I'm 28 and just getting back in the hobby so I really don't know that much about what went on. I know I read that people were going nuts over these at one time and then the bubble burst. And I know this has probably been beat to death here but didn't find what I was looking for with a search. So: About what time period to what time period did these really take off? Was it early enough to get a lot of them pulled from circulation in good shape? What did the prices peak at? What caused the bubble to burst? Does anyone see them making a come back some day and would you buy one? MS66's book for 53.00. Is this a good price or can you get one cheaper? I've never purchased a Jefferson nickel for the collection although I have a few. I wouldn't mind getting one of these if I run across one. Just to have a premier example of one. Thanks.
Well, you'll get a lot of replies on this. - basically they were hoarded from day 1 - apparently people knew that it was real low mintage. - yes, lots of people saved them. in fact, many people maintain a G/VG/F 1950-D is actually more rare than a UNC one. - I'm not sure what bubble you're talking about. I was unaware that something burst. - If I were buying a MS-66 example, I'd look at a lot of other dates before this one. It's not that difficult in MS grades - other dates are. If you only want one and you want one that may go up in value the most - check other dates. And I am NOT an expert on that. Go to numismedia dot com and do the MS-61-69 screen for nickels. You'll see that there are a lot of nickels more costly in high MS grades than the 1950-D
Thanks for the reply. The thing is, I'm not looking for a more costly one. I just want a nice example of one, without trying to collect them all. The 1950-D seems like a good choice because of the low mintage but it's cheap because everybody saved them like you say. NGC's pop. report for these is pretty funny. Nobody submitted much in the other dates but they've graded over one thousand MS-66 50-Ds. I wanted to get one just for fun and it is one of the lower mintages.
Hi! Thanks for asking a question about my favorite series. The 1950-D nickel was immediately popular upon its release from the mint. Word spread quickly that it was a low mintage (in fact, it was the lowest in the entire series for business strikes) and people saved them by the roll. For this reason, this coin is easily found in uncirculated grades. In fact, I would say that there are probably far fewer circulated examples than uncirculated. I have been trying to piece together a circulated roll for well over a year now, and I'm still not finished! I would estimate that I see one circulated 1950-D Jefferson for every 30 uncirculated specimens that I find. I believe the prices peaked as high as $50 a coin in the 1960s or early 1970s, although the highest document price I can find at the moment is around $1,000 a roll (current greysheet bid is $415 a roll) and this doesn't even take inflation into account. Even though these coins exist in high numbers in uncirculated grades, the vast majority of these are MS-60 to MS-62. I can't tell you how many dull, lifeless, poorly struck 1950-D coins I've seen that are still considered uncirculated. Sharply struck specimens are pretty tough to find, as is common with many Denver mint nickels. Of course I see them making a comeback someday, but even if they don't gain popularity, I still enjoy the series. It's not too often you can buy a whole uncirculated roll of the toughest date in a series for less than $10 a coin. In fact, from this standpoint, the Jefferson nickel may be the biggest bargain out there. As far as MS-66 examples, you asked if $53 is a good price. I personally have never paid this much for a certified MS-66 piece, but I certainly might if it were well-struck, and certified by a top-tier company. You should examine the step detail carefully, as well as the overall strike of the coin, before making this decision. The PCGS price guide lists an MS-66 coin at $65, while one in the same grade with full steps is listed at $185. On Teletrade, in the last 4 months, here are the MS-66 pieces that have sold (note that none are full-step coins): ANACS MS-66: $12, $15 ICG: $15 NGC: $45, $27, $30 PCGS: $50, $50 Also, there was a single MS-66 full-step in a PCGS holder that went for $90. That's a big price spread!!! You can see that the PCGS-certified coins get the highest prices, and I have found this to be univerally true on Teletrade, and usually true on eBay. I hope this helped answer your questions. I'm sorry I can't give you more specific time frames on the start and stop of the boom, but I hope I've answered pretty much everything else for you. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions about the Jefferson nickel series. While I don't know everything, I have studied them quite a bit, and I have some good reference material. I hope you take the time to look at the series a little closer, and you really should think about obtaining at least one nice specimen for your collection. Happy collecting!
I found one in change in 1964 and sold it to a dealer for $23. It was a nice XF/ VF. The dealer said he didn't normally pay so much but he had ten customers looking for one. I think this was early summer and about the peak of the market. I remember seeing uncs offered at $35 but don't think many actually traded at this level. In today's money that puts a bag at about the three quarters of a million dollars level. The market began imploding when it was announced that silver would be removed from the coinage and just kept falling until the clads started appearing in October of 1965. Most coins went close to face value with the hardest hit being the '60-D sm dt cent. This briefly traded at over $50 per roll until it fell to less than a dime in inflation adjusted dollars by 2005. Indeed, until recently the '60-D sm dt was the cheapest of all the US coins available in unc; even cheaper than a brand new unc Lincoln roll. The '50-D nickel bottomed out in 1995 with almost all the classic coins. It got down to $5.50 but the market was so weak you couldn't give them away so most traded at steep discounts to bid. This coin has recovered fairly nicely in just the last two years and nice chU examples trade for $20. These come nice generally so most roll quality coins will bring this price. While choice and gem examples are very common compared to other Jeffersons the highest grade examples are just as elusive as most others. Of course $20 is only about $3.50 in 1964 money so they're still off sharply.
Thanks for the detailed write-ups guys. This is very good info for the archives as well. I will be looking to add one to my collection.
