I've just been checking my figures for nickel roll searching this year and came across a curiosity that's been a constant since I started hunting nickels 20 years ago.
So far this year I've found all pre-1960 Jeffersons except [red]1938-D, 1938-S, 1939-D[/red], 1939-S, 1947-D, [red]1950-D[/red], 1951-S, 1955 and the silver years 1942-S, [red]1943-D[/red] & 1945-D.
Now the one date that stands out in the above list, apart from the silver which are naturally harder to find, is the 47-D. All the others have mintages under 10 million so it's understandable they'd be harder to locate. But the 47-D has a mintage of 37.8 million so it's a mystery why it should be this difficult to find. And this has been a consistant phenomenon over the years. When I was completing solid date rolls a few years back the 47-D took twice as long to finish than other dates that had lower mintages. I live in the western US so Denver coins should be pretty common, and most are, except for this one.
Any ideas about why this happens? Is there some massive hoard that has kept the population down?
Update: I've recently found my first 47-D of the year.
And just some data to back up my claim. I completed the following rolls before the 47-D and all have lower mintages:
1949-D (36.5 million)
1956 (35.9 million)
1952-D (30.6 million)
1954-S (29.4 million)
1959 (28.4 million)
1947-S (24.7 million)
1952-S (20.6 million)
1953-S (19.2 million)
4/30/06 update - first 1951-S of the year recently found
5/9/06 update - first 1955 of the year found yesterday
8/9/06 update - first 1942-S of the year found yesterday, only seven more to go!
9/9/06 update - first 1939-S of the year found today, six more to go!
10/14/06 update - first 1945-D of the year found today, only five left and 78 days to find 'em!
So far this year I've found all pre-1960 Jeffersons except [red]1938-D, 1938-S, 1939-D[/red], 1939-S, 1947-D, [red]1950-D[/red], 1951-S, 1955 and the silver years 1942-S, [red]1943-D[/red] & 1945-D.
Now the one date that stands out in the above list, apart from the silver which are naturally harder to find, is the 47-D. All the others have mintages under 10 million so it's understandable they'd be harder to locate. But the 47-D has a mintage of 37.8 million so it's a mystery why it should be this difficult to find. And this has been a consistant phenomenon over the years. When I was completing solid date rolls a few years back the 47-D took twice as long to finish than other dates that had lower mintages. I live in the western US so Denver coins should be pretty common, and most are, except for this one.
Any ideas about why this happens? Is there some massive hoard that has kept the population down?
Update: I've recently found my first 47-D of the year.
And just some data to back up my claim. I completed the following rolls before the 47-D and all have lower mintages:
1949-D (36.5 million)
1956 (35.9 million)
1952-D (30.6 million)
1954-S (29.4 million)
1959 (28.4 million)
1947-S (24.7 million)
1952-S (20.6 million)
1953-S (19.2 million)
4/30/06 update - first 1951-S of the year recently found
5/9/06 update - first 1955 of the year found yesterday
8/9/06 update - first 1942-S of the year found yesterday, only seven more to go!
9/9/06 update - first 1939-S of the year found today, six more to go!
10/14/06 update - first 1945-D of the year found today, only five left and 78 days to find 'em!
