Rare Clay Buffalo Nickel With Copper Rim And Mesh FRAME Structure
collectors_concierge
Posts: 4 ✭
I need help with this coin. I found this Buffalo Nickel in an old box of coins that had been sitting in a house for over 50 years. I thought it was corroded so I scratched it with my fingernail and found that it has a clay surface that had been painted with like a vegetable dye/coating over clay with a wire mesh style of sub-frame as shown in my photos that I took through a jewelers loop. It has a copper band and I think the mesh inside could also be a copper type frame. I am thinking this might of been a prototype but can not find any info on what they could of made an early one of. There is writing around the coin but it is very hard to make out. Any info would help if anyone may have any. I have showed this to a couple of coin collectors and they are very excited about it but they are stumped. It is definitely very old and not something that has been done in the last 100 years. My best guess would be it was made before the production of the buffalo nickels release. It has almost the same weight, sounds like a coin when dropped but is a tad bit thinner
Comments
It's not clay as it's heavily corroded due to having been ground salvaged.
Doesn't even need to be acidic soil as the buffalo planchets mixture wise had a lot of issues and many above grade suffer from laminations and even split in half.
ARGH!
Why would you think that this nickel is rare? You cannot even tell the date or mint. Until you can identify it you cannot know it's rarity, scarcity or otherwise.
Nice '27 you got there.
Welcome,
bob
Looks like a metal detector find.
I’m glad I’m at the Long Beach show
for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
Reminds me of a VERY crusty, almost rotted coin.
It has the look of some ancient coins that were dug out of the soil (rather than contained in a pot). I think the corrosion actually causes a chemical or metallurgical change in the coin's surface.
Yikes !!!
It is clay underneath with a mesh inside . You people are not even reading. It's a painted service . Read the description. Clay does not deteriorate and coins are not maid with mesh. There is no solid metal but the rim of the coin. Again the description is 100% accurate.!
Let's see. You managed to go through one forum, got accurate answers that you didn't like, then came to this forum, got the same answers from another group of very knowledgeable numismatists and decided they didn't read your description accurately.
Would you please clarify the following:
What is "painted service"
What is a "clay mesh"
And you claim people aren't reading your description. With so much gibberish, that statement is probably the only thing from your post that's accurate
Buh buy.
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Huh?
Since you don't agree with answers that many knowledgeable members of this forum have provided, maybe you could help us understand your theory on how the mint could make a buffalo nickel out of clay.
The surface of the coin it painted. It's not metal. The scratch on the buffalo side is the paint scratched off with it showing the clay underneath with the mesh frame of the coin. Like the description says. There is no deteriation of this coin , the coin is in excellent shape. I scratched the painted surface thinking it was metal but underneath is clay &mesh and has a copper rim . Its either a pre sample or a prototype. It even could of been done by the Indians themselves. Read the biography of the man that designed the buffalo nickel. I'm thinking he recieved this from an indian and maybe used their design for our buffalo nickel. Just like the description says.
Welcome to the forum @collectors_concierge!
Thanks for showing your metal detecting find...
https://forums.collectors.com/categories/metal-detecting
Beyond scratching it... Have you sniffed and licked it since it might have been painted with this below prior to being fried?
Assuming the coin is as you have described, I'd lean toward some sort of counterfeit.
I have never heard of the mint making anything out of clay and mesh. Further, if the mint was going to do so, I would think they would do this work when the buffalo nickel was originally starting production in 1913 - this would mean the design would be a type 1 when your coin is a type 2.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Sigh...
It is a corroded nickel that was buried. The "clay" you see is dirt that is inside the voids created by corrosion of the original nickel. The "mesh" is just the remaining metal shell that has not been corroded. I see these all the time. It is worth 5 cents, at most, if you can manage to spend it.
Your 1927 nickel is also rusty and worth maybe 10 cents
Think I’ll stay at the Long Beach show today too
for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
Well there you go - the expert has spoken!
With all the possibilities why did he settle on this absurd speculation?
I'd accept corroded or even counterfeit, but an Indian clay art project seems pretty farfetched.
ewww, you sure isint a metal detecting dig?
It could well be a cast copy. In any event, it is not a prototype or "presample". It is either an extremely corroded MD find or a very rough, poor copy. In my opinion, in either case, it has little or no value, numismatically or otherwise.
" coins are not maid with mesh. "
" It even could of been done by the Indians themselves. "
" I'm thinking he recieved this from an indian and maybe used their design for our buffalo nickel. "
Winner of the LOL post of the day!
Ridiculous.
That's an amazing find! You have a rare pattern that is worth a lot of money. Congratulations!
