Jefferson nickel

The Jefferson Nickel has been the longest running series for the five cent denomination. Featuring a portrait of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, the design was introduced in 1938. This came after the introduction of the Lincoln Cent and Washington Quarter and represented the third series of American coinage to feature a former President on the obverse. During its long history, the Jefferson Nickel has undergone a temporary composition change and in recent years, a number of obverse and reverse design changes.

The original Jefferson Nickel was designed by Felix O. Schlag. A left-facing portrait of the former President is shown on the obverse with required inscriptions “In God We Trust”, “Liberty”, and the date. The reverse features an image of Jefferson’s historic home known as Monticello with inscriptions “E Pluribus Unum”, “United States of America”, “Monticello” and “Five Cents”.

This same design remained in use without any significant changes for more than six decades. Then, a series of design changes took place from 2004 to 2006 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark’s expedition through the vast territory. Over the course of three years, the Westward Journey Nickels would feature four different reverse designs before reverting to the original image of Monticello. The obverse would feature two new portraits of Jefferson, with the second serving as the replacement going forward.

Despite its lengthy duration, the series remains an approachable one for beginning collectors. It is entirely possible to find the earlier dates of the series in circulation and even an uncirculated set does not include any expensive key date coins. Advanced collectors can also find challenge in assembling a set of gem condition coins with well defined strikes, as represented by the appearance of “Full Steps” on reverse.

During the course of the series, the Jefferson Nickel was struck in two different compositions. The first composition was the standard alloy used since the introduction of the denomination in 1866, while the second was used during World War II in an effort to preserve nickel and copper.

The original composition consisted of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The weight of uncirculated pieces is 5 grams, or 77 grains, with a diameter of 21.2 mm and a plain edge. These specifications apply to coins struck from 1938 to 1942, and 1946 to present.

From October 1942 until the end of 1945, a composition consisting of 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese was used. The weight and diameter of the coins remained the same. The mintmark location was moved to the reverse of the coin above Monticello, where it appeared in larger size. This brief run represented the first time the five cent denomination contained silver since 1873.

The Jefferson Nickel has been produced each year from 1938 to present. Coins were struck for circulation at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints and mintages have varied widely. In total, more than 50 billion Jefferson Nickels have been produced.

The lowest mintage circulating coin is the 1950-D Jefferson Nickel, which is generally considered to be the key date issue at only 2,630,030 pieces. The recently issued 2009 Jefferson Nickels have also generated attention since the mintage levels represent an incredible drop from contemporary levels, which are typically in the hundreds of millions.

The highest mintage for the series, at more than 1.7 billion coins, occurred with the 1964-D nickel.

Since the Jefferson Nickel used the same design for almost seven decades, and with the exception of silver war nickels contain no silver content, older date coins show up periodically in circulation. Beginning collectors will often focus on searching bank rolls as an affordable and fun way to start assembling a collection of older coins.

Although no significant rarities exist for the series on the basis of mintage, there are many notable conditional rarities for the series, particularly for those pursuing collections of Full Steps Jefferson Nickels.

The Jefferson Nickel has been produced each year from 1938 to present. Coins were struck for circulation at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints and mintages have varied widely. In total, more than 50 billion Jefferson Nickels have been produced.

The lowest mintage circulating coin is the 1950-D Jefferson Nickel, which is generally considered to be the key date issue at only 2,630,030 pieces. The recently issued 2009 Jefferson Nickels have also generated attention since the mintage levels represent an incredible drop from contemporary levels, which are typically in the hundreds of millions.

The highest mintage for the series, at more than 1.7 billion coins, occurred with the 1964-D nickel.

Since the Jefferson Nickel used the same design for almost seven decades, and with the exception of silver war nickels contain no silver content, older date coins show up periodically in circulation. Beginning collectors will often focus on searching bank rolls as an affordable and fun way to start assembling a collection of older coins.

Although no significant rarities exist for the series on the basis of mintage, there are many notable conditional rarities for the series, particularly for those pursuing collections of Full Steps Jefferson Nickels.

