1868 Doubled-Die Shield Nickel

hyf88

A very Happy Halloween to all!
This was a recent pickup and I'm having a difficult time figuring out if it's the F-40 or the F-42 in Fletcher's guidebook. A shame there is all of the damage and cleaning, but still happy to have found it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

- Bill

howards

The doubling on F-40 is to the southeast. The doubling on F-42 is to the southwest. Your coin is F-42.

You do not have pictures of the date position in Fletcher's book. On F-42, the date shows the large break under the first 8 and the die crack leading from the upper left of the 1 to the lower left of that 8 also seen in your photo, confirming the attribution. F-40 shows a small amount of space between the ball and the date, which does not match your coin, confirming it is not F-40.

The cud at 7-8 o'clock is another good confirmation of F-42. The example I have (in a higher grade) is an earlier die stage where the cud is not quite as advanced.

It would be good to confirm that your coin shows the Reverse of 1867. See: Reverse Hubs

As an aside, the very first shield nickel variety I ever bought was an 1868 F-42. Got it from a dealer's junk box. Didn't even notice the doubled die until I got it home, and I didn't understand what it was at the time. This was a very long time ago. You could say that coin launched my interest in shield nickel variety collecting.

CoinZip

There are some great varieties in the Shield Nickels.....I saw this one at the PAN coin show last weekend.

hyf88

Thanks, Howard. Your knowledge in this series is amazing!

howards

CoinZip - that looks like it could be FS-007.6 (F-104), but I am not 100% convinced. The repunching looks very slightly different in your photo, and the spiked ball looks different as well.

Did you buy the coin? Are you able to post more pictures of it?

Tookybandit

I love Shield Nickels!!!