These nay sayers are just jealous of your historical discovery. Get it professionally appraised and certified, and Hold out for Top Dollar.
.
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Hey, if yer gonna feed the trolls, give em sumpthin yummy! 😉
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Is it just me or has anyone else around here noticed that people with under 5 posts to their credit almost always "SEEM" to not know a whole lot about the coin in question but they're mighty handy with a camera? Also, when they get answers to their lame questions, they all of a sudden definitely know EVERYTHING about their coin? Just a thought.
OP has a very creative mind
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
put back your old avatar or I won't click your posts anymore
The saddest thing is they have no desire to actually learn anything.
For example, I could take a decent guess at an explanation for the supposed "mesh" effect (improper/incomplete alloy mixing, resulting in distinct striations of each metal which had a different corrosion rate for the nickel and copper). But, it would all fall on deaf ears and be rejected out of hand.
It is much more exciting to imagine that Crazy Horse fashioned it out of clay as he was fighting Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
It is obvious that no one here is appreciative of the OP's depth of knowledge and perception.
To get the most value at auction from this unique item, it is recommend that the OP send it to PGCS for authentication and grading. Once complete, that will virtually guarantee market acceptance and a long queue of active bidders with large bank credit lines waiting for the coin to come up for sale.
But please understand that independent authentication - such as by PCGS -is mandatory for unique, very high value pieces such as the one illustrated by the OP. when submitting, select the highest value you might reasonably place on the coin. That will protect you in case it is lost in transit. And use private insurance via FedEx or UPS, or send registered US Postal Service.
Good luck with your magnificent, and very fortunate find!
If we keep this thread going @FredWeinberg might sail away to a deserted island and talk to a volley ball instead?
Anyone thinking that this is corroded buffalo nickel are just simple minded. I own some of the rarest things in the world and am now showing them to the world.
I put this nickel on here to see what others thought about it . Some are interesting comments but I am mostly hearing simple minded people's responses with the exception to a few people that actually understand what an amazing piece this could be. Maybe these simple minded forum contributors or for a lack of words just forum trolls should read a little about who
James Earle Fraser is and understand how much time he spent with many indian tribes before designing the buffalo nickel. Lol This is definitely not a corroded coin!! But its makes me laugh to hear it over and over again. I'm still interested in hearing more opinions and theories of this piece because I can assure you it was not dug out of the ground. It's an original made piece in pristine condition that has been well preserved with little wear at all. 😁
" I scratched the painted surface thinking it was metal "
" It's an original made piece in pristine condition that has been well preserved with little wear at all. "
It was well preserved until ya scratched it
I can assure you it is not a dug piece. It's an original made piece in pristine condition that has been well preserved with little wear at all.
Hmmmm what kind of help did you say you needed?
Just a troll. Best ignored and he'll go away
What did the ophthalmologist say?
He who knows he has enough is rich.
@collectors_concierge ....You are obviously just teasing the forum. You cannot possibly believe what you have written here. Your icon says banned... and if that has happened, understand that is your refusal to accept well intended replies from highly qualified forum members. Good luck, Cheers, RickO
Why not send it to one of our coin experts on the board and let them check it out. I have access to a hand held spectrum device that uses X-Rays to analyze the material I might even be able to get it on an electronic microscope. several of us on the board are very friendly and helpful all you have to do is ask someone to help
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/publishedset/209923
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/album/209923
It's easy to own some of the rarest things in the world if you are allowed to concoct your own fantasies about what they are.
I think he also owns the record for fastest banning on the Forum - gone after 4 posts.
I am glad the moderators are being proactive.
All done here.
Hello all fellow obsessed numismatists. Can anyone explain what happened to this coin? It Is in a flip, very smooth, most details are gone, I can also see more than one colour on different parts of the coin.
It is I believe a 1943 p , nickel of course. Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.
@endzeit
Welcome to the forum.
Recommend you start your own thread.
Thank you, I will do that.
And the towns people plotted against the King and they were going to dispatch him promptly. Then It dawned on the King what was wrong. He hadn't drunk water from the same well that they did. So, the king went down to the well and drank water from the same well as the towns people and everyone in Tabula Rasa rejoiced for the king was the same as they were and the plot ended.
Oh what a wonderful thread this has been, and indeed, an amazing artifact to be shared with us all. The reason I refer this being an artifact is, to all of us Battlestar Galactica fans, absolute irrefutable proof of Cylon civilization on the planet. remember, 'all of this has happened before', and here is the evidence! This has inspired me to redouble my efforts in finding a remaining #6 from this epoch to entertain me in my remaining years.
And here I was going to suggest it was made from dung, not clay.
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