My 3 Boxes of Weekend Nickels

kleinerschmitter

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2010
438
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Birmingham, AL
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Hi all, been awhile since I've posted my finds, I've been pretty busy lately trying to get into various schools. Did 3 boxes of nickels this last weekend, first one was from one bank and the last 2 were from another and I hit a little Buffalo vein there.

Box 1:
1 x 2009P
1939P
1943P

Box 2:
6 x 2009D
1943S
1927D Buffalo
1937 Buffalo
1937D Buffalo
1 x Dateless Buffalo


Box 3:
5 x 2009D
1944P
1935 Buffalo
1 x Dateless Buffalo


So, all in all, got a silver in every box and the last 2 boxes produced 6 Buffaloes, so not a bad trip at all. What is everyone's opinion on Nic-a-date? I've probably got a full roll of Buffaloes with no date on them. HH to all and have a great week!

-Kleinerschmitter
 

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kleinerschmitter

kleinerschmitter

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2010
438
1,058
Birmingham, AL
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Minelab Etrac, Excalibur II, Teknetics G2+
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Yeah, I'm in a great area for nickels, I average a little over 1 war nickel and 1 Buffalo per box.
 

Gilmore Happy

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Jul 19, 2011
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To all nickel hunters....

I ask this out of pure curiosity.

Why on earth would you hunt for nickels when you cant rim check for quickness, the results are the same or worse as halves/dimes, and the value of each silver nickel doesnt compare with dimes, quarters, halves?
 

BuffaloBoy

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Feb 16, 2011
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Gilmore Happy said:
To all nickel hunters....

I ask this out of pure curiosity.

Why on earth would you hunt for nickels when you cant rim check for quickness, the results are the same or worse as halves/dimes, and the value of each silver nickel doesnt compare with dimes, quarters, halves?
I search nickels because they are fun and I am trying to put together a date series from 1938-2011, so far I only need the key dates now: 38d 38s 39d 39s 50d and the coin I can't seem to find, 2009p
 

Silvercrazy

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Nov 24, 2006
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It ain't all about the money Happy. Nickels are fun to search and they always produce a little something.
 

AgRockStar

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Jul 24, 2011
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Excuse my ignorance here...but what is the significance of the pre 1960 nickels? I know about the War Nickels, and Buffalos, but what about the others?

Is it only for "books", or do they have any other value?
 

Immy

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Mar 12, 2005
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Gilmore Happy said:
To all nickel hunters....

I ask this out of pure curiosity.

Why on earth would you hunt for nickels when you cant rim check for quickness, the results are the same or worse as halves/dimes, and the value of each silver nickel doesnt compare with dimes, quarters, halves?

Nickel collecting isn't only about the value, no collecting should be. Jefferson nickels are about the easiest set you can still complete from CRH. No, you won't turn a profit on even the best specimens but few things rival the pleasure of filling the last hole in a book. Focus on value, and you're missing the point on nickels. That's why it's called collecting. Bottle caps, swizzle sticks, baseball caps, when you collect what you love, value can mean many different things. Incidentally, 2 war nickels contain more silver than one silver dime, yet both are 10 cents.

Excuse my ignorance here...but what is the significance of the pre 1960 nickels? I know about the War Nickels, and Buffalos, but what about the others?

The 1950's were the last decade before nickels were produced in ridiculous mass quantities. There are several dates where less than 10 million were produced (1949-S, 1950, 1951-S, 1955-P). In a series where billions upon billions have been made in the last 20 years alone, those dates represent the rarest and are therefore worth saving.
 

SilverFace

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Aug 21, 2011
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"To all nickel hunters....

I ask this out of pure curiosity.

Why on earth would you hunt for nickels when you cant rim check for quickness, the results are the same or worse as halves/dimes, and the value of each silver nickel doesn't compare with dimes, quarters, halves"

Your right the value of silver nickels doesn't compare to other junk silver coins - nickels are better. Silver dimes, quarters and halves are currently worth about 31xfv while nickels are currently worth about 50xfv and will always have a higher % value than other silver coins. Plus nickels don't require as much cash.

And I've had a little better luck with my nickel searches although I haven't been searching in large volume as of yet. But I've been averaging at least 1 silver nickel for every 10-15 rolls. I haven't bought any boxes lately but when I was I was averaging about 4 or 5 silver per box. Lately I've just been buying $20-$50 at a time and my results seem to be about the same. And 2009 nickels are hard to find. I think I've only found about 15-20 total which is much less than the silver one's I've found over the past couple of years. I've also had some good luck with buffaloes lately including some nice full date coins from the '30's. And just Fri. I found a 1939D (semi-key date) Jefferson.

But you are right they do require more time to search if you just want to rim search for silver. But even so since they are nickels and have 10 fewer coins per roll than cents and dimes they still seem to go fairly quick. But maybe when I start to increase my volume I'll notice the time factor more and maybe I will have an even better idea on the percentages of my silver finds but so far it seems to be fairly consistant at about 1 silver in about 10 - 15 rolls like I said. Maybe I might have about the same % rate score with dimes and I might try hunting dimes a little more in the future. And I also keep the pre-'60 nickels as well even though most '40-"59's non-silver don't have much value over face. But I do find a lot of "39's, 1940's and 1941's because of the high mintage figures and the '40's and '41's are worth about $.10 each and the '39's are worth about $.20 or so. Also many other pre-'60 dates have rather low mintages as someone else stated and maybe someday will have a little more collector value like wheat cents do compared to copper memorial cents. I search both cents and nickels and I seem to find nearly as many wheats as I do pre-'60 nickels.

Anyway
 

LeoTrench-MAINE

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Aug 7, 2011
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I used to work at a Circle K back in Dallas in the early '90s -I had saved almost a full roll of 1950D nickels. No one wanted them -Now I can't find one to save my life...LOL

Sweet finds!!!

Trench
 

Piledriver

Hero Member
May 21, 2011
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Gilmore Happy said:
To all nickel hunters....

I ask this out of pure curiosity.

Why on earth would you hunt for nickels when you cant rim check for quickness, the results are the same or worse as halves/dimes, and the value of each silver nickel doesnt compare with dimes, quarters, halves?

I rim search nickels too.
The only ones I want are War Nickels (35% silver) and most of those are a completely different color.

The rest can return to the wild.

Keep on Rollin'.
 

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kleinerschmitter

kleinerschmitter

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2010
438
1,058
Birmingham, AL
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac, Excalibur II, Teknetics G2+
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Yeah, I actually search nickels primarily because I can't edge search them, I get a box and search after work when I'm sitting on my couch. Also, I don't think I've ever been skunked because my primary keepers are war nickels, buffaloes and 2009's and if you add all of them together, I'm averaging about 6 keepers/box. I also have best finds that I'm trying to beat, which are 3 War Nickels in a box, 14 Buffaloes in a box, and 12 2009's in a box. The 2009's and Buffaloes rock here. I've almost got 3 full rolls of 2009D but I've only found 2 of the 2009P.
 

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kleinerschmitter

kleinerschmitter

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2010
438
1,058
Birmingham, AL
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac, Excalibur II, Teknetics G2+
Primary Interest:
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Also, my collection just runs for Jeffersons from 1938-1964 and I still have to find 39D and 50D.
 

SilverFace

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Aug 21, 2011
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"I've almost got 3 full rolls of 2009D but I've only found 2 of the 2009P"

That's funny because I found about 20 or so 2009P's CRHing but no 2009D's. It definitely seems to depend on your location of the country.

HH
 

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