The Nasty Nickel.

Nickels are often overlooked by new and experienced hunters. Pennies are easy to search, with their varieties being distinct and easily noticeable. Dimes are similar in ease of search, albeit boring to sift through, and hold the potential of silver payouts. Whereas quarters are unlikely to yield silver but offer many design errors and varieties and the most visually interesting varieties with state and national park reverses filling a good percentage of every roll opened.

Nickels are however more than just 5 cent coins, and actually hold a rich and fascinating history. This article will be a little different than my recent posts on dimes and pennies, not containing as much coin history and being more focused on actual years and errors to seek. If you wish to learn more on the coin, check this link for more.

Key Dates and Semi Key Dates:

Unlike dimes that see a majority of their key dates prior to the 1950’s, as well as quite uncommon year and mint mark combinations of wheat pennies, many key date nickels are still in circulation because they are not made of silver like key date dimes and are not as easily recognized like the reverse of a wheat penny. The wheat ear reverse being a visual characteristic that often makes wheat cents a common coin pulled from circulation, even by those whom who do not normally collect coins. Key date Jefferson nickels appear visually identical to those minted up until 2003.

The Key Dates: These are Jefferson Nickels that were minted in numbers below 10,000,000.

1938-D

1938-S

1939-D

1939-S

1949-S

1950

1950-D

1951-S

1955

The Semi-key Dates: These Jefferson Nickels feature production numbers of more that 10,000,000 but less than 25,000,000. These semi key dates are more common, sometimes much more so, than the actual key dates, but in my opinion are worth separating and saving.

1938

1942-D

1943-D

1944-S

1946-S

1947-S

1948-S

1951-D

1952-S

1953-S

1958

As a side note: I personally save any Jefferson Nickel that was minted prior to 1960. Some collectors pull anything prior to 1970, and while that is a perfectly fine way to collect, it is worth noting that for various reasons there are more nickels featuring the date of 1964 than any other year, ever.

Both ’64 and ’64-D nickels were minted far past the year on the obverse. They were produced all the way in to mid 1966 due to the mint’s reformulation of other denominations of coins containing silver. In this authors opinion, 1964 Nickels are worth keeping only in fantastic shape, as they are, to date, the most commonly minted nickel with well over 1,000,000,000 coins made in both Philadelphia and Denver for a total of over 2 billion made. That’s billion, with a B.

War Nickels:

During WWII, specifically 1942-1945 the Mint began using an alloy featuring 35% silver to produce nickels. These, as the heading above indicates, are most commonly referred to as “War Nickels.” The easiest way to positively identify a War nickel is the oversize mint mark above the Monticello on the reverse of the coin. If it’s 1942, 1943, 1944, or 1945 and has a large “P,” “D,” or “S,” above the building, it’s silver. This is worth noting because there were a number of no mintmark 1942 nickels made in Philadelphia before the alloy change was finalized, meaning not every 1942 nickel contains silver. As a side note, many community members have often reported that nickels are actually the most consistent source of locating silver reliably throughout their roll hunting endeavors. It may be 35%, but it IS silver.

Buffalo Nickels:

From 1913 to 1938 the 5 cent piece featured a Native American mans face on the obverse, and a buffalo on the reverse. These nickels are almost exclusively called “buffalo nickels” by collectors. The term “Indian head nickel” is generally not used with nickels and if heard is a most commonly a misnomer. Due to design flaws, there were many raised elements of buffalo nickels that quickly wore off of the coin, most notably the date. This encourages the need for the term “dateless” buffalo. The same issue can be found with Standing Liberty Quarters of the same era. I would personally recommend keeping any and all buffalo nickel, save for the 2005 bison reverse Westward Journey examples that you are likely to come across when searching nickels. Buffalo’s feature their own series of key dates, though I will not list them here as you are much less likely to come across them while roll hunting. Here is a link to more information on buffalo nickels, their values, and their key dates via Apmex.

Liberty Head or the “V Nickel”:

From 1883 to 1912 (technically 1913, but those are another story) the mint produced the V nickel. These are scare in common circulation today, but are plentiful and generally inexpensive in coin shops and online. I only mention them here because it is possible to locate them in circulation, just extremely unlikely. For more information on the Liberty Head nickel, check out this article on Wikipedia.

Errors:

There are a lot. It is worth noting that the beginner numismatist or coin roll hunter may mistakenly identify the quite common “machine doubling” seen on many years and mint marks of nickels for the genuinely rare doubled die errors that are much more scarce among all denominations of coins. Here is a great resource that helped me learn the difference. Stay tuned for a more in depth article on the various types of doubling. It is worth noting that due to the composition of metals that comprise the nickel, the planchets are more soft and malleable than other denominations of coins, thus leading to far more common instances of machine doubling and common errors in the flow of metals into the dies. It is not entirely uncommon for die deterioration to be present or even prevalent either. This deterioration may be observed as extra wide lettering, loss of finer details such as the “crispness” of letters and hairlines, as well as lettering near the rim of the coin being connected with fat globs of metal. While these common errors generally do not add any value to a coin, I tend to keep the most extreme examples for reference. Here is a list of more valuable and rare errors to be on the look out for in your Jefferson nickels. This list is based off of my personal search guide that I use while hunting, and may be expanded upon or shortened based on your personal preferences. I will include a couple of fantastic resources on DDO’s, DDR’s, and other common nickel errors toward the end of the guide.

These are organized by chronological year as opposed to by type of error for ease of sorting and searching.

1939 Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling can be seen in the words “Monticello,” as wells as “Five Cents.”

Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling can be seen in the words “Monticello,” as wells as “Five Cents.” 1942 D/D Repunched Mintmark. This RPM shows as a horizontal “D” underneath the normal, vertical “D” in it’s standard location.

