Shield Nickel & Error people! Opinions please!

ms70

I picked up this 1872 Shield Nickel today at Parsippany (PCGS MS64). It's a really nice example with long die cracks & some other
interesting features that I'd love to hear opinions on.

First is the "S" in "CENTS" on the reverse. The bottom of the "S" fades out & then fades back in. I initially thought it would be a
filled die error, but it fades out & in so evenly and you can see the metal flow through the space that matches the other areas of
the field. Now I'm not so sure what to call it.

Secondly, the "8" in the date is definitely over another character, but I can't tell what it is. I can't get the pic any clearer but I was
hoping someone here would know if there was a known variety of this nature.

Tell me what I've got here!

airplanenut

You've got a coin you want to send to me

Placid

1872

K05-10 Doubled/repunched date includes:

K05-11 Doubled date.
BREEN 2490
K05-12 Repunched date, north.
FS-007.6

K05-13 Repunched date, west.
FS-007.7

K05-14 Small/large date, 1 punched northwest, and the 8 is punched into the ball.
FS-007.8

K05-20 Doubled obverse includes:

K05-21 Strong doubling on annulet, shield, leaves north on cross and intersection of lines in shield.
CONECA 1-O-III, FS-007.2

K05-22 Slight doubling north northwest on cross, upper shield, annulet and leaves, southeast.
CONECA 2-O-III, BREEN 2492, FS-007

K05-22.1 Die break from rim south southwest through upper TED in UNITED, hub break on lower S in CENTS.
CONECA

K05-23 Doubling north northwest on cross, annulet, upper shield and leaves, proof.
CONECA 3-O-III

K05-24 Strong doubling north on cross, annulet, leaves, upper shield, berries and lines in shield.
CONECA 4-O-III, FS-007.3

K05-25 Slight doubling north on cross, annulet, upper shield and leaves.
CONECA 5-O-III

K05-25.1 Die break from top of cross southwest through left tip of cross to leaves.
CONECA

K05-26 Tripling on annulet, cross, shield and leaves, north and south.
CONECA 6-O-III, FS-007.4

K05-27 Doubled annulet, south.
FS-007.5
K05-30 2 in date is .

K05-31 Partially filled.
BREEN

K05-32 Filled.
BREEN

ms70

Man Placid, that was FAST! It'll take me a bit to figure all that out.

Thanks!

joeyuk

Cherrypickers' shows 12 varieties for that date. But nothing in the bottem loop of the 8.

darktone

I think there is much unexplored territory in this series from my few experiences with varieties. From what I found out varieties in this series don'e add much value but they are neat. mike

ms70

It just hit me that the best way to describe the "S" is that it looks the same as the "broken wing" variety of the
Flying Eagle Cent. It has the same appearance as the separated wing tip. A smooth transition from the device
to the field & back again. It almost looks like it was intentionally made like that.

joeyuk

could a filled die give that appearance?

Placid

K05-22.1 Die break from rim south southwest through upper TED in UNITED, hub break on lower S in CENTS.

Whats a hub break look like?

Conder101

The missing bottom of the S is caused by a broken hub. The shield nickel series has LOTS of coins struck from dies created with broken hubs. The most common areas showing missing detail for broken hubs are the bottom of the S in Cents and the top of the first S in States. 1868 nickels with the reverse hub of 1868 usually show hub breaks on both the S's mentioned and the bottom of the C in Cents is usually gone plus breaks on a couple other letters.

291fifth

There are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of minor varieties in the Shield Nickel series. Because the series isn't very popular the varieties bring little if any premium in 99% of the cases. I've always liked the series myself but have no illusions about it ever becoming popular. It isn't going to happen.