1939 Jefferson Nickel QDR NGC MS67 (2/0). The population was 1/0, but one in PCGS plastic just sold in January of this year so the population must have recently doubled. 1943-P Jefferson Nickel DDO Doubled Eye NGC MS67 5FS (4/0) My lowest pop non variety coin is: 1943-S Jefferson Nickel NGC MS68 (2/0) But of my low pop Jeffersons, I think this is the finest. If someone has a nicer 54-S, they are gonna need to prove it. IMO, this is the finest example in the world and deserves a higher grade of MS67+, maybe I should resubmit. 1954-S Jefferson Nickel NGC MS67 (20/0)
I think one thing almost all coin collectors like to do is wonder about who held the coin they are holding, or imagine what historical events the coin might have been involved in. In July, 1961, Gus Grissom flew 100 dimes (all the one's I've seen are 1961-D) on Liberty Bell 7, the second US spaceflight. LB-7 sank in the Atlantic upon landing, as depicted in the movie, "The Right Stuff". The coins were stuffed in Grissom's spacesuit, and the weight of the coins added to Grissom's difficulty in staying afloat in the ocean during the recovery. He almost drowned. Grissom was given command of the first manned Gemini spacecraft, Gemini 3 (GT-3; the T stands for Titan, the rocket the Gemini was launched on). The spacecraft flew in March, 1965. Grissom elected to bring only 1 coin each of cent, nickel, dime and quarter on this spaceflight, so only one dime. After the flight he scratched GT-3 on the coin with his survival knife, and gave it to Guenter Wendt, the leader of the "White Room", the spacecraft servicing/checkout facility at the top of the launch tower that prepared the spacecraft just prior to launch. Here's the coin. You can see the scratched GT-3 at about 8 o'clock on the periphery. Given that I also own a LB-7 flown dime, I've got the only complete set of Grissom flown dimes in existence.