Jefferson Nickel Mintages 1938 19,496,000 1938-D 5,376,000 1938-S 4,105,000 1939 120,615,000 1939-D 3,514,000 1939-S 6,630,000 1940 176,485,000 1940-D 43,540,000 1940-S 39,690,000 1941 203,265,000 1941-D 53,432,000 1941-S 43,445,000 1942 49,789,000 1942-D 13,938,000 1942-P Silver 57,873,000 1942-S Silver 32,900,000 1943-P Silver 271,165,000 1943-D Silver 15,294,000 1943-S Silver 104,060,000 1944-P Silver 119,150,000 1944-D Silver 32,309,000 1944-S Silver 21,640,000 1945-P Silver 119,408,100 1945-D Silver 37,158,000 1945-S Silver 58,939,000 1946 161,116,000 1946-D 45,292,200 1946-S 13,560,000 1947 95,000,000 1947-D 37,822,000 1947-S 24,720,000 1948 89,348,000 1948-D 44,734,000 1948-S 11,300,000 1949 60,652,000 1949-D 36,498,000 1949-S 9,716,000 1950 9,796,000 1950-D 2,630,030 1951 28,552,000 1951-D 20,460,000 1951-S 7,776,000 1952 63,988,000 1952-D 30,638,000 1952-S 20,572,000 1953 46,644,000 1953-D 59,878,600 1953-S 19,210,900 1954 47,684,050 1954-D 117,183,060 1954-S 29,384,000 1955 7,888,000 1955-D 74,464,100 1956 35,216,000 1956-D 67,222,940 1957 38,408,000 1957-D 136,828,900 1958 17,088,000 1958-D 168,249,120 1959 27,248,000 1959-D 160,738,240 1960 55,416,000 1960-D 192,582,180 1961 73,640,100 1961-D 229,342,760 1962 97,384,000 1962-D 280,195,720 1963 178,851,645 1963-D 276,829,460 1964 1,028,622,762 1964-D 1,787,297,160 1965 136,131,380 1966 156,208,283 1967 107,325,800 1968-D 91,227,880 1968-S 100,396,004 1969-D 202,807,500 1969-S 120,075,000 1970-D 515,485,380 1970-S 238,832,004 1971 106,884,000 1971-D 316,144,800 1972 202,036,000 1972-D 351,694,600 1973 384,396,000 1973-D 361,405,000 1974 601,752,000 1974-D 277,373,000 1975 181,772,000 1975-D 401,875,300 1976 367,124,000 1976-D 563,964,147 1977 585,376,000 1977-D 297,313,422 1978 391,308,000 1978-D 313,092,780 1979 463,188,000 1979-D 325,867,672 1980-P 593,004,000 1980-D 502,323,448 1981-P 657,504,000 1981-D 364,801,843 1982-P 292,355,000 1982-D 373,726,544 1983-P 561,615,000 1983-D 536,726,276 1984-P 746,769,000 1984-D 517,675,146 1985-P 647,114,962 1985-D 459,747,446 1986-P 536,883,483 1986-D 361,819,140 1987-P 371,499,481 1987-D 410,590,604 1988-P 771,360,000 1988-D 663,771,652 1989-P 898,812,000 1989-D 570,842,474 1990-P 661,636,000 1990-D 663,938,503 1991-P 614,104,000 1991-D 436,496,678 1992-P 399,552,000 1992-D 450,565,113 1993-P 412,076,000 1993-D 406,084,135 1994-P 722,160,000 1994-D 715,762,110 1995-P 774,156,000 1995-D 888,112,000 1996-P 829,332,000 1996-D 817,736,000 1997-P 470,972,000 1997-D 466,640,000 1998-P 688,292,000 1998-D 635,380,000 1999-P 1,212,000,000 1999-D 1,066,720,000 2000-P 846,240,000 2000-D 1,509,520,000 2001-P 675,704,000 2001-D 627,680,000 2002-P 539,280,000 2002-D 691,200,000 2003-P 441,840,000 2003-D 383,040,000 2004-P Peace Medal 361,440,000 2004-D Peace Medal 372,000,000 2004-P Keelboat 366,720,000 2004-D Keelboat 344,880,000 2005-P Bison 448,320,000 2005-D Bison 487,680,000 2005-P Ocean 394,080,000 2005-D Ocean 411,120,000 2006-P 693,120,000 2006-D 809,280,000 2007-P 571,680,000 2007-D 626,160,000 2008-P 279,840,000 2008-D 345,600,000 2009-P 39,840,000 2009-D 46,800,000 2010-P 260,640,000 2010-D 229,920,000 2011-P 450,000,000 2011-D 540,240,000 2012-P 464,640,000 2012-D 558,960,000 2013-P 607,440,000 2013-D 615,600,000 2014-P 635,520,000 2014-D 570,720,000