D/D Repunched Mintmark. This RPM shows as a horizontal “D” underneath the normal, vertical “D” in it’s standard location. 1943 /2 Overdate. This shows as the number “3” in 1943 being stamped over the number “2” in 1942.

/2 Overdate. This shows as the number “3” in 1943 being stamped over the number “2” in 1942. 1943 Doubled Die Obverse. This DDO shows as doubling on Jefferson’s eye.

Doubled Die Obverse. This DDO shows as doubling on Jefferson’s eye. 1945 Doubled Die Reverse. This DDR shows as similar to the 1939 DDR where doubling can be seen in the words “Monticello,” as wells as “Five Cents.”

Doubled Die Reverse. This DDR shows as similar to the 1939 DDR where doubling can be seen in the words “Monticello,” as wells as “Five Cents.” 1949 -D/S Repunched Mintmark.

-D/S Repunched Mintmark. 1954 -S/D Repunched Mintmark.

-S/D Repunched Mintmark. 1955 -D/S Repunched Mintmark.

-D/S Repunched Mintmark. 1956 Doubled Die Obverse.

Doubled Die Obverse. 1960 Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling shows in “E Pluribus Unum,” and “United States of America.”

Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling shows in “E Pluribus Unum,” and “United States of America.” 1961-D/D Repunched Mintmark.

As stated before, 1964 was a date that saw over 1 billion of both Philadelphia and Denver minted coins made. With such production numbers, it should come as no surprise that there are many errors to be found on these coins in particular. There are 2 main doubled dies that I personally check for, though there are many more that I will not list here. They may be found on the websites that I will list later in this article.

1964 Doubled die Obverse. Doubling appears on “In God We Trust.”

1964-D/D RPM appears as a wide mint mark with generally noticeable split serifs. It is worth noting that these particular errors are man made and can vary greatly in both value and prevalence. There are some examples of this RPM that are noticeable with even the most untrained naked eye, and some examples that would appear seemingly innocuous to well seasoned numismatists.

Doubled die Obverse. Doubling appears on “In God We Trust.” 1964-D/D RPM appears as a wide mint mark with generally noticeable split serifs. It is worth noting that these particular errors are man made and can vary greatly in both value and prevalence. There are some examples of this RPM that are noticeable with even the most untrained naked eye, and some examples that would appear seemingly innocuous to well seasoned numismatists. 1975 -D Misplaced Mint Mark. This is a fantastic and quite desirable error, and though rather rare, is definitely worth looking for. The mint mark will appear almost touching the “5” in 1975. This should be noticeable with the naked eye.

-D Misplaced Mint Mark. This is a fantastic and quite desirable error, and though rather rare, is definitely worth looking for. The mint mark will appear almost touching the “5” in 1975. This should be noticeable with the naked eye. 1981 -D Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling appears most notable on “E Pluribus Unum.”

-D Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling appears most notable on “E Pluribus Unum.” 1984 Doubled Die Reverse/ This DDR is again similar to the 1939 and 1945 DDR where doubling can be seen in the words “Monticello,” as wells as “Five Cents.”

Doubled Die Reverse/ This DDR is again similar to the 1939 and 1945 DDR where doubling can be seen in the words “Monticello,” as wells as “Five Cents.” 1996 -D Doubled Die Obverse. Doubling seen on mint mark and appears similar to a RPM.

-D Doubled Die Obverse. Doubling seen on mint mark and appears similar to a RPM. 1999 Doubled Die Obverse. Doubling may be seen on mint mark and appears similar to a RPM. It is noteworthy that 1999 Philadelphia minted nickels are notorious for machine doubling and die deterioration making this particular error quite uncommon for a legitimate example. I have nearly half a roll of machine doubled 1999P’s to use as reference when inspecting a potential candidate.

Doubled Die Obverse. Doubling may be seen on mint mark and appears similar to a RPM. It is noteworthy that 1999 Philadelphia minted nickels are notorious for machine doubling and die deterioration making this particular error quite uncommon for a legitimate example. I have nearly half a roll of machine doubled 1999P’s to use as reference when inspecting a potential candidate. 2000 Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling is most notable in “E Pluribus Unum,” and the word “Monticello.”

Doubled Die Reverse. Doubling is most notable in “E Pluribus Unum,” and the word “Monticello.” 2004 and 2005 Westward Journey errors. There are quite a few of these and a few particular examples may command quite the monetary premium. I feel that I could not do some of the more subtle indicators of these errors justice, and will instead provide a link to a wonderful resource on these particular examples.

Westward Journey errors. There are quite a few of these and a few particular examples may command quite the monetary premium. I feel that I could not do some of the more subtle indicators of these errors justice, and will instead provide a link to a wonderful resource on these particular examples. The following 4 are all very modern examples of doubled die reverse errors, all appearing quite similar. The 2008, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Philadelphia mint nickels all share a common DDR that appears as lines through the mid to upper section of the door frame on the Monticello building. If you wish to cherrypick this particular variety, I recommend further research as these can be quite tricky to spot.

It may be an odd thought, but it is still too soon to tell if there are many noteworthy examples of 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 coins. There are many already that have been detected and cataloged online but there are likely many more that are yet to be discovered that still float through circulation, or even still sit in the vaults of the mint awaiting distribution.

The aforementioned resources;

Bookmark these .

Variety Vista is ground zero for all things error related, especially on older examples of coins. This site covers more than just nickels as well, touching on all denominations common in circulation.

Brian’s Variety Coins is a great nickel focused website that goes in depth with many community submitted errors and attributions. The provided link is the one that most will desire as it lists all known errors for each year listed. If you are interested in going more in depth on the many 1964 errors that I mentioned before, this is certainly the place to do so.