help identify coin

[fongu]

I did a little metal detecting at my local church today and found 1 penney from 2002 and a coin from 1911. I think it is a nickel, but due to corrosion I'm not sure. The face looks like a ladies face and has stars all around the face in a circle at the edge of the coin and the back has what looks like a V.

 

[dahut]

I did a little metal detecting at my local church today and found 1 penney from 2002 and a coin from 1911. I think it is a nickel, but due to corrosion I'm not sure. The face looks like a ladies face and has stars all around the face in a circle at the edge of the coin and the back has what looks like a V.

Its called a Liberty Head Nickel, more popularly known as the "V" Nickel.

When it first appeared, enterprising crooks gold plated them and passed them off as $5 gold pieces. The word "CENTS" was added after that first year, since it had inexplicably been left off the initial issue.

 

[fongu]

thanks a lot. I suspected it was a V nickel, but did not know it was a Liberty head. cleaned it off a little with a brass brush, but still badly corroded.

 

[dahut]

thanks a lot. I suspected it was a V nickel, but did not know it was a Liberty head. cleaned it off a little with a brass brush, but still badly corroded.

They normally suffer badly from exposure. Try soaking it in Worchestershire sauce.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah they used to stamp the number five on them so they couldn't be plated and passed off as a five dollar gold piece. I have one of them.

Bill