My son and his sweetheart (our unofficial daughter-in-law) have a 2 qt. change jar. When it’s full they roll up the contents and cash it in for a date night out. While doing this they check a list I gave them and look for certain coins (LWCs, pre ’82 LMCs, older Nickels, Dimes & Quarters with S or W mintmarks, etc.). This time they found two for the ‘ol man’s collection. Although well circulated, they’re low mintages and welcomed into my hoard. Thanks kids! 1939 D 1950 D
Here's a good thing. They'll be thinking of you every time they add coins to the " Date Night out"(something that I never get ) coin jar.
Holy cow -- a 1950-D from circulation. That's a LOT harder than finding silver. I've gotten Liberty nickels from circulation, but never a 1950-D.
Very nice. And the fact they took their time to actually look at the coins and dates, says a lot about their relationship with you.
Back in the late 50s, early 60s, circulated 50-Ds were easy enough to find in large quantities of circulated nickels--if you lived in the right area of the country. At one point in this time frame, I was finding a 50-D and 39-D daily. I was looking through sacks of coins, sometimes sitting in the lobby of a small, local bank branch, sometimes sitting in a hot car (this was in Shreveport, La.) outside the bank. Those were the days!
I started collecting in 1948. The 1950 D was a difficult one to find in the small mid-west town I lived in. I got one but had to trade a friend for it at one of our regular swap meets.
The oldest coin I have ever gotten back in change was a 1869 IHC. Traded it down the road for 1865 three cent piece.
The thing is, the Jeff '50D is not necessarily old, but it is THE key date in the series. Finding one in circulation 72 years after minting may not be an astounding find, but it sure is an enviable find for most collectors. I know that's a hole in my Whitman, unless I decide to purchase it. As pocket change, I'm highly skeptical I'll find one nowadays. Nice find by your son & 'DiL'.
As it's been told to me, collectors knew right away that the 1950-D mintage was low, so a lot of them were socked away new. The ones that did get into circulation got searched out heavily (by folks just like you ), so by the time I got interested (around 1970), they were much harder to find than their mintage would indicate.
Hopefully the 1950-D was not in someone's collection and either the spouse or kids or grandkids took it to spend it.
I just remembered that what got me back into coins after my college days was buying an unc. 50-D for $8.50 at a coin shop in Jackson, MS, which I thought was ridiculously cheap.
I started collecting in the late 1950s and was finding 50-D nickels often enough, in Baton Rouge, La. I was searching through the cash register at my dad and mom's dry good store. They supported me by allowing me to fill Whitman Blue Books for Lincoln cents, Jeff 5 cent pieces, and Mercs. Tapping the quarters and halves would have been too much to ask. At some point I started selling the 50Ds (just avg circ) to buyers in Coin World. I sold enough to buy three $10 gold pieces (Liberty, avg worn condition). Got some gold press-down holders for them for wearing on a gold chain. I got one for mom, one for my aunt, and one for my wife-to-be. When mom passed away, my daughter got it, when my aunt passed away, I got it back. My ex is still alive and perhaps still has it. The reason I post this is less than a week ago, my daughter was asking again about how I did I go about doing this. Best I remember was I was selling those 50-Ds for 9 or 10 bucks and it took more than two but not quite three to have enough for a $10 Gold piece. Maybe they were like $26 or so. I wouldn't have posted all this except that this topic came up just days ago. One of the better decisions I made, selling the key date 50D nickels and buying gold. I just wish I remember better what year I was doing this.
