1918/7-D 5C FS-101 MS64 PCGS Secure....

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Sold on Jan 4, 2018 for:

$66,000.00 Bid Source: Live: Floor bidder

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1918/7-D Nickel, Well-Struck MS64
Immeasurably Rare This Fine

1918/7-D 5C FS-101 MS64 PCGS Secure. Coinage of subsidiary denominations in 1918 was high. The Mint Director's Annual Report for June 1918, stated:

"The fiscal year 1918 was for the Mint Service the most active in its history, the three coinage mints at Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver working 16 to 24 hours per day for the greater part of the year to keep up with the demand for coin of denominations below the dollar."

The Philadelphia Mint struck more than 32 million nickels in 1918, with Denver and San Francisco contributing another 8.3 and 4.8 million coins, respectively. While all three issues are generally plentiful, even in Mint State, there exists among them a variety that is both intriguing and conditionally rare: the 1918/7-D. The overdate was created in the Philadelphia Mint engraving department when a working die was hubbed with two different dates. Due to the massive work load on the engraving department during this period, it is likely the overdate occurred as a mistake, and not a deliberate usage of an outdated obverse. Examples of the 1918/7-D are known in very early and late die states, indicating that this was a fresh die at the beginning of production and was used throughout a normal coinage period. The number of surviving examples in circulated condition attests to a healthy mintage figure.

Uncirculated 1918/7-D nickels are conditional rarities. Since our Permanent Auction Archives began in 1993, we have handled a Mint State coin on only 40 occasions, including some impaired pieces. The finest of these have graded MS64 and MS65. Our most recent offering of a Mint State 1918/7-D was in lot 5167 of our January 2014 FUN Signature sale where an MS64 coin garnered $64,625. A few months earlier, a Gem PCGS coin realized $258,500 in lot 5535 of our August 2013 Rosemont Signature auction. PCGS and NGC each report a single MS66 coin, although the two listings may represent the same piece since none in that grade have ever sold at public auction.

This near-Gem is impressively well-struck for a Denver Mint product of this period, and light golden toning graces satiny luster on each side. Minor metal flowlines in the fields reveal die deterioration on this piece, along with a few minor cracks visible beneath a loupe. Eye appeal is generous in the absence of obtrusive abrasions. We look forward to placing this coin with the collector of a high-end date and mintmark variety set. Population: 24 in 64 (2 in 64+), 4 finer (10/17).
From The Rafferty Collection of Nickel Coinage.

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 22RJ, Variety PCGS# 38446, Base PCGS# 3939)

Weight: 5.00 grams

Metal: 75% Copper, 25% Nickel

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