Found a washer in a roll of nickels or maybe WAY better???

[hokiemojo]

PICS ADDED - Found a washer in a roll of nickels or maybe WAY better

I ADDED PICS!!! See below.

I was hunting a few CWR of nickels tonight and they were all labeled with name/phone number (if I knew banks redistributed CWRs, I never would have written my name/acct numbers on them years ago when they told me that was required). He had dropped off about 15 rolls and the first 14 yielded two pre-59's, which I keep, but nothing else.

In the last roll, I found what I assumed was a rusty slug (false coin) of some sort. There hadn't been anything good to this point so I was pretty sure it ws a piece of junk metal, but none of the rolls were short on coins, so it would surprise me if someone rolled that many and then tried to sneak a slug through. I took it to the sink and ran it under water giving it a rub with my fingers. Sure enough, some stars appeared around the edge. a few more rubs and I could discern a face well enough to see it was a liberty nickel. It is in REALLY bad shape, but I'm pretty sure it is 188x. The last digit looked like an 8 but it my eyes are killing me. I don't have a loupe (i use the lens from a broken LED flashlight as a magnifying glass (-: ). Maybe it's an 1885 (I don't think so at all).

What recomendations do you guys have on how to proceed? Should I treat this as metal detecting find and clean it? Should I just keep it as is (a barely discernable coin). I think if I were to clean it, I could get a fully readable date. I'd really love your thoughts. By the way, the lowest grade 188X's in redbook are $7. This is lower grade than what redbook even portrays, but this could certainly be a rare find for a "found in the wild collection"... my only type of collection. Just wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks all!

 

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[BuffaloBoy]

nice find, it's probrably the key date of the series right? ha.
even if it was, i doubt it is worth anything because of the condition...
hh
buff

 

[Bigheed]

dunno, but a pic would be helpful

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Personally, I don't see how cleaning the coin can possibly hurt the value at all in this case. As a corroded V nickel with an unreadable date, I wouldn't think that the value could go any lower regardless of what you do to it. On the other hand, should that rare date appear, the value will go up. You have nothing to lose, but could gain a little by cleaning IMO.

I would say that this is an exception to the "never clean" rule.

 

[hokiemojo]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I was up past my bedtime trying to get some photos. I've never really had much sucess with the macro feature on my camera, but I think I got some servicable photos. I put the lens right up to the coin and used a flashlight for my light. Definitely not pro quality, but the best closeups I've ever taken.

I'll try to post them up tonight and if some others can weigh in on what they think they see as a date, we can see if cleaning is an option. I've got my guess as to what it is, but don't want to bias anyone other than to say my initial guess was about 5% certainty due to how tough it was to see. With the new photos, I think the confidence level I have in my guess will be higher once I take a closer look.

 

[jrf30]

I agree. this is an exception to the don't clean rule. I do that with buffalo nickels, too , and use the Nic-o-date for non readable years for buffs. :-)

Think of it this way. Whether it is worth $0.05 or $7, you are NEVEr go to sell it, so you might as well know what YEAR it is. right? :-D

 

[hokiemojo]

Here are some photos, as promised.

Here are a shot or two indicating the poor condition.





here are some with me trying to get the macro function to work.





I have to say, these pics make the coin look WAY better. to the touch, the coin has no texture and the image is nearly smooth. photos were a great idea. i can see far more than with my eyes alone, and i think i have good eyesight. can't wait to hear opinions.

 

[Merc Crazy]

Wow that's corroded to heck.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

I'm going with 1889. Very hard to tell.

 

[hokiemojo]

lol, it is REALLY bad but my oldest coin by probably 30 years (wheat penny is next). i think it's a good candidate for cleaning because i too tthink it is an 89. i'll post again after i sandblast it (or something a little gentler).