That feeling you get when a shiny 1938 Nickel falls out of a roll... and....

[jcole77]

... the feeling you get when it turns out to have a little letter "S" to the right of Monticello!


2nd one of these I have found in the past 10 days!

 

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[MotherOfGeeks]

Sounds like someone lost a collection.

 

[Quin]

Dang!!! When is it my turn to get a 1938 of ANY mintmark?? I've searched around 15 boxes and nada...congrats on the beautiful coin!

 

[port ewen ace]

as the Kool Aid pitcher would say OH YEAH!!!!!!!!

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Dang!!! When is it my turn to get a 1938 of ANY mintmark?? I've searched around 15 boxes and nada...congrats on the beautiful coin!

15 whole boxes and no key date? Wow.

 

[jcole77]

15 whole boxes and no key date? Wow.

Actually, that's not too unusual based on my findings... I've had 3 "key date droughts" of over 15 boxes (30,000 coins), with one going almost THIRTY boxes (59,320 coins) so far in 9 months (see below).

On average, it takes me 9.33 boxes (1 every 18,667 coins) to find a key date (38 D, 38 S, 39 D, 39 S, 50-D) Jefferson. I've found 12 in 224,000 coins (112 boxes worth) searched... Based on that, out of 15 boxes, you would expect to find 1 or 2, but not finding any would still fit within a standard deviation of what's expected... Now if you went 50 boxes without finding one, I'd be concerned... As you can see from my findings to date below, mine have tended to come in bunches of three...

Feb 18-Apr 18: None (10,180 coins)
Apr 19: 1938-D (among 480 coins)
Apr 20-May 22: None (13,280 coins)
May 23: 1939-S
June 2: 1939-S
June 3: 1939-S (these 3 39-S coins found among 7,580 coins in 11 days)
June 4-June 27: None (21,880 coins)
June 28: 1938-D (among 800 coins)
June 29-Aug 17: None (59,320 coins) - LONGEST "key date" DROUGHT
Aug 18: 1938-D (among 1640 coins)
Aug 19: 1938-S, 1939-D (AU) (these 3 found in 3560 coins - amongst 207 pre-60s in most of 2 LOOMIS boxes)
Aug 20-Sept 29: None (47,340 coins)
Sept 30: 1939-S (among 2,000 coins)
Oct. 1-Nov. 8: None (41,920 coins)
Nov. 9: 1938-S, 1939-S (among 2,160 coins)
Nov 10-Nov 17: None (13,440 coins)
Nov 18: 1938-S (AU) (among 3,600 coins)

So I got 3 in an 11 day span (May 23 - June 3), 3 in a 2 day span (Aug 18-19), 3 in a 10 day span (Nov 9-Nov 18), and 3 others kind of randomly... My best advice is to keep plugging away until you find one... and when you do find one, go back to that same bank and get as many rolls of the kind you found your original "key date" in until they dry up. I believe that half of my "key date" finds are a result of me re-hitting my original point of contact...

 

[jcole77]

Dang!!! When is it my turn to get a 1938 of ANY mintmark?? I've searched around 15 boxes and nada...congrats on the beautiful coin!

Thank you, Ryan! Keep plugging away... I've had 3 droughts of more than 15 boxes to date in terms of getting a '38 or '39 mintmarked nickel (and still no 50-D for me)... And when do you find one (and you will), go back to that same bank and get more of those same kind of boxes...

 

[jcole77]

as the Kool Aid pitcher would say OH YEAH!!!!!!!!

You betcha!!!

 

[jcole77]

Sounds like someone lost a collection.

You know, that's possible... there was a little green on the coin at the bottom of the obverse and on the back, which possibly resulted from being stored in a flip with PVC in it... BTW, I was able to get it off with a clean cloth towel.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Actually, that's not too unusual based on my findings...

I was being sarcastic, or at least trying to be. Nickels were never my personal favorite, but I'd get a box occasionally. I estimate that I've searched at least 50 boxes worth (probably more), and I've never even found a semi-key, or a buffalo, or a V. Only a few war nickels and they averaged WAY less than 1 per box. My nickel folder is still missing MANY dates.

 

[hokielegend]

Holy cow! Jcole. You are truly passionate with your record keeping when CRH. With my less than perfect eyesight, I could have easily missed that nickle as a post 80's Jefferson. I'm glad it went to someone as enthusiastic as you.

Well done!

 

[jcole77]

I was being sarcastic, or at least trying to be. Nickels were never my personal favorite, but I'd get a box occasionally. I estimate that I've searched at least 50 boxes worth (probably more), and I've never even found a semi-key, or a buffalo, or a V. Only a few war nickels and they averaged WAY less than 1 per box. My nickel folder is still missing MANY dates.

Sarcasm is a good thing... I'm very gifted in it usually (except when in task mode LOL). I'm guessing maybe the nickels where you live have been more picked over than where I'm at... I usually get about 3 War Nickels per 4 boxes searched.

 

[jcole77]

Holy cow! Jcole. You are truly passionate with your record keeping when CRH. With my less than perfect eyesight, I could have easily missed that nickle as a post 80's Jefferson. I'm glad it went to someone as enthusiastic as you.

Well done!

Thank you! Yeah, I'm a bit of a numbers guy... LOL. I did a double take when I saw the date... and I kind of just stared at it a second... then I got the camera, and I waited like a minute to flip it... I'm very happy to have it as well!