Rare 1973 Nickel Errors (List & Pictures)
A mint set containing a nickel struck in 1973 and again with 1974 dies sold for $1,897.50 in August 1997. That was the complete set’s price, not an isolated coin transaction.
The supplied 1973 nickel errors span estimated values of $5–$3,500. Compare the mintmark, amount of surviving metal, and design positions to separate small die features from wrong blanks and complex repeated strikes.
1. 1973 Nickel The D Sits Unusually Close to the Rim: Misplaced Mintmark Error
The documented low-D nickel has its mintmark lower than the usual position beneath the date. The letter was placed in the working die by hand, so an unusual position could repeat on coins from that tool.
The Fred Weinberg Collection example was graded NGC AU55, indicating circulation wear. Its feature concerns the whole D’s location rather than an overlapping second mintmark.
How to Identify
Align the date and rim of a normal 1973-D with the candidate at the same scale. Photograph directly from above, since perspective or cropping can exaggerate how close the letter sits to the edge.
Inspect the D’s base and nearby copper-nickel for disturbed metal or a seam. Philadelphia nickels of this year normally have no mintmark, so the correct comparison is another Denver coin.
What It’s Worth
$75–$350 is the estimate for a clearly matched low placement. The NGC AU55 example sold for $216 in May 2022.
The entire coin’s condition is included in that result. Ordinary small placement differences should not inherit the range merely because a D looks low in one photograph.
2. 1973 Nickel The Star, Date, and Letters Have Extra Outlines: Doubled Die Error
Two Denver front-doubling patterns appear in the supplied listings. The first includes LIBERTY, the star, date, and IN; the second also involves the FS initials and more closely spaced doubling near IN GOD.
The repeated design existed in the die before the coin was struck. It is not proof that the finished nickel received two blows.
How to Identify
Keep the date, star, and LIBERTY together in a close photograph and compare each pattern separately with the 1973 variety photographs. Check the small FS initials when assessing the second listing.
Rounded extra strokes or split corners provide more useful evidence than a flat shelf that narrows a letter. Reverse markers can support a match, but one ordinary polishing line should not outweigh a mismatch in the primary front details.
What It’s Worth
$15–$150 is the estimate for confirmed 1973-D doubled dies. Clear separation on an unworn coin is easier to collect than a pattern partly obscured by wear.
The listings provide identification evidence rather than completed sales establishing one fixed price. Flat strike doubling is a different effect and should not be valued as the same variety.
3. 1973 Nickel Small Ridges or Lumps Rise From the Surface: Die Cracks and Chips Error
A cracked die can leave a narrow raised line, while a small missing portion of steel can leave a wider lump. Coin metal entered the damaged tool during the strike and reproduced its opening.
The 1973 reports do not establish one location shared by all examples. A later scratch, dent, or attached lump must be considered separately.
How to Identify
Use side lighting to see whether the feature itself rises above the surface or has a cut center. Follow its meeting point with nearby letters to distinguish an original struck ridge from damage crossing completed detail.
A chip should belong to the coin’s own metal without a separate attachment seam. For general comparison, a normal loose nickel weighs 5 grams, measures about 21.21 millimeters, and has a plain edge.
What It’s Worth
$5–$75 is the estimate for modest cracks and chips. Large, readily visible features on attractive surfaces generally offer more interest than a faint line among circulation marks.
No particular cataloged 1973 die is assigned a sale here. Pushed-up metal around a dent does not automatically qualify as a die chip.
4. 1973 Nickel Unexpected Curves Match the Other Face: Die Clash Error
If the dies meet without a blank, they can mark each other and transfer those contact traces to later coins. A curve near Jefferson may then correspond to a portion of Monticello, or vice versa.
The 1973 clash reports do not establish a fixed location or mint for every example. Identification depends on a recognizable opposing-design match.
How to Identify
Choose a distinctive portrait or building feature in a normal reference and compare its curves, angles, and spacing with the unexpected marks. A second related fragment provides stronger evidence than one isolated line.
Keep polishing, scratches, and signs of squeezing separate from the proposed clash. Fragments should explain part of the actual opposing design rather than merely run in a similar direction.
What It’s Worth
$10–$100 is the estimate for a clear recognizable clash. No newly identified specimen is assigned a completed transaction in the supplied report.
Readable transferred shapes in ordinary photographs support comparison better than faint lines requiring extreme lighting. Wear and later scratches can obscure the evidence.
5. 1973 Nickel Most of the Blank Is Missing: Crescent Clip and Off-Center Strike Error
The recorded 1973-D weighs just 1.1 grams and was described as an 80% crescent clip. Only a small curved portion of the original blank remained to receive an off-center strike.
NGC graded the coin MS66, indicating unworn surfaces with relatively few marks. Its tiny shape reflects absent metal, not merely a large intact area that missed the dies.