“Full Steps” is a grading designation used for regular strike Jefferson Nickels which have at least five steps visible at the base of Monticello on the reverse. In order to receive the designation, there must be no disturbance of the steps due to strike weakness, contact marks, or planchet problems.

Full Steps Jefferson Nickels are valued at a premium to comparable grades without the designation. For certain issues, coins exhibiting full steps can be extremely rare and carry enormous premiums. For modern issues of the series after 1986, coins with full steps are generally easier to find. The image above is a 1973 Jefferson Nickel with Full Steps, while the image below is a 1999 Jefferson Nickel with Full steps.

The major coin grading services PCGS and NGC both use the abbreviation “FS” to designate Full Steps. Only regular strike coins graded MS60 or higher may receive the designation. PCGS has always awarded “FS” for coins displaying either 5 or 6 steps. Initially, NGC only awarded “FS” for coins displaying 6 steps. Starting from February 16, 2004, NGC refined their qualifications and began using the designations “5FS” or “6FS” based on the number of complete sets visible.

Some particularly difficult Jefferson Nicke ls to find in gem condition with full steps include 1953-S, 1961-D, 1962-D, 1963-D, 1969-D, 1970-D. In each case, three or fewer of coins have been graded as such by PCGS or NGC. There are some issues where an example has never been graded MS65 or higher with full steps, such as the 1967, 1968-D, and and 1969-S.

Proof Jefferson Nickels were struck for collectors for the first year of the series in 1938. The number of proof nickels struck vastly outnumbered the other denominations due to the increased interest generated by the new design. During this era, the Philadelphia Mint issued proof coins to collectors either individually or as part of a complete set.

The mintages for proof nickels would more closely track the other denominations during the following three years. Then, the 1942 Proof Jefferson Nickel would be struck both in standard composition and silver, prompting another year of heightened interest from collectors. Proof coins would be not be produced again until the release of the 1950 Proof Set. From this time onward, proof coins were issued as part of a set containing all denominations struck for the year.

Another gap in production took place from 1965 to 1967, when only Special Mint Sets were produced. From 1968 onwards, all proof coins were struck at the San Francisco Mint and once again issued within annual Proof Sets.

The lowest mintage Proof Jefferson Nickels are the earliest years of issue from 1938 to 1942. Other notable issues include the 1994-P and 1997-P matte proof issues, which were only included within limited edition commemorative coin sets. From 1992 to present, proof nickels have been included in both the regular Proof Set as well as the Silver Proof Set, resulting in elevated mintages.

