how hard is it to find a 39 D or 50 D nickel???

I understand mintage is a big part, but... I have found the 1943/42 OD, 39 P ddr, and EVEN a henning nickel but NEVER EVER a 39 D or 50 D. just how hard is it??

 

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I've never found ANY of that in CRH

 

Well, in theory, you could find the best case percentage (a case in which none of those coins have been taken out of circulation or lost in a dryer ect.) by adding all the mintage of nickels and then dividing the Mintage of the 39-D and 50-D by the Mintage of all the nickels to get a percentage. However, since we don’t live in a perfect world and because coins get taken out of circulation all the time that number would be fairly meaningless. Point is, any number anyone could give you would be completely pointless as there are just too many variables that go into finding one. Only thing anyone can tell you that is actually helpful is to just keep plugging away (or just buy them ).

 

I looked for nearly 45 years before I just bought the damn things.

 

It can happen. However, if it does, it's most likely because a kid dumped their grandpa's collection into circulation.

The 50-D nickels were known to be special since they were minted. Almost every single example, if not every single example was saved by collectors. I imagine the 39-Ds are similar.

 

I found this '39-S in change last year. Not a key, but not too shabby with a mintage of 6.6 million.

I imagine it's incredibly unlikely to find the keys in circulation. I figured I used up my nickel luck finding this one so I bought those two to complete my nickel set shortly after.

 

it's like 5th lowest mintage of Jeffersons so it's a semi key

 

Ignoring proofs it appears the 1950-D and 1939-D are #1 and #2 for the lowest number struck.
And considering the glee when someone finds one of those in circulation your chances are quite low.

 

I'm curious: have you found a 2009 nickel in circulation? P or D. I have found only one P ever, and no D's.

 

I've only ever found one D and no P's. Conclusion: total mintage 2.

 

I have but not many. sometimes I go on nickel kicks for a few weeks and will do 5-6 boxes each week. I might have to repeat the process numerous times like looking for silver in halves. they pop up every once in a while but a lot of time must be invested.

 

The irony is that the one 2009 nickel I ever got in circulation was change given by a vending machine in my hotel while I was in Baltimore for a Whitman coin show.

 

Mintage figures suggest they should be kind of scarce, but not THIS scarce. There must be a lot of hoarded rolls out there.

Just a note: I'm NOT talking about satin finish 2009 nickels; they were all cut from mint sets. Not proofs either. I'm talking about ordinary circulation finish 2009 nickels of either P or D mint. When I check "book stock" at shows, I tend to see just satin finish pieces in the books. I once saw a 2009-D circ., but it was a dog.

Ooh, sorry Corg.

 

circulated 1950-d are extremely rare. BU are relatively common for $5 to $10 each.
I don't search nickels rolls but I used a bunch of them from 1990 to 1995. I have found at least five 1939-d in pocket change over the years. They stand out from modern coins and when I see that difference I check the date always. Good stuff is squirreled away until I sell them in my coin club auctions.

 

I’ve found one 2009-D in circulation. No 09-Ps as I’m in D land.

 

I have found two 39 D nickels in circulation, one in chain form a coffee shop and one from a sandwich shop. I have not found a 50 D or any 2009 nickels in circulation. I don't engage in CRH, however my collection of 'found in my change' Jefferson's is only missing less than 10 date / mint marks. I started the collection in 1998!

 

Over three years of searching at least $200 in nickels every month, I eventually found two 50-Ds and one 39-D. The 50-Ds were found in the same region of the State I live in and the 39-D was found in another region of the State.

It can be accomplished, but you have to be willing to search through thousands of dollars of nickels, but along the way you find tons of Buffaloes, several Liberties and many, many War nickels. Not to mention the common occurrence of Canadian 5 cents coins and Swiss 20 rappens.

 

Perhaps a month or so ago a member found a 50-D while searching. Unfortunately, I forget the fellow's name.

 

I used to live in a small town where we had a coin collector who was well known to all the local merchants. He went around once a week to each store and the local banks asking to go through the nickels in their cash drawers to look for a 50D nickel, no others - just that 50D. I knew him personally for the last twenty years of his life. I was just a kid when I met him and over the years he helped me with my collection. After his passing in 1976 his heirs sold his collection. He had been collecting since he was a child in 1919 and never showed his collection to anyone so far a I knew. Don't know why he was so cagey about it. That was my first opportunity to see it. He had a remarkable collection of post Civil War U.S. coins including a full set of Lincoln cents with an 09S VBD, a 14D, and a 22D, each in MS condition; back then we just said 'uncirculated'. But he did not have a 50D nickel. I felt bad for the guy. he was my friend and after being obsessed with finding it for so many years, he died without finding one. Just buy it.

 

In my youth, just like everybody in the 1960's filling Whitman folders, I had an empty space at 1950-D in my nickels folder. When I returned more seriously as an adult, I just bought one. It wasn't very expensive. All my Jeffs are now MS, except for major varieties. It's part of maturing. By the way, most of my Buffs are MS these days too. Working on the two older series.