How to Identify
Record the surviving date and Denver identification together with the full arc. Examine the curved boundary for an original clipped surface rather than saw marks, filing, or shearing through completed detail.
The recorded 1.1-gram weight belongs to this specimen, not every crescent-shaped candidate. Measure only the surviving outline and compare how the design meets the missing section without treating a cut-down nickel as an equivalent error.
What It’s Worth
$600–$1,750 is the estimate for a similarly dramatic clip with readable identity and preserved surfaces. The 1.1-gram MS66 example sold for $1,200 in January 2022.
The huge clip and displaced strike formed one coin and one sale. A normal-weight off-center nickel with a broad blank crescent is a different comparison.
6. 1973 Nickel A Displaced Strike Meets a Neighboring Blank: Off-Center and Chain Strikes Error
Denver examples struck about 55% and 60% off center also show contact with a neighboring blank. Side-by-side pressure shaped the meeting edge, an effect called a chain strike.
A separate Denver coin is about 80% off center toward 9 o’clock and has later damage. The 60% chain-struck specimen also has counting-wheel damage, distinct from its original striking features.
How to Identify
Compare intact unstruck metal with the area shaped by edge contact. Off-center design alone does not prove a chain strike; the neighboring blank must have left its own consistent evidence.
Use both faces to establish the displaced blank and match contact areas to the correct specimen. Do not transfer the separate 80% coin’s 9 o’clock direction to either chain-strike example.
What It’s Worth
$75–$1,500 is the range across these off-center and chain-struck examples. The 55% PCGS MS62 chain strike sold for $1,020 in May 2021, while the 60% example with counting-wheel damage brought $384 in August 2021.
The contact feature, readable date, and preservation all affect the comparison. Later damage remains part of the condition even when the original mint error is clear.
7. 1973 Nickel The Metal Belongs to Another Coin: Wrong Planchet Error
The supplied ordinary-strike records include a Philadelphia nickel on a layered dime blank, Denver examples on copper cent blanks, and Denver nickels on Philippine five-sentimo blanks. The recorded cent blanks are around 3.1 grams, while one Philippine example is 2.5 grams.
San Francisco Proofs include a 4.15-gram Liberian five-cent blank and a separate Philippine twenty-five-sentimo blank. The two Philippine denominations must remain distinct, as must ordinary and Proof manufacture.
How to Identify
Begin with the attribution record when a foreign denomination is claimed. Weight alone cannot identify every country or blank, so metal, size, and naturally cropped design must support it together.
For United States blank comparisons, cents begin near 19.05 millimeters and dimes near 17.91 millimeters, against the nickel’s 21.21 millimeters. Foreign blanks need their own specifications rather than a borrowed United States size.
Inspect the edge for the layers of dime metal or evidence of added plating. A coppery color alone does not establish a cent blank.
What It’s Worth
$250–$1,500 for ordinary wrong-planchet examples and $1,000–$2,000 for the foreign-planchet Proofs are the estimates. A Denver cent-planchet coin brought $360 in September 2024, and a Denver Philippine five-sentimo example sold for $1,320 in July 2021.
The Liberian-planchet Proof realized $1,207.50 in January 2011. Each result belongs to its own blank and preservation, rather than value increasing automatically as weight decreases.
8. 1973 Nickel Another Design Position or Another Year Survives: Multiple Strikes Error
Denver same-year double strikes include second blows about 55% and 75% off center. Their overlaps record a coin that failed to leave the press normally before receiving another impression.
A separate, more unusual coin was first struck in 1973, then flipped and struck inside the collar with 1974 dies. It remained in a 1974 mint set, linking two production years rather than two ordinary 1973 strikes.
How to Identify
On the two-year example, find the visible 1974 date, then inspect just right of M in UNUM for the faint surviving earlier 3. That fragment must fit the documented flipped design rather than an unrelated scratch.
Keep the mint-set context with the coin and do not treat it as an ordinary 1973-D double strike. For the Denver pieces, trace two coherent portrait or lettering positions through their intersections.
What It’s Worth
$150–$900 for comparable same-year double strikes and $1,500–$3,500 for the unusual two-year error are working estimates. The 75% second-strike example sold for $587.50 in July 2016.
The 55% example’s $1,092.50 August 2010 sale also included four other coins. The $1,897.50 August 1997 result bought the mint set containing the 1974-over-1973 nickel, so neither amount is an isolated coin price.
Conclusion
The surviving metal tells much of the story on a 1973 nickel: a 1.1-gram clipped arc, an intact off-center blank, and a lighter foreign planchet require different explanations. Repeated designs add another question about where and when the later blow occurred.
Keep specimen-specific dates, weights, and contact marks together. Treat group and mint-set prices as combined transactions, and separate later damage from the original event before comparing values.
