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Contest with real prizes! 1930s Buffalo…Grade? Value?

Here is the deal. This coin crossed from one of the top two services to the other. Two-part question: 1. What’s the grade? 2. What’s the market value?

Include any attributions, upgrades if you feel the coin deserves it. Hints-one service has the coin a POP 54, the other POP 12.

Prize: For the correct exact grade: 1956 25c MS-65…..For the correct market value: 1938d Buffalo ANACS MS64


Sunlight Obverse
Sunlight Reverse

Natural Light with backflash Obverse
Natural Light with backflash Reverse
(Yes the Luster is real!)

Please post to the thread, and thanks!


Good Luck! Answers on Weds 8-21-02, first correct answer for each question wins. Act now and we will throw in a free potato peeler! image
«1

Comments

  • Do you want the answers on here or via PM?

    Frank

    Duh - my bad
  • I am gonna go with MS66. As to the market value, I don't have a clue. It has gotta be a big sumimageimage
    Speer34

    imageimageimage
  • PlacidPlacid Posts: 11,299 ✭✭✭
    PM sent. I need a potato peeler.

    It's a 66 with a price of $550. Incase its a post in the thread guess.

    Edited just realized my typo. Check my pm image
  • I'll say MS66 with a value of $2,000
  • Cam40Cam40 Posts: 8,146
    MS67
    $1,100

    Its a shot in the dark.
    Thanks for the try.
  • boiler78boiler78 Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ms 66 and $1600. Very pretty coin!
  • pm sent, I'll give it a go! Matt
  • MS 66. Market Value: $786.
    Buy/Sell/Trade Rainbow Morgans
  • The market value--I saw where one recent 1930S Buff went for $1610. I do believe that the market value for your coin would have to be real close to $2500 and possibly more with the toning. It is so hard to tell with toned coins!!!!!!imageimage
    Speer34

    imageimageimage
  • I will go with an MS64 and value it at.... $250

    -David
  • airplanenutairplanenut Posts: 22,148 ✭✭✭✭✭
    MS66; $2900
    JK Coin Photography - eBay Consignments | High Quality Photos | LOW Prices | 20% of Consignment Proceeds Go to Pancreatic Cancer Research
  • I'm in...PCGS MS-66 to NGC MS-66 Valued at $3,000.image
  • RGLRGL Posts: 3,784
    Love the toning, good strike, nice luster ... just a little chatter above the braid. MS-67* (star) in NGC -- was or would be MS-66 at PCGS. Market value: $1,125 image
  • I personally think that the prize should be that exact Buffalo, and not some crummy quarter.
  • TonekillerTonekiller Posts: 1,308 ✭✭
    Hmmmm.....A $40 25c and a $25 5c. Not bad for a grade and value question........and your forgetting the free potato peeler! image
  • i really do need that potato peeler. my wife makes me use a plastic knife.. and when i'm done the potatoes, i have to mop and shine the floor...i'm a regular cinderfella
  • airplanenutairplanenut Posts: 22,148 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I need the 5c! (when does someone ever say they want the less valuable item?) Must have UNC buff in collection...
    JK Coin Photography - eBay Consignments | High Quality Photos | LOW Prices | 20% of Consignment Proceeds Go to Pancreatic Cancer Research
  • I'm a newbie, but I would guess MS-63...there appears to be a print by the back of the neck and a slight scratch by the nose...value, around $100.00...probably more with the toning.....beautiful coin either way...
    eBay Auctions
    Computer Services
    What did the doe say when she came out of the woods?.....Last time I do THAT for a buck! image
  • I'm going MS-65 because no one on the forum has picked it yet!
    USPI minimalist design collage
    image
    designset
    Treasury Seals Type Set
  • MS62 $115
    NMFB ™

    image
  • hookedoncoinshookedoncoins Posts: 1,231 ✭✭✭
    Its a MS66... as to market value... I will say... $634.34... just a guess from me:-d.

    -Jarrett Roberts
  • ms-66
    priceless
    image
    Looks like it should 67 someday,or at least, a ngc 66*.
    A dealer once asked me if I noticed any three-legged buffalos on the bourse,to which I replied,"...no,but I saw alot of two-legged jackasses..."
  • BlackhawkBlackhawk Posts: 3,898 ✭✭✭
    MS-66, market value of $1975.00
    "Have a nice day!"
  • darktonedarktone Posts: 8,437 ✭✭✭
    MS 66 value $1450.
  • jomjom Posts: 3,441 ✭✭✭✭✭
    MS67 Market value? Who knows? How do you define "market value"? What someone might pay? I dunno... $2000?

    jom
  • MS67, market value $2250.00.image
    USAF VET. 1964 -1968
    Proud of America!

    I Have NO PCGS Registry Sets!
  • orevilleoreville Posts: 11,953 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That 1930-S nickel has got to be a PCGS/NGC MS-66 and the retail market value should be around $1950.

    Let me tell you how I arrived at that grade and retail value.

    #1 The coin is struck a little soft in the hair above the braid but to the upside has exceptionally clean surfaces particularly in the fields but that would not normally garner more than a MS-65 on its own merits as a stand alone.

