What makes black nickel plating one of the most awesome plating’s ever? Well its simple, it’s black and hardly anyone ever uses it which means it’s not over used like brass. Everyone has a brass coin in their collection. How many people can pull a black nickel out of their collection? I have direct access to almost 4,000 different coins and I think I can pull three black nickel and two of them I design which is the SR-71 coin and the U.S. Challenge Coins company coin. So as you can see that 3 out of 4,000 is one very slim margin. That’s less than .00075% of my collection!
So not only is black nickel special to me but I have found it’s very special to many collectors out there as well looking for a unique and special coin to add to their collections. Minting wise I love it because it’s a perfect alternative to black paint and really brings out the features of a coin like the SR-71 coin. There are so many unique ways to make your coins stand out and this is just one simple way to make your coin one that people take an extra look at.
Now, I have shown you how special the plating is but with excellence comes risk and here is no different. If you are thinking about getting some black nickel plating done on your coins then you have to think wisely and probably get a second, or even a third opinion about it. See you can’t just pick any design and put it as a black nickel coin. No, only special designs can take this plating because it needs 3D, design, and character to make use of it. If your coin has grading and dips, crevasses, shadows then it’s a great start. Black nickel needs light to hit it all over to really bring out the uniqueness.
So black nickel can be very awesome when used right and when you see a black nickel coin take a second look and see how they achieved the look and feel of such plating. I think you will agree with me that it really is a special type of plating!
