libnick Nickels

LIBERTY NICKELS 1883 - 1912-S

Here is the second complete set of Liberty nickels that I have ever assembled in Uncirculated condition. This task was complete on November 3, 2006. As some of my coin friends know, I sold that first set a couple of years prior out of necessity in order to pay for a new car to replace one which had recently been wrecked (totalled - not my fault!).

The first set was composed of flashy "white" coins, with the goal being flash and brilliance. But I was always bothered by the notion that some, if not most, of the coins must have been dipped. Therefore, I changed gears somewhat with this second set, with my sights set on coins that display exceptional originality. I tried to obtain coins that were obviously not cleaned or dipped, and therefore, you will find that some of these coins display toning and even minor spots that could be removed through cleaning, but in my mind, attest to a coin's true originality. I have no doubt that some of these coins would upgrade if "improved", but it's easy to find "improved" coins, and much more difficult to find ones that have survived the ravages of time (and the ravages of coin dealers). I do think the 1885 was dipped at one time, and it has a light hairline in the left obverse field, so I grade it only MS-62. The 1886 is an attractive MS-63, while the 1912-S, though technically UNC, I think has had the toning "helped". Nonetheless, I simply haven't yet found a 1912-S that is perfect and yet still affordable, so I settled on this coin (at least for now). Some of the coins have subtle iridescence or color shifts that the camera could not capture, but the overall impact of the collection is well represented.

My notes show that two coins were removed from ANACS holders, six from NGC holders, and eight from PCGS holders. The balance have, to my knowledge, never been certified. The 1883 "no-cents" is actually a proof coin, the only one in the set. It was in an old NGC PF-64 holder, before the days of CAM and UCAM designations, and I consider it a fine cherry-pick, as it seems like an obvious proof CAMEO candidate by today's standards to me. The 1888 was purchased from Ed Hipps as a business strike (his opinion), but it is very proof-like. All the other coins are no-question business strikes. For your reference, this set cost me $13,235 over the course of two years to assemble!

The coins are set up in hypertext documents in such a way as to emulate the appearance of a Classic Dansco coin album. You may click on any of the three images above to see an enlarged page, and then, you may click on the thumbnail images of each coin to view a large and well-detailed image.