t-arc

For now, so-called "1964 SMS" pieces, are more the product of a bologna factory than of truth. RWB sure doth like his bologna, he uses this word frequently in posts. But I agree with what he says here.

So lets see, on an ngc slabbed coin you can have a plus on the grade, a star for superior appearance, and a “bean” from CACI for ? Good grief!!!!

Here is a monster color buffalo nickel which is being offered right now on da flea! (eBay).

And I have also run into 1936, 1937, and 1937d examples which were PL.

I have an ICG MS67 buffalo nickel which is fully prooflike. There is one die pair that has this complete proof like lustre to it and I suspect that these may have been specially prepared dies that were used to strike some really nice coins at the end of the 25 year run of the buffalo nickel. Very few seem to show up and I have never run into any au or xf examples from these dies, meaning they did not appear to have been released into circulation. Also the 1934-d and 1935-d on rare occasions also show up proof like.

picked this off of eBay, raw! 1913 type one three and one half legged buffalo nickel (and also a 2 1/2 feather)

I once bought a monster toned 1938-d buffalo nickel in ICG MS68. It really did look like a 68 believe me. In auction it went for $1000, double the $500 that I paid for it.

this has such a nice look to it that calling it “satin finish proof like” is not unreasonable!

my latest buffalo nickel pickup from eBay........

Just won this 1916 pcgs ms62 (secure) buffalo nickel with beautiful toning. Do you like this kind of wood grained toning. ms62 looks like a harsh grade for a coin as mark free as this.

The price of the 1913 matte proof buffalo nickel may be restrained by the availability of really nice ms66 and ms67 specimens at a reasonable price.

Got a book yesterday by Walter Breen entitled “The minting process, how coins are made and misnamed” published in 1970. This is a very rare book, one sold for over $150 a few years ago and an antique book shop in Pennsylvania had the copy I got priced at $165. I really wanted to read this book as I had been told by others that it was a good read, but was not willing to pay over $160 for it! All of a sudden the book seller reduced the price on his copy from $165 to $35, so at that point I bought it. It is over 150 pages and reads well, so looks like I got a good deal here. Has any one else ever seen this book? I did a search for this book and only found one other copy available, at a library in Maryland.

The relative mintages of the 1909 vdb matte proof Lincoln cent and the 1913 type one matte proof buffalo nickel are roughly equivalent. Yet the 09db is many times more expensive than the 1913 type one nickel. Is this all attributable to supply and demand? Or are there other factors in play here.

Today I received in the mail a copy of Walter Breen’s book “How Coins are Made and Mismade” published in 1970. This is a very rare book, well over 150 pages Seems very interesting. Has any one else ever seen or read a copy of this book? A copy of this books sold for over $150 in 2015 and was offered by an antique bookseller in Pennsylvania for $165 last year. He suddenly lowered his asking price to $30 so I bought it at that point, knowing how rare it was.

As far as I am concerned Way Down South, i.e. “Great Southern” is a great place to shop. And when buying a raw coin from them, like anywhere else, you just have to be careful. Their pictures are sometimes taken at multiple angles giving the coin more depth than it really has. But overall their pictures a pretty good, based upon my experience. (I think this coin shows rub on the hip and will come back “58” for that reason.)