Shield Nickel Rarity - Help Needed

Cladiator

Ok so shield nickels are about as far away from my arena as you can get so any help here is GREATLY appreciated. A friend of mine picked up this nickel the other day and had some questions that I just couldn't answer but I know some of you here can. First of all, I know the pics aren't all that great but they're all I have...for now, if better pics come I'll post them.


Technical stuff:
For the 1866 Shield Nickel there are only 3 known varieties with the "3 leaf obverse". Fletcher 18, Fletcher 24 and Fletcher 25. We know this is not Fletcher 18 or 25.

The obverse matches up to the obverse described by Fletcher for the Fletcher 24 coin (obv. hub A). The die crack from bottom rim, though "6" into the ball is very evident. The coin plainly has only 3 leaves in the second cluster from the top on the right. The "8" in the date lines up perfectly for the placement mentioned by Fletcher. Lastly the coin exhibits the circular lines in the fields around the lower cross. Ok so we've solidly established that the obverse matches the Fletcher 24.

The reverse is where the questions arise. Fletcher describes a die crack along the top of "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and it is clear that this coin does not have such a crack. The coin is pretty well circulated but even under a 10x loupe no evidence of the crack can be seen. This is the only descriptor listed. The reverse die on this particular coin seems to be perfect with strong details, no cuds, cracks, retained cuds, lapping, etc... which leads me to believe that it's not a coin struck with a late die state reverse die. I don't believe the weakness seen in the dentils (or lack thereof) at the lower left side of the reverse rim to be typical strike weakness as it perfectly matches the obverse cud along the corresponding denticle area which would explain it.

Could this be an example of a very early die state of the Fletcher 24 where the reverse crack has not yet appeared? Or, could this be the obverse from the Fletcher 24 paired with a previously unknown reverse die? These questions are pressing as the Fletcher 24 has a rarity rating of URS2 meaning there are only 2 known to exist.

There is also the chance that my friend and I have no idea what we're doing so please help

Sunnywood

Cladiator, you are on the right track. Fletcher's comments about the reverse die crack would only have pertained to the specific one or two examples he examined. In the Yahoo shield nickels group, specialists including myself, Ken Hill, Howard Spindel and others have examined all of our collectoive examples of particular varieties, such as the famous "18666" (FS-001) obverse. For each obverse variety die, where we had enough examples between us, we were able to track the progression of the reverse. There was often a change of reverse within the life of one obverse. Thus you might be looking at an earlier die state of the reverse than Fletcher saw, or perhaps a completely different reverse die. With shield nickels, because of the rapid die failures (especially in 1866), it would be perfectly normal to have an obverse die paired with two different reverses, and to see widely different die states.

The URS rating is largely irrelevant. Not enough work has been done tracking done these varieties and creating a census. But one thing we can say: each individual die variety represents (of course) just one obverse die. In the early days, each die typically yielded anywhere from 5000 to 12000 strikes. So any ONE variety is rare. Some seem to be more available than others. I would recommend the following resources to those who are interested:

Yahoo Shield Nickel Group

Shield nickel website created and maintained by specialist Howard Spindel.

Best,
Sunnywood

Cladiator

Great info, thanks for the help Sunnywood

howards

Hi Cladiator,

The Fletcher book was issued in 1994. It is an excellent book, but many new shield nickel varieties have been found since then. I've been actively cataloguing them.

For 1866, Fletcher does report 3 missing leaf varieties as you correctly state. I have 3 additional missing leaf varieties for 1866 listed in my database.

Sunnywood did a good job of explaining that the comments in Fletcher will frequently be based on examination of a single specimen of a variety. Other examples of the same variety may be paired with different dies, or may exist in different die stages.

Attribution of missing leaf varieties is probably the most difficult attribution task a shield nickel specialist faces. The position of the date is of primary importance. After that, one has to look for die markers such as cracks.

While i would prefer to have an enlargement of the date, I am reasonably certain that your coin is indeed an F-24. The date position looks right. The die crack from the base of the 6 to the rim looks right, and I believe if I squint hard enough I can see an additional confirming die crack from the top of that 6 to the ball above the date. The die polish lines you mention (although I can't see them in your photo) are also confirmatory.

The F-24 photos in my reference database also do not show the reverse die crack listed by Fletcher. One of two scenarios occurred: 1) The die crack on the reverse developed later. 2) This obverse die is paired with two different reverse dies, the cracked reverse die failed and was replaced with a non-cracked die.

Your coin is a later die stage than my reference coin assuming that that really is a cud on your coin. Since your coin is probably close to terminal die stage and it is paired with an uncracked reverse, my opinion is that scenario 1 above is more likely.

If it important to you to resolve any of this to a greater degree of accuracy, I can probably do so if you can email me high resolution photos including a closeup of the date.

Sunnywood already provided you with links to my website and to the Yahoo discussion group I moderate, so I won't repeat them. My email address, if you want it, can be found on the website.

Regarding rarity, I concur with Sunnywood's comments. Additionally, some analysis I've done has lead me to believe that survival rates in reasonable collectable condition for coins from any particular shield nickel die average between 1/10 of 1% and 3/10 of 1%. In 1866, average die life was about 10,000 strikes per die. So, we would expect perhaps 10-30 specimens of each 1866 variety to remain available today. For most 1866 varieties it seems to be on the low end of that range. Certain varieties, like the FS-001, appear to be towards the high end of the range. That may be because the FS-001 is a very dramatic variety, a Redbook variety, and people look for it. F-24 specimens could easily lie unattributed in collections.

Hope this helps.