Odd Silver Coin Find

[GB_Amateur]

16 hours ago, dogodog said:

I'm thinking of getting this coin graded. I looked around on the web and found some lower grades can fetch $500 to $700 not to bad! or trade for a new coil or two. I'm thinking this might be my best find money wise. Do you guy's think it's worth the money to have it graded ????

When you say "looked around the web", were you looking at prices realized or asked prices?  Are you referring to the exact same coin (i.e. 1885 nickel 3 cent piece)?  What were the grades quoted?  IMO the best place to get realistic pricing is Ebay (for sold items only).  Even Ebay has a fee, but it should be much less than an auction house.

Here is an explanation of the costs (explicit and hidden) for grading of coins.  My interpretation is that it will cost you about $75 at NGC.

 

[dogodog]

Yes, a 1885. I put it under my friends microscope it's definitely 1885. I browsed some auction houses (sold amounts) but did not check ebay, generally sold amounts on ebay are really not that accurate, I've found that most are over priced and have taken a long time to sell. That could be a good thing for me BUT I don't sell on ebay. I was going to contact the NGC to get a better idea if they think this coin might have some merit for a half decent price. I have a friend who's father who deals with some of jewelers and collectors in Philadelphia and was going to ask him for some advise. You sound very knowledgeable about these things. So do you think its worth the $75 to $100 to have this looked at ???? Like I've said coins are a very tricky item. I once went to Four different buyers to sell  a dozen Krugerrand's when gold was $1800 an ounce and only one offered me fair value of $1750, the others offered me $300 a coin. So I'm a little gun shy especially with a potentially semi rare coin. Coins are not in my wheelhouse outside of bullion. Sorry for the long response but I'm just not good with coin collecting, and you seem pretty good with this. I'll take all the help you can give me. THANKS so much for all the info you have given me so far

 

[GB_Amateur]

To be quite honest (and I hope this doesn't sting, because I don't say it for that purpose) I don't think your coin is worth very much as I explain below.

Let's consider who collects USA coins, and why.  There are multiple answers, but the two things are connected.  Some collect coins as an investment.  Some collect for the beauty (they are pieces of art).  Some collect for the challenge/fun of filling in a book with all known dates and mintmarks.  Some collect to show off to their friends how wealthy and suave they are.  The list goes on and on.

In reality there is a wide spectrum, but let's concentrate on just 2 or 3 slices.  The lower end (collect for fun and challenge) mostly do so by going through bank rolls of modern coins.  The highest end are typically investors and/or the very wealthy.  This group buys their coins, sometimes from dealers, sometimes at coin auctions.  They almost always want either proof coins (those minted for collectors or for presentation to 'important' people such as government officials and never meant to see circulation) or uncirculated coins.   The latter are a subset of the so-called 'business strikes' -- meant for commerce and thus for circulation.  But some of the latter never actually make it into circulation as they are intercepted at the bank before they are ever unbagged or possibly they've been unbagged and rolled but otherwise not handled.  These are understandably labeled 'uncirculated' but there are actually 11(!) grades of uncirculated, depending upon how much they were jostled at the mint and in their mint-sealed bags during transport.

Most have heard the following cliche's but they are worth repeating.  The three most important things in real estate are:  location, location, location!  The three most important things in coin collecting are:  condition, condition, condition!

So, do circulated coins have value?  All coins made of precious metals have bullion value.  But some of those and some non-precious metal coins have collector value, if they are scare/rare enough and if there is a demand among collectors.  Some even are desirable among the investor/wealthy category of collectors, but they must be otherwise very difficult or impossible to find in uncirculated condition.

I've oversimplified the classification of collectors.  Some actually pay moderate amounts for their coins.  In particular, those who try and fill a book with every date and mintmark will be willing to pay considerably for the higher ciruclated grades, and maybe even some of the lower grades.

Here's an illustration of most of the grades for your type coin, the nickel 3-cent piece.  Imagine yourself a collector: which grades would you prefer over the coin you actually found?  (BTW, there are a couple even lower grades than shown:  Poor-1 and Fair-2.)

Finally there are one or two unofficial categories that cover damaged coins, known as 'culls' and 'fillers'.  'Culls' have a condition that is so bad they've been culled from the others.  'Fillers' mean they can be used to hold a spot in someone's book or collection until a better specimen can be found and/or afforded.

So where do I think your coin fits?  I can see that when it was dropped in the ground the grade was pretty high, based upon the lines you seen in the roman numeral III.  The date looks pretty strong, too.  However, the earth has not been good to it, and that is typical of cupro-nickel coins in general.

There is certainly a bias in the coin collecting community against cleaned coins, but that's just reality.  There is also potentially a bias against damaged coins.  Both of these are at least partially related to beauty.  If you're going to collect a coin, you like it to look nice (to your eye, in the very least!).  Cleaned coins and damaged coins look different than those that haven't experienced these, and as such are perceived as less desirable.  But (another cliche') "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Bottom line is that in my opinion you have a filler coin.  It might clean up some, but I wouldn't bank on that.  (How/when/why to clean coins is a very difficult and controversial subject and one I'm not even close to properly knowledgeable in.)  IMO, sending your coin to a certification service and paying the ~$75 or so fee would not be a worthwhile investment.

As I mentioned previously, from a treasure hunter's view you've made a fantastic find.  The chances I'll ever find such a rare coin is miniscule.  The number of detectorists on this site who have found a USA coin with this low a mintage can probably be counted on one hand, and maybe a hand showing no fingers.  But rarity does not always translate to value, and I feel that is the case for your coin, even to an extreme.

 

 

 

[dogodog]

Thank you ,  You just verified my thoughts. I appreciate all the effort and time you have given me. I hope to be able to return the favor one day.

[oneguy]

Ditto what GBA said... unfortunately with the enviremental damage that nickel coins take when in the ground with all the pitting, etc. that alone will pretty much make your excellent find kinda worthless...except for the fact that you found it....

Take some steel wool and rub the coin to accent what few highlights the coin still has and put it in a flip and add to your collection and enjoy it....  don't worry about hurting the "value" as it really has none in the condition it's in....jmo

Looking at the coin again it may be too far gone to even use the steel wool with any improvement?

Here's a pic of some nickels I've used the steel wool on and if you look closely at some of the real pitted ones it sometimes makes them look even worse....  so be careful.  Bottom line tho is you really can't hurt that coin much more.....imo