AboutMyCoinJefferson Nickel Cheat Sheet
Notes
- Nickels dated 1942 to 1945 that carry a large mint mark over the dome of Monticello are 35 per cent silver. Every other Jefferson nickel is copper-nickel.
- Philadelphia struck no letter on its nickels until 1980, apart from those wartime silver coins.
- Coins dated 1965, 1966 and 1967 carry no mint mark at all, whichever mint struck them.
Condition
As always, condition matters when it comes to Jefferson nickels. Jefferson nickels with all of their features, or with nice original lustre, should be set aside.
Dates
Dates and mint marks to be on the look out for.
| Date | Mintage | Rank | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950-D | 2,630,030 | Key date | Lowest mintage of any Jefferson nickel struck for circulation. Often found sharp. |
| 1939-D | 3,514,000 | Key date | |
| 1938-S | 4,105,000 | Semi-key | First year of the series. |
| 1938-D | 5,376,000 | Semi-key | |
| 1939-S | 6,630,000 | Semi-key | |
| 1951-S | 7,776,000 | Better date | |
| 1955 | 7,888,000 | Better date | Lowest Philadelphia mintage of the series. |
| 1949-S | 9,716,000 | Better date | |
| 1950 | 9,796,000 | Better date | |
| 1948-S | 11,300,000 | Better date | |
| 1946-S | 13,560,000 | Better date | |
| 1942-D | 13,938,000 | Better date | The last Denver nickel struck before the wartime silver alloy. |
| 1943-D | 15,294,000 | Better date | A wartime silver nickel, with a large D over the dome. |
| 1958 | 17,088,000 | Better date | |
| 1953-S | 19,210,900 | Better date | |
| 1938 | 19,496,000 | Better date | First year, Philadelphia. |
Common Jefferson Nickel Errors
| Error | What settles it |
|---|---|
| 2005-D speared bison | A raised line running across the bison's back and side on a 2005 Denver nickel, entering near E PLURIBUS UNUM. It is a gouge in the die, so the line is raised on the coin.A scratch is cut into the surface and catches a fingernail. The gouge is raised and carries the same lustre as the field beside it. Only 2005-D coins qualify. |
| 1954-S over D | A 1954 San Francisco mint mark with the corner of a D showing underneath the S, both raised.A grease-filled or doubled mint mark leaves a blob rather than a second letter, and machine doubling looks flat and shelf-like. The D has to be a readable shape in the right place. |
| Off-centre strike | Part of the design is missing and a plain crescent of blank metal is left in its place. The struck part stays fully sharp right up to where it stops.A coin ground, filed or mangled by machinery after it left the mint loses detail gradually and leaves burred metal. A genuine off-centre strike has a clean, sharp boundary and an untouched blank beside it. |
| Clipped planchet | A smooth curved bite out of the rim, with the rim flattened or the design weak directly opposite it.A coin cut or snapped after striking has a rough edge and a burr. That weakness opposite the clip is the part that is hard to fake, so if the rest of the rim is perfectly normal, be sceptical. |
| Die crack or cud | A raised irregular line wandering across the flat field, or a raised blob of blank metal over the rim where a piece of the die broke away.Raised is the die; cut into the surface is damage. If a fingernail catches in it, it is a scratch. Worth very little unless the cud is large. |
| Repunched mint mark | The mint mark shows a second, offset outline of itself, both impressions rounded and equally raised.Machine doubling is far more common and looks flat, shelf-like and shiny along its doubled edge rather than rounded. If the second image reads as a smear rather than a second letter, it is machine doubling and is worth nothing. |
| Lamination flake | A thin layer of metal peeling away or already missing, in a flat irregular patch, caused by impurities in the strip the blank was cut from.Corrosion and environmental damage look similar and are very common on coins that sat in the ground or in a damp jar. A lamination has a clean step down to the layer beneath; corrosion is pitted and rough. |
Rare Jefferson Nickel Errors
| Error | What settles it |
|---|---|
| 1943 over 2 | A sharp hook on the lower end of the 3 in the date, like the barb of a fishhook, with the rest of the date slightly doubled. Philadelphia coins only, which in 1943 carry a large P over the dome.A tired die and machine doubling both thicken the 3 without adding the hook, and they are far commoner. If the hook is not clean and raised, it is an ordinary 1943-P. |
| 1939 doubled Monticello | Doubling on the word MONTICELLO and on FIVE CENTS below it, both images rounded and separated.A great many 1939 nickels were struck from worn dies that print a mushy, thickened MONTICELLO. That is die wear, not doubling, and machine doubling leaves a flat shelf along one edge of each letter. |