recent 1914/3 buffalo nickel slabbed ATS

[t-arc]

Here are some pictures of a recent slabbing of the 1914/3 overdate buffalo nickel ATS.  

 

[RWB]

Did not know that the "3" in the date was really "(3)" .... Maybe it's really a "3?.eh...maybe.

 

Possibly a damaged or defective hub, but too many variations to be die mistake like the 18/17 nickel.

[WoodenJefferson]

I guess with enough imagination there looks to be the top half of a 3

[MarkFeld]

13 minutes ago, WoodenJefferson said:

I guess with enough imagination there looks to be the top half of a 3

To my eyes, the (alleged) top part of the 3 looks too wide and not pointed enough to be convincing. 

[e1cnr]

the bottom right of the 4 sure looks like over a rounded 3

[RWB]

Maybe David Lange can answer this question. Is the space between digits 1-9-1 identical for 1913 and 1914? Also, was a new master die created for 1914, or was there simply a master annual date die/hub pair created?

[physics-fan3.14]

I'm very skeptical that these are actually overdates....

[BruceS]

Don't see it?

[coinman1794]

If you have ever seen one of these in person, there is definitely an anomaly beneath the 4, and it does closely resemble the top of a 3. The problem, from what I understand, is that this anomaly appears on roughly half a dozen different dies and is likely, according to experts, a hub defect and not a true overdate (assuming there is a 3 under there). CONECA was doing a study on this a few years ago; I'm not sure what they concluded, but this page is available:

CONECA PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY

Hub doubling is not worth a premium, and a hub overdate could be equally valueless, considering it appears on all dies made from that hub (and, in turn, every coin struck from those dies). Yet, designated examples of this variety are very popular and expensive.

[physics-fan3.14]

I knew there were several different dies with an anomaly there. A hub overdate actually makes sense, and would explain why it was on multiple dies. I'm still not convinced that it was an overdate on the hub, though (as opposed to an ordinary die gouge or something). 

Kevin Flynn wrote an article a few years ago detailing many of the theories about these "overdates," and makes a pretty good case that they aren't. 

[t-arc]

10 or so different dies of this variety are listed in Ron Pope’s excellent book on abraded die varieties of buffalo nickels.  He has a whole chapter devoted to the 1914/3 varieties. 

This particular coin looks like a 1914/3, walks like a 1914/3 and quacks like a 1914/3.  It is a 1914/3!