An appeal for opinions on some nickels....

Clankeye

If any of you are so inclined could someone go into Jefferson Nickels on eBay, use "rainbow" under search, and look at the large number of nickels being offered by one particular dealer that are being sold with this description. You will see the ones I am talking about.

I have a couple from this source. PCGS apparently thinks they are fine. But, the more I look, the more I wonder. Could someone familiar with toning on nickels, and the Jefferson series in general take the time to look at a few of these and offer an opinion? It would be very much appreciated.

Edited to say, if you are more comfortable responding through a PM feel free to do so.

Dog97

If you're talking about the ones from fairtraderz they look like they came from a Dansco or Whitman album with the periph tone. He might have bought several sets of them in albums. They look normal to me.

Clankeye

Thanks, Dog
Yeah, those are the ones I'm talking about. I was just looking closely at a couple I picked up a few weeks ago and some things struck me that made me start to wonder. (I swear all the toning threads around here have got me questioning even who my parents really are).

1. The rainbow color around the rims seems so uniform in the layers from one color to the next. Other denominations I've looked at under magnification look more splotchy.
2. The surface on close inspection under the most colorful toning looks almost granular, and in places the toning has an almost resin-like sheen.
3. The large numbers of these coins appearing all at once with similar toning was making me start to wonder. But, I had not considered your explanation that they may have all come from a particular album. They have not been offering multiples of the same dates so that may actually be the case.

For the record I am in no way impugning Fairtraderz or questioning there integrity with this. The transaction with them was good. Might be a case of looking too long, thinking too much, and reading too many threads about toning.

Clankeye

The more I think about Dog, the more plausable your theory of them all coming from one or two Dansco or Whitman albums is. The grades of these coins are all over the board from MS63 to 66. That might support the possibility of them coming from one old collection. With my modern slab mentality it didn't even cross my mind.

TomB

If they are the fairtraderz coins then I saw them in person and the coins are original. This is actually quite common toning on nickels after long-term storage in Whitman or Dansco albums. To tell you the truth, I saw about 40 of these coins and they are, in general, very low end for the grade and definitely low end for the eye appeal and they seemed to want high end money. I would stay away. Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion.

jom

Hello Clankeye

No need to be afraid of these. I can tell you from FACT these are real...and they stand a good chance of being from a Dansco holder. How do I know? Well, I have a Kennedy half collection that has been housed in a Dansco since 1992 and this is one of them:

Text

You'll notice the toning pattern is almost identical....at least the few I viewed at Ebay just now. Since nickels and Kennedy halves have the same "surface" metal they are probably going to tone the same way....I think

jom

Clankeye

To speak to the two I have, on first glance the eye appeal is good. They are colorful. But, on close inspection the strikes are very weak, and they seem to have a few surface problems. Nickels are not my usual arena. In my own case, the premium paid is proving to be too high, simply because I don't have the excitement for the coins that I originally did.

Clankeye

Jom, thanks for responding and posting the Kennedy picture. That is exactly the kind of toning that is on my nickels.
I was hesitant to post this inquiry thread, but I am very glad I did as it's teaching me something about an area I really did not know about.
If I learn a little more out of this, maybe the "premium" I paid won't prove to be that much at all.

jom

Do you like the coin? If so, you should not worry about the premium. If you like it, somewhere down the line when you sell someone else will like it also.

jom

Clankeye

I think I'm kind of talking myself out of liking them as much as I originally did. It's that phase of the aquisition process where you have stared at something too long and start to only see the blemishes. I think I'll give 'em a rest, pull them out in a week or two, and then probably wonder what my problem was.