No F Abraded Die Variety

James E. Fraser designed the Buffalo nickel and his initial appears as an incused F beneath the date on the obverse of the coin in his honor. In the No F Abraded Die Variety (ADV) the incused F is missing. A missing F equals No F, the popular name for this variety.  This variety is one example of the more general Missing Designer’s Initials variety found on other coins besides the buffalo nickel (e.g., Walking Liberty Half Dollars). However, in the buffalo nickel world, this abraded die variety is known affectionately as the No F variety.

As with other ADVs, No F varieties likely were created after some damage occurred to a die, typically from a die clash. If the clash occurred with significant force in the area of the F beneath the date, the F may have been damaged. Unlike for other ADVs, when a mint employee abraded this area attempting to remove the evidence of the die clash, most likely they were explicitly trying to remove the F! The damaged F would have been the primary evidence of a die clash in that area. If removed, a No F variety was created.

By design the initial F was a fine feature and was incused on the nickel. This means it was a thin, narrow feature and raised on the die. Being raised above the surrounding part of the die made the F particularly susceptible to being involved in a clash. Being thin made the F particularly susceptible to being squashed or mangled by a clash. In addition, the twisting involved in mechanical die doubling would tend to distort the F. Distorted, mangled or squashed, any of these might lead the minter to decide it was necessary to remove the F.

Fraser’s F on the obverse lines up with STATES on the reverse, with the exact location depending on how precisely the dies are aligned. Of course, significantly misaligned, or rotated, dies could lead the F to be aligned opposite most anywhere near the rim. The letters of STATES are raised on the coins so they are recessed in the die. If a die clash occurred, then the F might line up with a letter resulting in minimal impact on the F. Being smaller and thinner, it would almost fit inside a letter. On the other hand, sometimes it would line up with he space between letters or only partially line up with a letter. This would be more likely to result in damage during a clash. Finally, and fortunately for the F, the F is located near the rim. There is less depth to the coin near the rim and consequently less height to the die. Any clashes that occurred would be likely to have more force on other, higher parts of the die, away from the rim and the F.

Other points to remember about Two Feather ADVs also apply to No F ADVs, so I”ll paraphrase them from my Two Feather ADV Overview.

Die clashes are rather violent events. In addition to the clash marks, there could be other damage caused by the force of the dies striking each other. This damage might take the form of pock marks on the die (from debris and possibly sparks) or even die cracks from the extreme pressure of the collision. This suggests a wealth of possible clues to look for in addition to a missing F.

There are additional factors to keep in mind.

• Depending on the amount of damage or how careful they are being, a mint employee may not abrade away the entire F.
• If the dies are not properly aligned, then clash marks might be present in slightly or significantly different areas.
• For any given pair of dies, there might be more than one clash and/or more than one attempt to abrade the clash marks.
• And for any year and mint mark, clashes could occur for multiple pairs of dies. In fact, for some years, there are two or even three die pairs that clashed, were abraded, and produced No F varieties.

Thus, there can be No F varieties with slightly varying appearances for us to look for and examine.

PCGS attributes only one No F variety, the 1916, FS-401. However, there are many others. Jay2Feathers’  recent post, So are these “No Fs” or not? provides images of five coins that many would consider No F varieties. The last time I checked, Pope listed 28 No F varieties in his book, Buffalo Nickels – The Abraded Die Varieties. Clearly, there are a lot missing F’s for us to search for. Enjoy the search.