    #2 However, the reverse is a knockout!!!!! That is a MS-67 reverse even without the toning!!!!!!! Overall the coin balances out to a MS-66. It would have been criminal to have graded this coin an overall MS-65 (as it was probably graded long ago) with a reverse such as that!!

    #3 The toning definitely confirms this coin as a solid MS-66.

    Whether NGC graded this a MS-66* or not is irrelevant since NGC even admitted that the * is NOT a grade.

    It is a near full premium quality MS-66 since the toning is magnificent and the reverse is also magnificent but the softness of the obverse being the more important of the two sides of the coin does keep this coin from achieving the stratosphere of the fully priced $2200 (for a full PQ coin) as per PCGS price guides.
    A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!
  • GaCoinGuyGaCoinGuy Posts: 2,761 ✭✭✭✭
    MS-65 Value.....$650 That is one very nice Buff
    imageimage

  • TonekillerTonekiller Posts: 1,308 ✭✭
    You guys are letting me down on this one. Hint retail values with color premiums. Good luck!
  • PlacidPlacid Posts: 11,299 ✭✭✭
    Can we make more than one guess on the price?
    If so $5,250.51 image
  • bigtonydallasbigtonydallas Posts: 1,126 ✭✭✭
    MS66 - Value $3,500 ! Can't tell from these scans but it might be a DDO as the numerals in the date are a bit thick!
    Big Tony from Texas! Cherrypicking fool!!!!!!
  • This is my second guess on this:

    MS-66, retail with toning premium, $3800????
    eBay Auctions
    Computer Services
    What did the doe say when she came out of the woods?.....Last time I do THAT for a buck! image
  • orevilleoreville Posts: 11,953 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Tonekiller: The retail value is whatever the market will bear. Beautifully toned buffalo nickels have not yet hit their stride market value wise.

    Selling it off now will be giving it away since that coin will do very well in the next year or two. image

    But with that obverse strike weakness the pricing has to be limited or the buyer is going to overpay just for really nice toning. Tnis is the reality of that coin.

    I stand by $1,950 as current retail price. I don't want to quote future prices just yet.
    A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!
  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,274 ✭✭✭
    MS66, $3800, and Thursday is 8/22 not 8/21.
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • TonekillerTonekiller Posts: 1,308 ✭✭
    Thanks for the date screw up. I edited the date.

    Buff's have been hot for the past 6 months with colored ones going for crazy monies. If it gets better in the next year, that will be good for the future owner of this coin. image

    TBT

  • Tonekiller,
    I will guess that this Buff crossed from a PCGS66 to a NGC67 and would retail for $4500.00.


    Gary
    Gary
    image
  • What the heck - MS67 with a market value in excess of $6000. That is a beautiful buffalo that I would love to have in my collection!
    Cecil
    Total Copper Nutcase - African, British Ships, Channel Islands!!!
    'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup'
  • orevilleoreville Posts: 11,953 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I never liked buying what is ultra hot as a collector. Too easy to get caught up in the hysteria.

    If that made a NGC MS-67, I don't know what I will do.

    I can't speculate on added value for premiums on magnificently toned coins since I prefer to get them by the roll at no more than 10% to 15% above ASK as in the case of the buffalo nickels. image
    A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!
  • I will say ms67 value $12600

    DAN
    United States Air Force Retired And Would Do It Again.

    My first tassa slap 3/3/04

    My shiny cents

    imageThe half I am getting rid of and me, forever and always Taken in about 1959
  • gsaguygsaguy Posts: 2,425
    TBT,

    Do I get to guess too???image

    GSAGUY
    image
  • prooflikeprooflike Posts: 3,879 ✭✭
    Technically it is a 65, but market graded MS66 and should go for an outrageous $4400 image

    image
  • TonekillerTonekiller Posts: 1,308 ✭✭


    << <i>TBT,

    Do I get to guess too???image

    GSAGUY >>




    No, that would be cheating! image

    TBT
  • jomjom Posts: 3,441 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Orville: Good grade analysis but if the luster is as good as the picture shows (how can it not?) then it's a solid 67 to me. BTW, that strike is FAR better than most I've seen for a 30-S.

    jom
  • CalGoldCalGold Posts: 2,608 ✭✭
    I don't know a thing about buffalo nickels. Don't know how to grade them or what they are worth.
    Since all of the smart guys have taken all of the informed guesses I will say branch mint proof 65 value $100,000.
  • gsaguygsaguy Posts: 2,425
    Calgold,

    Finally.........................someone that knows less about buffs than I!!!image

    GSAGUY
    image
  • TonekillerTonekiller Posts: 1,308 ✭✭
    4 hours to go before she is posted on eBay and all is reveled. Revise your answers.

    No one has hit the grade, but many have come close! The value is subjective.........in the eye of the beholder.......several are close and one will win.


    TBT
  • Ms60 and it will go for around 11 thousand, image

    edited: to ms60
  • CalGoldCalGold Posts: 2,608 ✭✭
    If "many" have come close, eh? I guess that excludes me. OK, I'll revise my guess to MS68, which is close to the 67 that "many" have guessed, and I'll call the market value $14,500.
  • i thought ms68 too, but there seems to be no none graded that high at all?????
  • jomjom Posts: 3,441 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>No one has hit the grade >>



    Really? Wow..

    OK, how about AU58! image

    jom

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