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How rare is the 1916 doubled die nickel?
mr1931S
Posts: 6,407 ✭✭✭✭✭
I saw one of these in a dealer's case at a show I recently attended. NGC graded XF-40, the first one I have ever seen offered for sale at a coin show in any grade and I've been attending coin shows since the early '80's. How rare are they?
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
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PCGS Coin Facts estimates 400 in all grades and 10 in MS60 or higher. It's definitely a rare coin.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
What was the asking price?
$18,000. I asked the dealer if I could see the coin up close so he got it out of the case and handed it to me to inspect. The price was on the reverse side.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Sweet!
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Several years ago, I cherried one in a group of dateless coins by identifying the other diagnostics. It brought $650 uncertified.
Very rare! It is one of those coins that if you really want one and find one that you like, simply buy it, even if you have to overpay, because they don't come along often.
It’s a coin that is on pretty much every Buffalo Nickel collectors list. Very few will ever have the privilege of owning one and the ones that do very rarely sell it.
Most seen are very low grade with the majority of those being dateless. Fortunately there are other pick up points to determine that it is the variety and the TPG companies will certify them even without the date. The ones with a date command the prices listed.
Silverman68, jfoot13, GAB, ricman, Smittys, scrapman1077, RyGuy, Connecticoin, Meltdown, VikingDude, Peaceman, Patches and more.
Under very liberal US standards of rarity, it's rare. Concurrently, my limited review for this post indicates it's not that hard to buy which is what I would expect for any (US) coin of its value with its estimated supply.
PCGS records 213 grading events with a numerical grade. NGC 168 with 122 a numerical grade. Eight and 14 MS. Yes, some or numerous duplicates.
Collector's Corner lists three for sale now, all with numerical grades including a VF-35 and XF-45. eBay lists six ANACS and one NGC, mostly "details" grades. I didn't check if any of these were the same coin. Numerous other ungraded coins claimed as a DDO but not counting these. Heritage doesn't include any now, but the number in the archives isn't low for a rare coin.
If the Coin Facts estimate of 400 is reasonably accurate, 10 currently for sale is consistent with it at a roughly 10-year holding period, meaning one will come up for sale roughly once every month.
They probably went their entire die life, they just were heavily circulated. I’ve seen 4-5 dateless or nicadates for every problem free. Most likely hundreds in random dateless bags out there
What they are is rare in collector grades as just about any specific pre-great depression die pair of a circulating coin is.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
This is a coin that reveals what it is even in dateless condition, Personally, if I ever ran across a dateless example, I would not Nic-a Date it.
Pete
I have a regular submitter who searches bags of dateless Buffalo nickels, and he usually has a few to submit at every show. He doesn't use nic-a-date because the doubling on the devices is easily seen. He says he does better on eBay with the certified dateless ones than the nic-a-date ones.
I most likely would. Historically, my biggest objection to Nic-a Date has been the discoloration (date framed elliptically in brown) one is left with after treating the date. But I have figured out a way around that. I have a 1915-S (there was no trace of any of the digits of the date seen before treatment) that I Nic-a Dated and it turned out lovely, imo. No mechanical processing involved. Just looks like a Buffalo Nickel whose date survived despite going through countless hands.
When I spotted the dealer's 1916 DDO nickel prominently displayed in the center of his case, I exclaimed, "The King!". I'll try to buy one of these with a full horn after I win the lottery jackpot.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Yah the modern market agrees but it wasn’t the case a few decades ago.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
Pretty damn rare1!
Could we please see the rest of the coin, and the label? That date looks to be in higher grade than an EF-40. Was it net graded for something else?
I've found two over 20 years of searching bags of buffalos, a dateless one that SEGS graded Fair 2 and I sold too cheaply, and one that PCGS graded G-6 and netted me some very expensive camera equipment with money left over for coins. I currently own one that I purchased raw and would probably grade VG-8 details with a rim bruise. .
Can't see what the coin is really about though and that's being able to see the dramatically doubled date.I Nic-a Date all my dateless buffaloes that I find worthy of the treatment. If I offer my Nic-a-Dated 1916 DDO for sale, the buyer is simply going to have to pay me what I want for it regardless of what the ebay crowd thinks it's worth.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Stock photo posted only to show the error. Indeed, the pic i posted is of a higher grade specimen than EF-40. The pic is of an AU-55.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Dealer friend of mine cheeried one out of a buffalo nickel bin attending a show some years back, came back Good-6 ,
Ive never owned one or found one, have on the 18over 17d, but not the 16ddo.
Okay thanks
Not rare in an absolute sense, certainly not compared to better die varieties of large cent or shield nickel, but extremely popular!
Empty Nest Collection
Rare as “I’ve only seen them in pictures”, rare.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Speaking of 1918 over 17D, I saw a Nic-a-Dated one for sale in a shop awhile back. The shop owner was pretty proud of the piece. He had Nic-a-Dated it, the entire coin, front and back and made what could have been a fairly respectable looking coin into an abomination with his dips*** approach to Nic-a-Dating.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Take a look in the mirror.
It’s not that serious, lots of dealers did it that way in the 80-90s to prevent the boiled date effect. Speak more with your wallet and less with emotion, it’s just coins buddy.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
I’ve owned 5 over the years. I never cherry picked one though. Here are 3 of them.
Acid dated, dateless and environmental damaged (VF/XF with full horn)
Silverman68, jfoot13, GAB, ricman, Smittys, scrapman1077, RyGuy, Connecticoin, Meltdown, VikingDude, Peaceman, Patches and more.
I've cherry-picked two dateless ones over about 20 years of looking now. One graded FR02 and one AG03. Both sold for north of $1500. I've found at least a half dozen or more 18/17s, all showing enough of the date to ID positively, the best was a F15.
mbogoman
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/classic-issues-colonials-through-1964/zambezi-collection-trade-dollars/7345Asesabi Lutho
Just a hack job is what it was. I saw the piece, you didn't.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
When I was a young numismatist back in circa 1967, I visited my local coin shop and the dealer called me over.
He just nic-a dated the 1918/7 overdate and had it for sale.
The price?
20 bucks.
Too bad I was just a kid.
Pete
$20 in 1967 bought what takes almost $200 to buy now.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Many coins selling at or near $20 in 1967 coin prices often cost more or a lot more than $200 today, especially if buying post-1986 preferred quality. $20 wasn't that great of a bargain for this coin at the time in this type of quality. I've looked at old Red Books and non-US coinage was often an even bigger relative bargain, if the prospective buyer could even find it. Measured by 1967 coin prices, a lot of other coins were cheap or look cheap today. Coins with a higher preference too.