My shield nickel has a goofed up date

LanLord

I just received a book by Edward L. Fletcher Jr. that identifies different varieties of shield nickels.
I thought I'd see if I could identify some of the nickels I have with double die (or double strikes) and
various die cracks and date issues.

The first one I thought I try is a 1867 that has some fairly obvious doubling in the date. I can't seem to
identify this one from the book by the afore mentioned Mr. Fletcher.

Anyone with Shield Nickel experience have a guess? I was only able to get a closeup of the date,
there are also some pretty spectacular die cracks on this one. It's in a fairly high state of preservation
MS63 or 64, so I thought it would be easier to determine, but ... not for me. Any help?

Barndog

Our resident shield nickel expert (who has written an extensive supplement to the Fletcher text) is howards (user name). Likely he will note your post and give you an answer. Howard's web site with plenty of information and links to his Shield Nickel Viewer (attribution guide) can be found here: LINK

291fifth

There are many Shield nickel varieties that are not in the Fletcher book. A word to the wise from someone who once collected Shield nickels: Don't pay a premium for minor varieties.

howards

You have a pretty nice repunched date. While minor RPDs are legion in shield nickels, yours has enough spread from the primary date to be worth a premium. I like the flag of the 7 to the right of the primary 7.

I have located a couple of RPDs in my files that are similar to yours. I don't have enough information going on just a picture of the date to try to make an accurate attribution. First, I am assuming that this is an 1867 No Rays. If it's a With Rays, tell me that. Photos I could use include: An overall shot of the obverse, a closeup of the second leaf cluster on the right, and a shot of the date that is not quite as tight as the one you provided - try to get all of the ball above the date and the denticles below the date in the photo.

If you are not able to provide any more photos, my best guess is one I have catalogued as S1-3013 (which won't mean much to you without my reference in hand).

Barndog

OK, it took a month, but hey LanLord, he did reply with a great answer!

LanLord

Yep,

I can get those pics a little later on today. Unfortunately I need to take my wife to the doctor this morning, so I'll be a bit tied up.

As soon as I return, I'll add those pics.

Thanks for the reply.

BTW, you are correct, it is a no rays coin.

LanLord

Here are the close-up pictures of the 1867 shield nickel.

IGWT

This RPD is likely uncatalogued -- I don't see a match in Shield Nickel Viewer, Fletcher, P&M, or CPG (under either rev I or IIa). If Howard confirms, maybe you can make arrangements for including it in SNV. Thanks for sharing it.

LanLord

<< <i>This RPD is likely uncatalogued -- I don't see a match in Shield Nickel Viewer, Fletcher, P&M, or CPG (under either rev I or IIa). If Howard confirms, maybe you can make arrangements for including it in SNV. Thanks for sharing it. >>

This sounds pretty interesting, what is SNV? I suppose I should know that, and perhaps I already do, but the medication is kicking in too well . BTW, What would need to be done to include it in SNV?

Thanks for your information and for giving me kind of a cool bit of information for the weekend.

LanLord

I'm gonna feel really goofy if SNV is the Shield Nicke Varieties book I was talking about!!

howards

Sorry it initially took me so long to respond to you - I only check these boards sporadically.

I can't match the variety you have to anything in my files. "My files" is basically the same as the SNV that IGWT referred to. SNV stands for "Shield Nickel Viewer". It is my computerized reference for shield nickel varieties. You can read about it here if you like:

About SNV

The engraved leaf (outside leaf on the second cluster right) on your coin is a distinctive shape - that is what enabled me to rule out a match in my files.

It is more difficult to eliminate matches in Fletcher for which I don't have additional photos, because Fletcher only provides photos of one small portion of the coin. (In particular, Fletcher doesn't provide a photo of the engraved leaf, which would have been extremely helpful.) The closest match that I see in Fletcher is F-44, but I am reasonably certain that that is not a match because the relationship of the digits to the denticles appears different.

So, I would concur with IGWT that you have an unlisted variety. If you would like to be included in the pantheon of fame of SNV contributors, you can either send me the coin for photography or you can read the section of the SNV manual from the link above concerning submitting your own photos and see if you think you could do that. Based on the photos in this thread, I think you might be able to take the photos yourself - I would be happy to discuss that with you further after you read the manual page.

To save you some time, here's a direct link to the page about contributing photos:


Contributing Photos to SNV

howards

P.S. Judging from Fletcher's photos, F-46 was another possibility. But I have additional photos of that variety that allowed me to confirm that the engraved leaf is a different shape.

LanLord

Here are a couple higher resolution pictures of the nickel
Of which these and several others have been sent to Howard for potential inclusion in the SNV

IGWT

Congratulations on the discovery.