Pre 1960 nickels?

If you are searching nickels why are people pulling pre 1960 as the cut off point? I've been doing it too but only cause that is what I was told to do but when I think about it not sure why?

I can see war nickels and buffalo's but not sure why 1960 is the cut off point?

Thoughts?

 

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I do the same think... I used to do 1979 and below but it was too crazy. In my opinion 1960 nickels aren't rare... so I just save pre 1960

 

i keep some of the lower mintages ..say like its under 30 million mintage ...so like a well worn 1946 P ... i'll throw it back in circulation .... even though its 68 years old ..doesn't mean that its going to be worth a lot more... I like condition more than age but that's me

 

I was thinking about just doing buffalo's and war nickels for silver I guess more than anything else

 

The key to collecting nickels is not to just blindly save every pre-1960 nickel out there but to be discretionary in what you keep based on the date and condition. For example, for nickels from the 1950s, I recommend keeping them if they are in "average" condition and have the following dates: 1950D, 1950, 1951S, 1955 and 1958. I recommend keeping all other dates from the 1950s if they are in around AU condition or above.

The same kind of rule goes for me with nickels from the 1940s. If you save every pre-1960 nickel that you find, you will quickly amass a hoard of worn and common date nickels from 1939, 1941 and 1958D, etc. and then it will be like, "What's the point?"

 

I pick through about $40 of nickels every week. In an average week I might find 10 pre-60 coins. I find another 20-25 from 1960-69. I give the pre-60 stuff a little special attention, but anything from the 60s gets sorted by year and tossed into a designated coffee can. Maybe they'll never be worth more than $.05, but I stack $10 worth of nickels every week "just because" so I count the 60s vintage coins towards that goal and don't worry too much over it.

 

When I first collected coins as a kid, I liked to keep nickels older than me. Being born in 1964, I just rounded down to 1960 and kept the ones older than that. I remember thinking that anything from the 50's must be OLD! I still keep pre-1960 nickels, but mostly out of habit and not for value.

 

I'm nearly complete with a date set of nickels entirely from circulation, missing only 1938, 1944, and one other (non-silver) 1940s date which currently escapes me. My current cutoff date is 1970 - no particular reason. I may expand it upward once I begin to purchase mint sets to upgrade my Ike dollar and add to my Kennedy Half collections.

 

My cutoff date used to be 1964. Then 1970. Now it's pre 1960 nickels.

 

I only save older than 1955. All pre-1950's (not sure why... Just "Old enough" I guess) and all pre-1955 to catch any Henning fakes.

 

I think it's more a matter of personal preference more than anything else. Nickels in the 60's and forward are too plentiful for me with few, if any, low mintage years. 1964 nickels are very abundant, almost one in every roll I look through, so what's the point in keeping them unless they are in uncirculated condition unless nickels are only saved for fun? That said, I save 1959 nickels and prior and occasionally put the ones not in really good condition back into circulation. The low mintage year coins and other dates in really good shape are the ones I really concentrate on keeping and of course the hardest to find. I have a lot of 'dry runs' or 'skunk' rolls along the journey but just this week found a 39-D Jeff, a 1934 Buff and a 1934-S War out of about 20 rolls of nickels. I don't do boxes but average about going through 8 rolls of nickels per week, plus a few in the cash register at work.

 

We still sock away all pre-1960s. All I can say to that is, habits are hard to break.

 

64 and earlier is what I collected from circulation as a kid. It's the last year the mint mark was on the reverse. Also it corresponded to last year of 90% silver dimes quarters halves. Seems to be a logical reason to me at least

 

I find a ton of 1950s nickels and don't ever keep them unless they are in super nice condition, my rule is pre-1950!!

 

I regularly collect any Jefferson Nickels up to 1960. Have been doing so for 45 years. I then moved it up to 1973, to capture the S-mintmarked coins from 1968-1973.

 

Here's my stash of 40s & 50s Jefferson Nickles... Have they gone thru metal content change? the older ones somehow feel different.

 

I've always said the same about pre 1965 nickels as well. Even though they didn't have silver in 1964.. a nickel from 1964 looks and feels different from a nickel from 1965

 

Funny part is 1964 nickels are so common i generally find at least 2 of them in almost every roll i go through!!

 

I also get them in pocket change quite often... I keep 64 and back. Does anyone else feel that the 1964 nickels have a different look/feel than post 1965?

 

They do indeed - the dies changed slightly to a lower relief through 1967, then the 1968 nickels through 1970 were slightly higher relief again. In 1971 they went to a much lower relief on the reverse. The only slightly higher relief reverse coins after that were the 1987, and some of the 1988 dated coins.