It's obviously not a common coin, yet it doesn't seem like anyone knows it's true value... I own 10 of them... 8 from back in the early 1990's when I specifically would buy rolls of nickels to look for them, and 2 more in approximately 60,000 nickels I've gone through in the past 4 1/2 months... It should be in the Cherrypicker's Guide, but it's not... for whatever reason... Does anyone know what the true value of this coin is? Not even my local coin dealer (who has been in the business for 40 years) is sure. My examples range from this XF/AU coin I found a few weeks ago to several BU examples.
@John77 By "No FS", do you mean there is nothing on the reverse? That is the only reason I can find to justify why you didn't post a photo of the reverse. To me, its true value is 5c and will always be 5c. Give it time, though! It wasn't too long ago that miniscule die cracks and die chips weren't worth anything more than face value, either. Now, there are bidiots who've been "trained" to seek them out. Chris
I only didn't post the reverse because it didn't seem important... are you confusing the missing designers initials on the Obverse with Full Steps on the Reverse?
FS on a nickel refers to the steps on Monticello, not the designers initials. FS being "Full Steps". Your picture is too small to determine if the designer's initials are missing from a Mint error or from a grease filled die.
There are a number of potential different causes for missing designer's initials on a Jefferson - grease on the die, polishing, maybe a slightly tilted die (the initials are so close to the edge that they'd be the first things to disappear). None of these things amount to any sort of "major error" worth significant additional money. It's not in the Cherrypicker's Guide because it could happen to any coin, on any strike. I'm sure someone could hype the feature enough to get extra value from Ebay bidiots, but they're hardly "rare" as your experience shows.
I'll have to find the original article for you from Numismatic News and/or Coins. The initials "FS" were left off the die.
It's actually both the designers initials and the steps. But that's o/t and for another thread. The original articles from Numismatic News and other publications say this is a real mint error... I'll try to find them online. As for the coins, I'll get my 10 examples together and some close-ups in a bit.
Yes, please. If it's a case where they were "left off" the die - not possible; they're in the hub - then it would likely be a polishing artifact. That being the case, it becomes a question of publicity and hype, as some such cases (No-leg Buffalo) actually *do* become designated, collectible errors. Others - too numerous to count - do not and we don't hear about them. It's a values judgement whether polishing artifacts are "listable errors" or not. Me, I lean "not."
Thanks for the response, SuperDave... Interestingly, the Cherrypicker's Guide does have some die polish errors, such as the 1916 Buffalo Nickel missing the "F" under the date, listed... I really wish they would either list all of them or none of them. It would make life a lot easier... oh well. At least I finally have an answer as to what their value is.
Well, don't take my answer as definitive - the list of value-added errors I'm unaware of is far larger than the list of those I know about.
