WHITMAN SHIELD NICKEL COIN BOARD 3RD EDITION

MAJOR DISCOVERY!

Your eyes do not deceive you—Yes, that's a Third Edition Whitman board for Shield Nickels! This title was unknown in the Third Edition when I published my book in 2007, but it seemed that it should have been produced, so I included place-holder listings for such a board with either clothlike or leatherette paper. Since that time I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it would never be found, but now I am the owner of the only example known to me.

This surfaced in a group lot of Third Edition boards being sold by a small, online auction company I hadn't heard of before, and I was completely unaware of this opportunity until I was tipped off by a fellow board enthusiast. Mike Nixon's interest is primarily in filling boards with coins for the purpose of framing and displaying them, and he's drawn to the Kent and First Edition Whitman boards. Thus, he suggested I'd be a more likely buyer for this lot.

Not having bid with the company before, I was flummoxed by the process and watched helplessly as it sold well below what I was prepared to pay. I reported my failure to Mike in an email the next day only to discover that he had bought the lot solely to prevent the boards from selling too cheaply! Long story short, we struck a deal involving cash and a trade for two of my books.

Though it may appear leatherette in the photo, this board has clothlike paper and is thus W5¢A3a. That suggests it was printed early in the Third Edition, obviously in a very small press run for this poor-selling title. Its back is identical to that of W5¢A2b.

 

Now, here's the second surprise of this story, one that will reveal just why this lot was so amazing: The other boards were all rarities, too—high-grade examples of both Liberty Seated Dime boards, Washington Quarters and—Peace Dollars! The 1837-62 dime board and the Peace Dollar board have already been placed with want-list customers, but the remaining two boards are found on the enclosed price list, which is devoted entirely to Whitman's under-appreciated Third Edition.

SECOND THOUGHTS I mentioned in the last newsletter that I was deleting those Third Edition paper varieties that had not yet surfaced, under the assumption that they never will. Well, this episode has proved that miracles do happen, so the place-holder listings for clothlike and leatherette finishes will remain. I'm sure this news comes as a relief to collectors not wanting to re-label their holdings by dropping the ‘a' and ‘b' suffixes!

To visit Dave's website, see:
http://www.coincollectingboards.com/

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