Proof Jefferson Nickel Mintages

1938 19,365 1939 12,535 1940 14,158 1941 18,720 1942 29,600 1942-P Silver 27,600 1950 51,386 1951 57,500 1952 81,980 1953 128,800 1954 233,300 1955 378,200 1956 669,384 1957 1,247,952 1958 875,652 1959 1,149,291 1960 1,691,602 1961 3,028,144 1962 3,218,019 1963 3,075,645 1964 3,950,762 1968-S 3,041,506 1969-S 2,934,631 1970-S 2,632,810 1971-S 3,220,733 1972-S 3,260,996 1973-S 2,760,339 1974-S 2,612,568 1975-S 2,845,450 1976-S 4,149,730 1977-S 3,251,152 1978-S 3,127,781 1979-S 3,677,175 1980-S 3,554,806 1981-S 4,063,083 1982-S 3,857,479 1983-S 3,279,126 1984-S 3,065,110 1985-S 3,362,821 1986-S 3,010,497 1987-S 4,227,728 1988-S 3,262,948 1989-S 3,220,194 1990-S 3,299,559 1991-S 2,867,787 1992-S 4,176,560 1993-S 3,394,792 1994-P Matte Proof 167,703 1994-S 3,269,923 1995-S 2,797,481 1996-S 2,525,625 1997-P Matte Proof 25,000 1997-S 2,796,678 1998-S 2,965,299 1999-S 3,347,966 2000-S 4,047,993 2001-S 3,184,606 2002-S 2,277,720 2003-S 3,298,439 2004-S Peace Medal 2,992,069 2004-S Keelboat 2,992,069 2005-S Buffalo 3,344,679 2005-S Ocean 3,344,679 2006-S 3,054,436 2007-S 2,577,166 2008-S 2,169,561 2009-S 2,179,867 2010-S 1,689,216 2011-S 1,673,010 2012-S 1,237,415 2013-S 1,237,926

During World War II, the Jefferson Nickel series underwent a significant change. Since nickel was identified as a strategic metal for the war effort, the composition of the five cent piece was changed to a composition of 35% silver, 9% manganese, and 56% copper. The Silver War Nickels minted from 1942 to 1945 create an interesting short set within the broader series.

Production of the first “Wartime Nickels” began at the Philadelphia Mint on October 8, 1942. Earlier in the year nickels had been produced with their standard compositions. To identify the coins struck with the new composition, a large sized mint mark was placed on the reverse of the coins, above Monticello. The mintmarks “P”, “D”, or “S” were used for the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints. Notably, this was the first time that a mint mark had been used for coins produced in Philadelphia.

Silver Jefferson Nickels were produced through 1945, after which point the composition would revert to the previous standard. During the four years of production, the US Mint had struck more than 870 million of the 35% silver nickels. A complete set will include 11 coins, 1942 P-D, 1943 P-D-S, 1944-P-D-S, and 1945 P-D-S. The 1942-P Silver Jefferson Nickel was also struck in proof format with a mintage of 27,600 coins. All coins remain readily available even in uncirculated grades, although some issues are more difficult to find with full steps.

The Westward Journey Nickels were issued during the years 2004 to 2006, intended to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase and the famous expedition through the territory by Lewis and Clark. During these years, the Jefferson Nickel featured four new reverse designs and two new obverse designs. At the conclusion of the series, the second obverse design would remain permanent, while the original Monticello reverse was resumed.

The 2004 Westward Journey Nickels featured the same classic obverse design by Felix Schlag, paired with two different reverse designs. The first design was based on the Peace Medal presented to Native Americans within the Louisiana Purchase as a sign of goodwill. The design adapted by Norman E. Nemeth after the original. The second reverse design by Alfred Maletsky depicts the Keelboat that was used for Lewis & Clark’s famous expedition.

A new obverse design was introduced for the 2005 Westward Journey Nickels. A right facing portrait of Thomas Jefferson was presented, designed by Joe Fitzgerald after a marble bust made by Jean-Antoine Houdon. The word “Liberty” appears in script based on Jefferson’s handwriting. The first reverse design featured an American Bison or Buffalo designed by Jamie Franki and sculpted by Norman E. Nemeth. The second design featured a view of the western waters and words from Clark’s famous journal entry “Ocean in view! O! The joy!” This final reverse was designed by Joe Fitzgerald and sculpted by Don Everhart.

The conclusion of the Westward Journey Nickels was marked by a second new obverse design paired with the original reverse design. Dubbed “Return to Monticello”, the obverse was designed by Jamie Franki and sculpted by Donna Weaver based on a Rembrandt Peale painting of 1800. The restored reverse design saw the addition of Felix Schlag’s initials “FS” at the base of the right side of Monticello. These obverse and reverse designs have been used for each subsequent year of the Jefferson Nickel series to date.