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MS66 slabbed buffalo nickel
BUFFNIXX
Posts: 2,727 ✭✭✭✭✭
Here is a 1931-s buffalo nickel in slabbed ms66.
Comments on the grade?
Collector of Buffalo Nickels and other 20th century United States Coinage
a.k.a "The BUFFINATOR"
a.k.a "The BUFFINATOR"
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Comments
I don't like the carbon spot in the hair at 11:00 or the hit on the Indian's nose. Not a bad coin but MS65 in my book.
Looks like the Bison relieved himself on the reverse and we are "catching" the view mid-drop.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
The cuts in the date. The mark on the nose. The weak obverse strike. Yeah, I'm not feeling it.
peacockcoins
Looks about right to me.
What a crappy thing to say!
I agree.
It's "only" a 66. I'm not sure why people expect absolute perfection.
Decent strike. Good color. Luster hard to tell, but could be very good. I only see 2 mention able marks on the obverse and they are unobtrusive.
It looks like the luster makes the grade on the coin. The large carbon spot at the top rear of the head is somewhat bothersome but I think the luster makes up for that.
Dinner plate sized images really magnify the flaws, plus the image looks like a blown up phone picture so hard to say if truly a 66 or not. I'll let the 'expert' from the MS-68 Walker thread chime in, his photo grading skills are at least 6th degree black belt.
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
He told me it's only a details coin because of the stain on the reverse.
That stain is strategically placed.
1931-S generally comes pretty bold and nice. San Francisco employees were not rushed and had plenty of time to prepare and strike them.
Don't forget that 1931 was a Depression year.
Pete
This is from my book concerning the 1931-S-
From the “Numismatist” March, 1931
This was the entire mintage for the 1931-S Buffalo Nickel until December, 1931, when it was realized that nearly the entire issue would be hoarded because of the extremely low mintage.
From the “Numismatist” February, 1932
The low mintage issue was largely resolved as shown above though this date was still hoarded to some extent.
Late die states of this date are very unusual in spite of the 1+ million coins struck in December, 1931.
I like it at 66.
I would agree that the luster most probably overrode the nicks on the date and nose. MS66.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
I wonder how opinions would have differed, had the grade been omitted and this been a “guess the grade” thread.😉
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Everything from UNC details to AU58 through MS-66 would be my guess.
At least it has a full horn. I have seen MS 64 and higher Buffalo nickels without a full horn due to weak strikes. Personally if I were to spend a lot of money on a nice MS Buffalo I want a nice strike and full horn. I understand that this may be near impossible for some year and mintmark combinations. However I like the look of well struck coins that have the intended details.
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The '31-S is rarely weak on the head and horn of the buffalo. Weakness in the central details of the Indian's hair above the braid and on the bison's shoulder are commonplace. This is one of the dates that was not seen with a full strike in my strike study. A total of 30 dates not seen with a full strike are listed. This includes 76 total coins, regular issues and 12 significant varieties.
Norther view of a south bound bison.
That said luster carries the day judging by the slab shot.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
The images show good strike details and luster.... with a couple of dings. I can agree with the 66 grade....Cheers, RickO
66
The marks on the nose and the 3 of the date, the spot at the top of the head: more than acceptable. The aggregate distraction is a great deal less apparent when life-size. Yoda might say " Throwing out the baby with the bathwater you are".
The spot is (IMNSHO) about as undistractingly located as could be hoped.
The strike disappointing for the date, which as others have noted, is rarely less than strong.
The frost look very rich.
Here's where I begin speculating rather than observing:
I don't like either picture. One's too dark and accentuates the richness of the toning to the point I'm only "mostly" confident about the frost. The obverse-only image is waaaay too bright, to the point of uselessness. I'm guessing that while it's not actually that bright, it's bright enough that a difference in lighting refraction will cause a translucency to occur that such that it that eliminates that splotch of Black Diamond's purported quasi-eliminations as a subject for discussion.
If it looks like the darker picture and were to get a sticker on it, I'd talk my customer off of it on the straight-up market news that he can easily find a much better one in the near future. That dusky, the brightness so occluded, it's a 66C+