I was looking through the collection of nickels that I started 30 or so years ago. I found a couple of key dates: 1951-S and 1955-P. Who knows how long I've had these nickels: I started collecting them in the early '80s and I'm still adding to the collection whenever I can. I also got a 1949-S in circulation just a few days ago. Now to find a 1950-D (I own one but I didn't find it in circulation) or a '38 or '39 D or S.
The moral of the story is that you never know what you have (unless you have meticulously cataloged every coin you have) until you look. I didn't find a '33 double eagle or anything like that but I found two desirable dates.
Depends on your definition of "key date". To me, it is the most elusive dates of a certain coin. It doesn't have to be a 1933 double eagle to be a key date.
It is soooooo hard to find a 1950-D in circulation. The majority of the small mintage was hoarded in mint state and remains in that condition today. I remember owning one and selling it on E-Bay.
The only 1950-D nickel I own came from the local coin shop and is well-circulated and has some nice patina. You're right, they are rare in circulation. The nickels I found are rare as well, but they're out there. So are buffalo nickels and V nickels.
You know what's funny, when I first started collecting coins as a kid...my dad bought me several of those old blue Whitman folders and I set out to fill them. I was actually able to fill the whole Jefferson Nickel book (except the war nickels) from circulation. This was probably in the mid 1990s. That was before I had much knowledge of how uncommon the 1950D is in circulation. Today, that is one of my favorite coins...because of how I found it and had no idea what I had, lol.
'cause at the time (contemporary) they'd make a lot of money selling them? They did in fact do that.......till the cat got let out of the bag.
It was known when these coins were released that the mintage was going to be low. Because of that, everyone thought they would be valuable so they were hoarded. As a result, a ton remain today in MS condition so their value is very low.
According to the infamous red book, a MS 65 specimen is worth $20. Not bad for a coin made of junk metal that isn't all that old.
That's not what I said...you are missing the point. Most coins get circulated...thus only a small percentage of the original mintage are saved in MS. This is not the case of the 1950-D nickel. It was well known prior to it's release that it would be a very small mintage so they were hoarded in high grade and not circulated. As a result, MS examples are more common today than circulated examples. There are more MS examples of the 1950-D in existence today than other higher mintage dates. My point is, the mintage alone doesn't dictate the value. It's all about supply and demand. There is a large supply of these coins in MS...that is why they are so cheap relative to their mintage.
