I was rolling some coin Sunday morning and as usual I was checking for silver and special dates when I came across a 1968-S nickel. As you can see from the picture below it is well circulated. I pulled out my 10X loop and I can not see anything on the obverse or reverse that would suggest this used to be an actual proof outside of the mint mark. I suppose time could have removed all attributes of a proof from this coin, BUT, is it at all possible that this coin could have been struck on a business strike blank and sent into circulation as an error? Has anyone ever heard of something similar? Thanks for looking. I've posted pictures of a "living" proof for comparison to the quite "dead" one I have found.
I am pretty sure there were both proofs and bussiness strikes minted in sanfran that year. I could be wrong, but almost positive. As far as errors go, I know nothing about that stuff.
You are absolutely correct!!! I totally missed that when I checked the Red Book Sunday morning. Oh well I had fun with it for a day and a half. Why the San Fran Mint produced nickels starting again in 1968 for only three years should be good numismatic trivia. Thanks for the let down....just kidding. Thanks for setting me straight! Allen
I recieved a 1968-S clad quarter worn down to VG several years ago. Most proofs are removed before they wear much but they can be overlooked. Perhaps someone carried it as a pocket piece for a while and spent it accidently. It's very unlikely the nickel is a proof.
68s,59s,70s areuite common in rolls. i have about 5 rolls of each until i quit saving them. check the reverse and see if it has stepe if so save them that is quite rare for thouseyears.
It was because those nasty coin collectors were causing a coin shortage. So they had to start the Frisco mint back up again
I've found 4 or 5 proof nickels while roll searching, they seem a lot more common in circulation than proofs of the other denominations. They're out there, keep looking
Imagine that! I'll make sure to share this with my coin club at the next meeting. Thanks for the enlightening information GDJMSP! Allen
It was because Philadelphia didn't and they still needed nickels. (The 1968 - 1970 period was down on Philadelphia production because they were in the process of finishing and moving into the new Philadelphia mint. They made cents, dimes and quarters those years but no nickels or half dollars.) Every now and then you will run across a 68, 69, or 70 nickel with no mint mark, but they are filled die errors.
That, and the hoarding of dimes, quarters, and half dollars was increasing the demand for nickels. More than 1 billion nickels were minted in 1964. That mintage record wasn't broken until 1995.
