Hey guys...I'm currently looking to fill a 38-61 Whitman album from circulation, and I'm over half-way there. I wanted to get the opinions of some experienced nickel searchers - what are the five or so toughest nickels to find from these dates? I'm not including any variations, just year and mint. I've studied the mintage figures, so I have an idea of what's tough based on that, but I was hoping for some real-world data. Thanks to everyone who can offer an opinion here...Jeff.
39-D, war nickles and 50-D and you find none with full steps so don't even worry about that. My advice go with unc's - these nickles are common as dust in low grades except for what's been mentioned. We often get theses as parts of collections and just empty the albums and spend them, all day long.
sorry, I misread the original post. In circulated coins look for war nickels (large mintmark above the dome on reverse) and these dates: 1938-D, 1938-S, 1939-D, 1939-S, and 1950-D. All the rest are relatively common and shouldn't be tough to find.
In circulation, 1938-D, 1938-S, 1939-D, 1939-S, and 1950-D are next to impossible to find, as are the war nickels. Extremely difficult to find (and I don't know why) are 1950-P and 1955-P. Everything else is doable. And, this is real-world data from a nickel collector who has searched not just nickels in circulation, but tens of thousands of nickels in bulk lots. Good luck!
I too have sorted through tons of nickels looking for these dates to no avail, however I would not regard them as impossible, especially with as many coins as have been dumped back into circulation lately. The OP asked for the toughest, those are the toughest. The war nickels surface from time to time and as you know can be seen from the middle of the pile because of their almost black color. In fact, I have even found Liberty Heads in circulation. good luck! I have long thought that Jefferson Nickels are the last bastion of collecting pre-1950 coins from circulation.
Thanks everyone for the info - and additional opinions are welcome!! Of the tough ones mentioned, not surprisingly I have not found 38D, 38S, 39D, 39S, 42D, 43D, 50D. However, I have found the 50P and 55P, as well as 5 war nickels, including a very nice 45D. A few others I don't have, which have relatively low mintages, are 48S, 49S, 51S. Hopefully they aren't as tough as their mintages suggest. I guess I don't expect to complete the Whitman via searching boxes. In fact, my interest will probably change to something else long before I even get close. But for now, I'm really enjoying the search!
don't ever quit, jeff! It can be done if you look at enough nickels. If you want to stop for a while and try something else, by all means, do so, but never give up looking. Collecting at face value is a no lose situation!
Thanks for the inspiration! And I agree - one thing I love about roll (and strap) searching is that it's a hobby that doesn't cost anything!
I love that you can still find old nics in circ. I told my deli guy to hold on to any old nickles he sees and one day when I came in he handed me several silver nics. Somebody raided a nickle collection! Good Luck!
I found a war nickel today while going through 5 rolls from the bank. Not too bad. Also found a 50s date and some early 60s. Otherwise rest were common modern coins, though not so many westward journey nickels (which was the main reason for me getting the rolls).
Agreed. Finding a silver coin in circulation is tougher than a hen's tooth. It has probably been a decade since I got one in change (a 60 dime). So that leaves out pre-1950 dimes, pre-1950 halves, pre-1950 quarters. Pre-1950 cents are more common . . . but not really common. People love to hoard wheat cents for some unknown reason. But it seems that I do see a few pre-1950 nickels every year. And the OP should not give up on that 50-D: I got one in very nice condition in change about 7-8 years ago. This is how I got interested in collecting as a child in the early 60s. My grandpa would let me go through his change and keep whatever I wanted. In those days, it was not that uncommon to find Indian head cents, Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes and even Franklin halves in change (I never see ANY halves in change these days). Things have changed soooooooooo much since then. Especially after 1965 when silver coins basically disappeared. Buffalo nickels and Indian head cents were not far behind. And now even wheat ear cents. Back to the OP's question, I am guessing that the war nickels have to be the hardest. I do not believe I have seen one in circulation in at least 20 years.
R 1966 nickles worth anything..I have a bunch in great shape..and three rolls of 1964 and 8 rolls of 1961d.
If you have several rolls of 40 coins each, then it is very unlikely that they will be valuable unless they have intrinsic (metal) value That's just as a general rule
