A lovely coin, with deep mirrors contrasting with heavily frosted devices. This nearly perfect example simply has to be one of the finest survivors of the scant 2,350 nickels struck in this ‘proof only’ year.
That means the United States government struck just $117.50 worth of nickels in 1878, which hardly seems worth the effort to us.
In The Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coinage 1722-1977 (Dave’s all-time favorite coin book, by the way) Walter Breen describes this issue as follows:
"Only one die variety seen; rare earliest state has shaft of 7 in lower loop of last 8".
This coin is one of those early die states, as the shaft of the 7 is plainly visible. Quite neat, actually.
Mr. Breen also posits that all of these were included in the 2,350 proof sets sold in 1878 (including the 3 piece "minor" proof sets), nearly 100% which have since been broken up for the proof-only 3c nickel and shield nickel.
$0
To order or inquire about this item, call us at 1-800-Coins-99 or email us at John@CoinRaritiesOnline.com or complete the form at the bottom of this page.