Nickel hunters: What should I do with older Jefferson nickels?

[kennedyfan]

CRHers,

Perhaps those of you who hunt through rolls of nickels will have some ideas for me. I've accumulated about a dozen rolls of older (mostly 30s through 60s) Jefferson nickels, primarily from garage sale collections or helpful bank tellers. I've pulled out the war nickels of course. But I'm not really sure what to do with the rest of them. I feel bad dumping them back into circulation, but I don't really feel the need to accumulate them either.

Any suggestions on what to do with them? Some dates or errors you guys like to look for? After I've looked for those, should I feel OK about dumping them?

 

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[Solid Rolls]

1938 - D
1938 - S
1939 - D
1939 - S
1950 - D

Those are your key and semi-key dates, and the best ones t hang onto. Some on here have sold their pre-1960 nickels on eBay or CraigsList for a small profit. Some send them back into the wild. Some like me hold onto them for the kids and grand-kids, because maybe in their lifetime they will be worth something of a premium. Either way, you honestly can't go wrong.

 

[waseeker]

I keep the 38D and S mint and the 39 D and S mint. Occasionally I will find a really nice pre-1960 with at least 5 steps and I'll keep those as well. The other key date is the 1950D and they do show up in rolls/bags from time to time but not too often. Other than that I just dump them. There is no numismatic value other than the ones I mentioned (and the war nickels). Some folks hold on to them in case the ban on melting them is lifted hoping to make a few bucks that way. There are a few dates with doubled or tripled mint marks and I think even some cases where there is a D over an S mint mark. There are also some of the earlier dates that are considered a double die. This often shows up in the word Monticello or on the legend.

Other than that it's your choice to either save them for future profit (melting ban gets lifted) or just put them back in the wild and don't feel bad about dumping them if that is your choice.

 

[jarlbartar]

Pretty much agree with what everyone else is saying here. I used to keep everything 1960 and earlier, I just ended up accumulating so darn many of them that I filled up a few books and still had a bunch and ended up dumping them back into the wild. I now keep everything 1950 and earlier, and anything that has 5 steps - I still don't know what my end use of them will be, but it helped me drastically whittle down my nickel stash and I don't regret getting rid of them.

 

[Silvercrazy]

I keep 1938 All, 1939 All, 1940D and S, 1941D and S, 1942 All, 1946D and S, 1947D and S, 1948D and S, 1949D and S, 1950 All, 1951 All, 1952D and S, 1953S, 1954 P and S, 1955P, 1956P, 1957P, 1958P and 1959P. In my opinion several of these dates other than the ones already mentioned in this thread are hard to find in quanity without doing numerous boxes. I am no expert but nickels are my favorite coin to search. I am in my 10th month of searching 1 box per day for a solid year 365 boxes, not sure if I will make it. Thanks and Good Luck. Dennis.

 

[Solid Rolls]

365 boxes of Nickels in one year. That is dedication. Good Luck!!

 

[Eldar11]

You could aim to average 365 boxes and do two some days, I'm sure that would make the 365 boxes more achievable.

 

[Solid Rolls]

You could aim to average 365 boxes and do two some days, I'm sure that would make the 365 boxes more achievable.

No diggity, no doubt. It's just a lot of unrolling, searching and squinting. Hats off to anyone who can though.

 

[TimZim]

I only do bags that way there are no rolls. its fast and easy!! $200 bags. I only save the war nics..

 

[Solid Rolls]

Tim, do you ever come across Buffalo or V Nickels?

 

[Ben-Ro]

What does "5 steps" mean? (sorry...newb)

 

[Ben-Ro]

NM...figured it out.