Buffs and have noted major differences with the two sides. For example, I have a 21S that looks AU with mint glow on the obverse and only a Fine grade partial horn on the reverse. Report this Post to the Staff
RollHunter Pillar of the Community United States 687 Posts	Posted 07/21/2011 01:10 am Yeah, buffs wear strangely - I've noticed that most dealers and eBayers only grade based on the horn so sometimes that's worth knowing. Anything that's acid treated will be totally obvious, although it can be obscured in pictures. Report this Post to the Staff
numismo Rest in Peace United States 3039 Posts	Posted 07/21/2011 08:36 am Remember the horn was not always fully struck. Report this Post to the Staff
yankee1227 Pillar of the Community United States 1151 Posts	Posted 07/21/2011 09:26 am The Buffalos just weren't minted all that well. Report this Post to the Staff
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