| J-167A? Maybe Not. (1855 Pure Nickel Four-Leaf LFE) Although the 6th Edition (and subsequent editions) of the Judd book refers to J-167A as R8 (2-3 believed to exist), it is possible that it does not exist. Judd's reference to this coin appears to be a direct citation from a November 1980 auction by New England Rare Coin Galleries. In that auction, Lot 1001 was described as "Unlisted in Judd. Similar to J-167 1855 1c, Nickel, MINT STATE-60, possibly unique in pure nickel. The strike is very weak and almost incomplete due to the hardness of nickel, and as such, the coin appears to be very good." I have not found any reference to a pure nickel large flyer in the US Mint records. However, as early as May of 1860, Edward Cogan offered to "pure nickel" 1855 large flyers at auction. In November of 1860, Bangs, Merwin offered a "nickel" piece in their Prime and Haines sale. Reference to a pure nickel 1865 large flyer was made at auctions several more times in the 1800s and early 1900s, including in Chapman's Bushnell sale of June 1882, wherein Lot 1793 is described as "Pure nickel. Weak impression as usual. Very rare." I am not aware of any further appearance at auction until the New England Rare Coin Galleries appearance. In his 1994 pattern book, Andrew Pollock, III refers to a pure nickel piece, but notes "Don Taxay…suggests that the records for pure nickel pieces may actually be misattributed nickel-alloy examples. We have no auction records of any verified specimens of the variety.” The coin pictured contains approximately 67% copper, 20% nickel and 13% zinc, making it a J-171A. Perhaps this is NERCG's J-167A. Or maybe the exceedingly rare J-167A is still out there waiting to be confirmed via SEM-EDX testing.... |
J-167A?
Rick Kay Rare Coins/Patterncoins.com
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