favorite Liberty Nickel: 1885. 1886 or 1912-s?

veryfine

I'm a big fan of liberty nickels because of the attractive design and small amount of dates needed to complete the set. It has variety, including a no cents type and only one date with branch mint specimens. Every year had a corresponding proof as well.

But I'd like to bring up the comparitive rarity of the 3 keys in grades, the 85, 86 and 12-s.

My personal favorite is the 1885 nickel. The 12-s has an extremely low mintage but as a last year issue, more exist in most grades. Plus, they are often unnatractive and weakly struck. The 1886 is a bit puzzling. In the mint state grades, the certified population is a little lower than the 85 but does anyone really believe that it is rarer in those grades? The 86 has more than double the mintage of the 85 and is from the same time period. I suspect more will turn up, reinforcing the key date status of the 1885 even more. What's your opinion?

pursuitofliberty

VeryFine,

Another good question IMO anyway.

I love the series also.

From my time in the series ... at solid 55 and above, the 86 seems to be a little harder to find ... but it's awfully close between the two (85 and 86).

I also do NOT believe that the number of extant pieces between the 85 and 86 will widen much, as you suggest ... at least not at the near MS to full MS levels. ANd if it does, it may be surprising which one truely does win out. Of course population figures are skewwed, and from date to date they can be off enough to make the real keys harder to find.

There's another that may be tougher still, but if I told you, I'd have to shoot you!

MikeInFL

I'm no nickel expert. Heck I can hardly count my own change, but why do you expect a large number of 86's to turn up? Do you think someone hoarded nickles?!? ...Mike

veryfine

It is possible that some uncirculated liberty nickels still reside in coins albums. Years ago, the 86 was considered somewhat of a semi-key and perhaps not worthy of any special attention, such as certification. Of course, this is just my theory and you could be right about mint state specimens, in that what we see is all that's out there. Anyway, if there are less 86s than 85s, it is most certainly by a small margin.

I also like other dates like 1894, 1895 and 1896

veryfine

<< <i>I'm no nickel expert. Heck I can hardly count my own change, but why do you expect a large number of 86's to turn up? Do you think someone hoarded nickles?!? ...Mike >>



I am suggesting a very small amount might turn up, enough to push ahead of the 85 in mint state population numbers. The numbers are very close for the two dates so it wouldn't take many for this to occur.

Barberman55

I like the 1885 out of the 3 keys. Do they refer to them as the "Big 3", (excluding the 1913), like they do the key date Barber quarters......only kidding. The 1912-s has a very high population of certified, MS coins, relative to it's low mintage.

I'm still kicking myself in the butt, for not buying a beautiful MS-64, NGC, 1912-s, for $1,380.00. It was about a year ago, and I bought a 1955 DD Lincoln cent instead.....big mistake. Both coins have increased in value substantially since then, but the 12-s increased more so. The 1912-s, in certified MS-64, currently retails for about $2,500.00 and up, count on paying quite a bit more for a choice PCGS example in this grade.

I bought a nice, ANACS, AU-58, 1885, a couple of years ago, along with a MS-63, NGC, 1886. Both of these coins were bought for my keydate type set......wished I had snagged that 12-s, to complete the keydate trio.

dbldie55

I like the 1885 in the business strike portion of the set. I do not think the trends will change between the '85 and '86 though. For the proofs, I would like to find some nice cameo specimens of the 88,89 or 04,05 dates.

GoYankees

Here's the only slabbed "V" nickel I own...

relayer

Even though it's not a key date on your list, my favorite is the 1883 no cents

LanLord

Actually 1886 is my favorite.

I have a nice 1885, which is generally considered the key, but 1886 seems to be harder to get as the conditions get higher and higher.

JMHO

Ronyahski

I think the 85 and 86 are overrated, at least when looking at the price premiums. They have been available recently in auctions, and the pop reports show that although they are amongst the rarest, there are other dates that are not far behind, at substantially less of a price.

I'll selfishly plug the 85 proof though as an extremely valuable date, as I own the pop 1 in PCGS PR68.

Draco

I like my 1912-D. . it's the only Denver mint liberty I own.

Elcontador

Agree w Ronyahski. The 1885s, 1886s, and for that matter, the 12S always, seem to be available. I think a lot depends on the grade that you seek. If you're looking at high end mint state coins - like MS 66 - the 1891 - 1896, inclusive IMO are the toughest dates. Truth be told, of the few coins of these dates I've seen, only one 1896 IMO was properly graded. It recently sold for $17,000 plus (incl the juice) at a Heritage Signature sale.

Forgot one thing. The '05 in PF CAM is also a very tough coin to find.

MFH

Having completed this set in high grade AU's - with a few MS thrown in for good measure - it was the 1886 which was the last coin I found.
Yet, my favorite date is the 1894. Its about the only coin I'd like replace in my set; however finding choice AU 58's is almost an impossibility.

Veryfine: Yet another good topic presented !