I have been collecting for a while but Im not sure about this one....

[gtfan76]

I have been collecting for a while but I'm not sure about this one....

I have an oppurtunity for an 1883 without cent v nickel in bu condition for 15 dollars. Should I go for it?

 

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[l.cutler]

Re: I have been collecting for a while but I'm not sure about this one....

That is a very good price if it is actually BU and has not been cleaned. I think they normally go for almost twice that in the lower BU grades.

 

[Diver_Down]

Re: I have been collecting for a while but I'm not sure about this one....

Make sure it hasn't been cleaned, but an 1883 No Cents is the more common one. They were heavily saved and $15 is the going rate for a BU. If you were at a coin show with lots of competition, you might be able to haggle it down to $10 if you were buying other coins. What you want to keep an eye out for is the 1883 with Cents. As you know, the latter variety was to correct the prior issue. It was minted later in the year and consequently wasn't saved.

 

[AU24K]

Re: I have been collecting for a while but I'm not sure about this one....

I read somewhere long ago that they had to change it and put "Cents" on the nickel because sharpsters were coating them with a gold wash and passing them off as $5 gold pieces.

Scott

 

[Diver_Down]

Re: I have been collecting for a while but I'm not sure about this one....

I read somewhere long ago that they had to change it and put "Cents" on the nickel because sharpsters were coating them with a gold wash and passing them off as $5 gold pieces.

Scott

True. They came to be known as Racketeer Nickels. Now, if you want a true collectible (genuine and not some third party knock-off), try and find a Racketeer Nickel. They will be very high grade (low grade one's are knock-offs) with the reeded edge and gold plated. Racketeers would carve the reeds in by hand with a file to pass off nickels as $5 gold pieces. Third-party knockoffs don't bother with the reeding and will just gold plate a low grade no cents V nickel and pass them off on late-night television. Finding a genuine Rackateer Nickel with the above features is definitely a storied piece.

 

[jrc79inNC]

Re: I have been collecting for a while but I'm not sure about this one....

Here is the story as I once read it about the 1883 without cents V nickel. There was a guy named Josh Tatum, that was gold plating these nickels. He went to the store and would purchase a 5 cent item. He would then pay with the gold plated nickel. Most of the time he ended up getting $4.95 change. Eventually he was caught and arrested, but was let go because he never asked for change. Supposedly this is where the term "I was only Joshing you" was coined from.

 

[Rooter]

Re: I have been collecting for a while but I'm not sure about this one....

Diver_Down is 100% correct. $15.00 is the going price. They actually minted about 3X the amount of "with cents" than "no cents" but I think more "no cents" were kept/collected as possibly being valuable in the future.