Jefferson Nickel Experts - Is this normal??

19Lyds

Picked this one up recently and got to looking at it. Is a 1943-S and the lettering on the obverse appears doubled in spots (The S in TRUST and the T in LIBERTY) but just plain ratty in other spots! Not a smooth stroke but almost chiseled or rough hewn! The inside edge above LIBERTY also looks like its flaking apart!







Another interesting "thing" with this coin is on Jefferson's hair. The coin almost looks tooled except that it clearly has not been as die polish lines can be seen inside one of the "grooves"..





I'd be interested in knowing if this is common for the "Silver" years.

jfoot13

All 1943 jefferson nickels exhibit some doubling of the obverse die due to a doubled master die... they are also notorious for laminations and flaking due to composition problems... for a 11 coin 4 year set there sure is a lot going on .. overdate.. doubled dies.. 450+ RPMs enough to keep you busy for a long time and best of all most of them are fairly inexpensive

csw

Are they really THAT great if you have to use a microscope? I never really understood that.

CaptHenway

<< <i>All 1943 jefferson nickels exhibit some doubling of the obverse die due to a doubled master die... they are also notorious for laminations and flaking due to composition problems... for a 11 coin 3 year set there sure is a lot going on .. overdate.. doubled dies.. 450+ RPMs enough to keep you busy for a long time and best of all most of them are fairly inexpensive >>



The engraving department's quality control went to heck during the war. 1943 was the worst. You had doubled master hubs on the nickels and the halves, and plenty of doubled working dies, especially on the quarters.

TD

19Lyds

<< <i>Are they really THAT great if you have to use a microscope? I never really understood that. >>



A microscope leaves no doubt as to what is being discussed or viewed and some of the finest varieties in the world are photographed with microscopes or macro-photography!

Thank you Kenneth & Tom. This is exactly the information I was looking for!