odd wear pattern/tooling? 19-s buff
ad4400
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I won this piece on a late night eBay auction for a song. Now that I am looking at it more closely the wear pattern seems off. The horn is much sharper than I would expect for the amount of wear elsewhere and the die characteristic for the date. The roundness of the hump above the rear leg also seems pretty darn round for the amount of wear that appears elsewhere on the coin.
Interested in opinions as to whether I will be disappointed in hand or if I just lucked out on this one.
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No expert here but it looks ok to me
I will see what the experts here say
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Not an expert either, but looks like a normal XF 1919S. I think the dark "crud" in all the recessed places is playing tricks on the eyes though.
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Looks OK to me... I do agree that the crust/crud gives it a 'different' look though.... Cheers, RickO
Doesn't quite look right to me, the high points look polished or something and the obverse rim looks beveled from about 11:00 to 6:00. With any luck maybe it's just the way the seller had the lighting set up and it works in your favor.
Collector, occasional seller
Perhaps after it stopped circulating along with other coins, which cause certain wear patterns we are familiar with, it was carried as a pocket piece for a while, which may have caused the light "burnished" effect. Still a nice coin.
Something seems 'off' to me. Example: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on the reverse... quite a bit of variance in the lettering; also it's spacing; the left side is very close to the rim while the right side is much further away and thinner. Almost like it was 'punched' into the die, but at an uneven angle and not aligned properly (which would imply a counterfeit). Back legs seem off to me also; the one towards the front seems a little thinner than usual?. Such a strong clear LIBERTY on the obverse not very common on buffalo nickels, especially branch mints?
It is now time for me to state my usual disclaimer, that I am not an expert in the buffalo nickel series. JMO on some points that seem to activate my radar.
Also on the reverse... the depressed area where FIVE CENTS is located... kind of odd in it's upper left corner, ... it is rounded? FIVE CENTS has uneven lettering?
It's a nicely struck coin for a 1919-S. It still has some weakness on the obverse - The top feather is not totally defined, and the center is struck a little light.
The obverse is struck slightly off center, making LIBERTY closer to the rim. This aides in the sharply rendered and bold details.
As far as the reverse goes, it does seem to have a strange wear pattern to it in places. I believe the originality of the coin shows a lot of contrast with the dirt residing in the inner design. This leads to the "look" of certain details and devices showing a different, more raised area on the hip and head of Black Diamond.
Yes.........it does look different. The horn is detailed, but the forehead is flat with the wear apparent. There also seems to be two or three die cracks from the head to the rim on this specimen (not really unusual, but noted).
The split tail at the bottom has wear from the hip going into it, and while that is not unusual, the wear usually advances from the left side of the hip toward the tail with no break.
That's the unusual part.
I definitely like the coin for the amount of wear it has as presented. I believe the dirt has some play in the overall look of wear. The coin, in my opinion, is not different enough from other Buffs to take notice of or raise any flags.
Nice coin, Alain.
Pete
Those late night/holiday ending coins are sometimes a gamble, sometimes you have to look at previous buyers feedback and know exactly what your bidding on. The lack of bids might be other savvy collectors who saw the same things you did but you pulled the trigger. I hope it works out in your favor...let us know once you get the coin in hand.
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It's been tooled with horizontal bars at the date.....at least that's what I see.
bob
Whatever is going on, has an interesting and overall attractive look about it.
peacockcoins
Thank you all for the well thought out commentary.
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Everything looks good to me except the horn. I'd like to see a picture with the light from below and the picture from above.
Sorry but I am in the "questionable" camp here.
Something is quite "off" about this coin.
It may not be authentic.
I don't like the looks of it.
The only thing I see is that it MAY have a re-tooled horn tip. That's an awful sharp horn compared to the wear and/or poor strike on the head.
I have a 1919 2F that looks just like that.
Not my series but the horn looks suspect. Maybe if another 19-s was posted in 40 or 45 I could then retract my expressed doubt
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