When Appalachian Hoard Nickels were all the rage and too $$$, I got this colorful war nickel instead

airplanenut

Back in the early 2000s, the Appalachian Hoard war nickels were very common--neon greens and pinks with great lustre. I really wanted one, but none fit my budget. At the GSNA show in 2004, I bought this nickel, an ANACS MS67, instead. It's not quite as electric as the Appalachian Hoard coins, but it's got great lustre and really pretty color. It's always been difficult to light up the coin well enough to show the color's vibrancy, but I think these shots are pretty accurate, if not slightly muted due to the delicate balance of how much lustre and color to show when you can't get all of both in any given shot. Some number of years later it came out that the Appalachian Hoard nickels were AT, and I can't remember the last time I saw one, whether it's because they're just in private hands (I'd expect some to occasionally come up for sale, though maybe some dealers won't handle them) or NGC made a strong effort to buy them back.

seanq

Depending on the era, the ANACS slab could have caused those colors. The holders with the serial numbers that began with two letters were particularly volatile, and the toning they caused was typically the same rusty orange / purple colors seen on your coin.

Sean Reynolds

airplanenut

@seanq said:
Depending on the era, the ANACS slab could have caused those colors. The holders with the serial numbers that began with two letters were particularly volatile, and the toning they caused was typically the same rusty orange / purple colors seen on your coin.

Interesting. This is in the standard white holder with a 6-digit serial number. For what it's worth, the color is the same today as it was going on 18 years ago.

jesbroken

Beautiful coin Jeremy. Thanks for sharing.
I have many, many of the SWH'd ANACS coins and none have changed color in the 10 to 15 years I have had them. Buffs, WLH's and Mercury diimes. I have sold too many of them to think about. I used to collect the SWH's regardless of content. Then that passed.
Jim

CircCam

Sweet coin, airplanenut!

Here’s my craziest war nickel.

^ Images by Bob Campbell