1880 SHIELD NICKEL HIGH GRADE SMALL LAMINATION REVERSE GUESS THE GRADE AND MS OR PROOF
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Au58
ms-62
I would say AU55 - 58 Magnification may be accentuating some points. Cheers, RickO
Au 55
High AU.
Any 1880 is high grade but I'll also go with 55.
AU
Ill say proof 61
I say proof. I had a PR58 for my everyman set a while back. Last week a PR55 sold for PR63 money on Ebay.
AU-58.
If you get this graded AU58, it will sell for a ton. There are only 2 graded and not sure where they are.
PGCS has 25 of them in the Mint State grades and almost 100 in the circulated grades.
If this is a Proof, it's a very poorly made one. The shild has a flat spot in the horizontal lines and the some of the leaves are missing their detail. I know Proof coins from the early 1870s can be of disappointing quality, but I thought that the mint had its act together better by this time. I don't see any Proof surface on it, and it should have some in this grade. I'd say AU-50 to 53 inpart because of dulling and spots.
AU53.
There is a die marker for 1880 Business Strikes that must be there for PCGS to call it a BS. From my notes (taken from a previous thread by forum member 'howards':
There are 2 obverse dies and 2 reverse dies known for 1880 coins. They are not used in a mix and match fashion - there is a strict obverse/reverse pairing resulting in only two possibilities for the pairing.
Only one of these pairs has a later die stage which includes the island reverse. It is always paired with the obverse that shows a repunched second 8. But the repunched 8 is not a marker that distinguishes between proof and business strikes - it occurs on both.
This coin does appear to have the die marker, and definitely has the repunched second 8. I would grade it AU55.
-Paul
THIS
EXCEPT , on this one.
Where the island is supposed to be , (under the right foot of the second T in states) there is just the faintest of rough patch with no raised area, no "island" . There does appear to be a faint similarly sized circular granular area in that , but it is definitely not raised one bit.
but ...
first S in States is recut.
Planchet has a lamination ( not typically found on proofs)
coin not well struck
no proof or proof like like surfaces
So where doe that leave us ?
I am familiar with the diagnostic die marker island under second t in states(not on this coin), and the repunching. And more importantly, howards expertise in this area.
But several years ago, there was a guy that worked for stacks/bowers that did extensive study on this issue, he even did a presentation on these die characteristics on the 1880. ,and also on some of the 3 cent nickels business strike issues. I cant recall his name of the top of my head, but he claimed that there are confirmed cases in which a couple of the dies used both struck business strikes as well as proofs.
This coin IMO, clearly Looks Business strike as other have mentioned.
curious to see the designation
I might add: I used to own one in pcgs 55 years ago, sold long back, (like a big dummy). I was actually looking at it ,at a one of the national shows, dealer was a tad high in price IMO, so I hesitated. One that night was being auctioned in the sale in conjunction with that show , in 53 that wasn't quite as nice. I was watching the auction price shoot up past his selling price, so I went back down the next morning and bought it (that was the 55 I mentioned)
Several years later was attending the Houston show , just so happen to be there due to my eldest brothers funeral. I watched a real nice 55 bring like 14K plus. it was nice!
Now the nicest I have ever seen in hand belonged to a guy named glen marhefka. He purchased this coin(long before I knew him) at an ANA show in the late 80's for i think 800.00 It was in an old pcgs 64 green 2 pc holder. Exceptional coin. In fact at the same show Peters & Mohon were set up a isle over, but missed seeing it. Glen Told me when He showed it to them for thier opinions (they wrote a book on shields for those who didn't know) they immediately wanted to buy it and offered to double his purchase price. Fast forward to around 2005/6 I was interested in acquiring this coin , but funds were not a strong point for me at the time, and by the time I was able to gather up the funds, the price on these went nuts. He ended up selling it to Nick C (the Roosevelt dime guy) for like 50K. I had showed it to Chris Napolitano and he told me he thought the coin was exceptional and a slam dunk 65. Im sure its in a 65 or higher holder today!
GRADE REVEAL
Thanks for playing
PCGS Coin Information
According to the PCGS Certification Database, the requested certification number is defined as the following:
PCGS # 3835
Date, mintmark 1880
Denomination 5C
Region The United States of America
Grade PR55
IMHO
https://youtu.be/gDXeLmWGIu8
Of course there is big reason to find out.
pr55 = approx $500.
au55== approx $10,000+
this ones value?
Bummer.....great thread, though.
I’ve been fascinated by this date/coin for a number of years. I cherried a VF almost certain biz strike from a sheet dealer a number of years ago that I flipped to a forum member/dealer at a FUN show.
As I have said in previous threads, I don't buy into the proof vs. business strike "facts" for this issue. When I actively collected Shield Nickels back in the 1990's I bought a "proof" for this issue because it was cheaper and I was unwilling to pay any premium for a supposed "business strike". My feeling regarding this has not changed in the 21 years since I sold the collection.