An XF-AU 1912-S Liberty Nickel in a PCGS holder is a tough animal to locate.
keets
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I was separating some Lib Nickels at work the other day, circs that we buy over the counter. We sort them full rims/partial rims and I'll set aside anything prior to about 1893. It can be tedious to do while I try to tend the counter and do whatever else the boss-man requires. Typically, I will sit at my desk and since the PC is right there I play videos on Youtube to keep me awake.
Since I was working with Lib Nickels I did an eBay search for 1912-S PCGS to see what came up. I was sort of surprised --- of the two pages of listings there were two distinct groups, G/VG and MS64-66. Sprinkled amongst those were an occasional For VF without a single XF or AU graded coin. I assumed this is an accurate representation of graded coins and it struck me as odd, so I did a quick check at the PCGS pop report.
Nothing listed deviated from my search.
If I were to do a graph there would be a peak at VG8-VG10 with a decline till the XF/AU grades, the another peak at MS64 an a slight drop until MS66 which is the highest grade. This made me think of Barber coins from the exact same era which are sort of notorious for being hard to find in grades of XF. I have always thought that was due to the shallow relief, it doesn't seem to take very much circulation wear for the coins to go from AU down to VF25, which leaves a gaping hole in coins with good, readable detail in a circulated state.
It has taken me quite a while to gain an appreciation of Barber coinage although I have always liked Liberty Nickels. What was it about the design and the detail relief during that time period?? Everything seems very flat with the finer details susceptible to rapid wear. It robbed us of some nicely designed coins.
Al H.
Comments
Interesting observation, it's seems like many key date seated coins follow the same pattern.
Love Barber or despise Barber,one has to admit the Barber coinage did the job it was designed to do.The coins circulated extensively and yet have good detail remaining after being handled countless times in commerce.
Would it be possible to detect ice cream cone traces on V Nickels and Barber dimes with today's sophisticated technology?
Interesting observation there keets on 1912-S.i wouldn't hesitate to buy this date in XF-AU given the price is right of course.Scarce as hens teeth.Thanks for sharing.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
The Barber designed coins got killed during the Great Depression. At a time when collectors might have been setting them aside in grades like Fine or VF, they couldn't afford to do that. Also collections that were formed in the 'teens and 'twenties ended up getting spent because their owners needed to money and couldn't find any buyers for the coins.
A well-known dealer from the 1960's and '70s, Robert Batchler (He was probably around earlier, but it was before my time.), once had at partial 1904 Proof set for sale in his case with the Morgan Dollar missing. He told me that the family, who had owned the set, told him that the dollar had been removed and spent during the 1930s.
Charles Barber was quite good at designing coins that were easy to strike. His designs were not noted for great artwork and they generally did not wear all that nicely while in circulation. BUT I think that the economic hard times had a lot to do with why Barber coins are so scarce in the middle grades.
5---3---42---156---364---249---32
these are the PCGS pops for 1912-S, MS60-MS66. I believe those rolls yielded mainly MS63, MS64 and MS65 coins with perhaps a few MS66's, but certainly not to the point that they are plentiful. also, since this was the last year of issue and the first "S" Mint Nickel it accounts for many coins in better grades. the focus of my thought is that the coins tend to wear very fast from MS/AU to VF, then at a much slower rate.
that tends to be normal if the public is made aware or notices.
does anyone here have a nice XF and above 1912-S they'd like to show us.
Though I have never studied this, it has been my feeling that these coins seemed to have been struck with lower relief than other coins. Now, that being said, I could be completely wrong and what Bill discussed about the depression era may be the answer. I have just never seen a Liberty nickel with good relief... Cheers, RickO
apparently we need to employ the "quote" function or cut/paste more often because members can now delete their own replies. interesting..............
I have this one
There is an PCGS XF-40 on typecoins.com right now. When looking for my AU-58 my dealer was half serious when he said to get a MS-63 and wear it down to AU. Luckily I found one.
I sold mine a long time ago, as for Barber wear, I've always heard a story similar to Bill's. I talked to several family members who lived through the period and they all told similar stories. Modern people on "hard times" have no clue. Look at the pictures of bread lines.