Double sided shield nickel 0

[RWB]

This letter seems to describe a double sided shield nickel. I've found no follow-up letter and was wondering if a member might have some thoughts on this.

[RWB]

A follow-up letter of March 10 reveals that the nickel has a seam along the edge, hence, a glue job of two ground down coins.

Nothing else to see here --- move along, folks.

[Hoghead515]

17 minutes ago, RWB said:

A follow-up letter of March 10 reveals that the nickel has a seam along the edge, hence, a glue job of two ground down coins.

Nothing else to see here --- move along, folks.

One of those trick nickles.  First time I ever saw one of those, before I knew better, I thought it was some kind of mint error. Thought they accidentally put 2 obverse dies in mistakenly. Then found out how they was made and how the dies were made and found out its a fake. 

[Moxie15]

wonder who the expert was who pronounced it genuine. 

[RWB]

Then, as now, there are "experts" hiding under every rock and decaying leaf. Most mean well but don't know enough to be credible; others, however are malicious or perpetual liars who enjoy seeing others suffer.

[RWB]

The "experts" mentioned in Mr. Gibson's letter were likely of similar types we encounter even today. These are what I call the "Looks Like" experts. Back in 1889 it was "It looks like a genuine nickel," today this type says "Looks like a branch mint proof." In both instances there was not enough background knowledge for the "expert" to make a meaningful assessment, but the "expert" didn't understand this.

In the 1889 reply, a mint officer suggested looking at the edge for a soldered seam, along with weight, diameter and ring. (Nickels didn't have much of a ring, but a glue or solder job would simply go "thud.")

[JT2]

20 hours ago, RWB said:

Nothing else to see here --- move along, folks.

Thank you Obi Wan ........hahahah 

[Conder101]

On 1/21/2021 at 2:42 PM, Moxie15 said:

wonder who the expert was who pronounced it genuine.

This was in 1889.   Today after more than a century, and a lot more and better numismatic literature has been published, your average dealer (expert) still can't properly identify errors.

[VKurtB]

Nor much of anything else, for that matter.