Putting Together a Jefferson Nickel Set via CRH/Circulation

jcole77 · Aug 2, 2016

I completed one back when I was a cashier at a local Taco Bell almost 30 years ago... been CRH for 5 1/2 months now, and found a 1945-P to get me down to needing only a 1938-S, 1939-D, 1943-D, 1950-D, and the 1955 Philadelphia coin to complete my new set... Is anyone else here working on a set of Jeffersons?

mxh5891 · Aug 3, 2016

Taco bell has been around for 30 years?

kcm · Aug 3, 2016

Taco Bell was founded in Downey, California on June 9, 1962.

baddbluff · Aug 4, 2016

I am putting a set together - don't search too many nicks tho. Usually only when my half dollar orders fall through. Nicks are fun to search. I am missing only the '38S & '09P. I found a nice 50-d in my till at work and an AU '39-d in a CWR soon after. It is achievable with a little luck and a lot of searching. It gets harder every year as so many new nicks are added into circulation. When I was a kid in the '80s, war nicks were really easy to find. I had rolls & rolls of them. Now you are lucky to find 1 in a $100 box.

jcole77 · Aug 4, 2016

baddbluff said:
I am putting a set together - don't search too many nicks tho. Usually only when my half dollar orders fall through. Nicks are fun to search. I am missing only the '38S & '09P. I found a nice 50-d in my till at work and an AU '39-d in a CWR soon after. It is achievable with a little luck and a lot of searching. It gets harder every year as so many new nicks are added into circulation. When I was a kid in the '80s, war nicks were really easy to find. I had rolls & rolls of them. Now you are lucky to find 1 in a $100 box.

Wow... you've done very well. An AU 39-D is like a $30 coin!

I actually found 3 39-S nickels in an 11 day period a couple of months ago. So bizarre, because I had only found 1 ever before that.

I do lots of nickels early in the weeks, and somewhat fewer later in the weeks when my Halves come in. I'm right about on the one silver per box too... though the other day in $120 worth, I managed to pull 4 of them!

silvercounselor · Aug 13, 2016

I was able to complete a full Jefferson set in one year. Searched over 125 boxes to do it. I've decreased my CRHing a lot but still grab a box of nickels every once in awhile to look for some gems.

jcole77 · Aug 13, 2016

silvercounselor said:
I was able to complete a full Jefferson set in one year. Searched over 125 boxes to do it. I've decreased my CRHing a lot but still grab a box of nickels every once in awhile to look for some gems.

Nice! Out of curiosity, what part of the nation are you in? I'm on the West Coast, so the Philly coins are always a little tougher for me. Nickels are probably the most fun for me because I often encounter War Nickels, and occasionally Buffalos.

silvercounselor · Aug 14, 2016

jcole77 said:
Nice! Out of curiosity, what part of the nation are you in? I'm on the West Coast, so the Philly coins are always a little tougher for me. Nickels are probably the most fun for me because I often encounter War Nickels, and occasionally Buffalos.

I live in Pittsburgh, PA. Nickels are still my favorite for similar reasons. :occasion14:

Chizzy · Aug 14, 2016

Yep, working on Jefferson collections for the 3 youngest grand children.........now, I need to start one for the 3 month old great grand child. The 1938D, 1939D, 1939S and 1950D are the ones that are difficult for me. Some of the 1950 coins should be upgraded........they are less than stellar.

Keith Jackson · Aug 18, 2016

I am currently working on a nickel set from circulation. I think that the Jefferson set is about the only one out there that pretty much can be completed that way. The reason that I want to do this is because it was how my grandmother collected back when I was little. All her coins came from circulation or from trading with my uncle. She had the full Franklin half set as well as the Jefferson and Lincoln sets except for the few key dates. It seems much more like real "collecting" to me since now you can just go on line and find almost any coin that you are looking for as long as you have the money.

GMan00001 · Aug 18, 2016

As of when I stopped searching religiously about 3 years ago, I had two complete sets of Jefferson from circulation (1938-1959 anyway) and close to a few more. I have at least one roll (40 coins) of most of the series. I think I am only missing the 1938-S and 1950-D to complete the next 3 or 4 sets. I believe the next lowest totals were the other semi-keys (1938-D, 1939-D, and 1939-S).

I believe I also had around 45% of the buffalo nickels and 30% of the V-nickels from circulation.

And since other denominations were mentioned, I am 1 coin away from completing the Franklin set and 2 coins from completing the silver Roosevelt dime set (1946-1964) from circulation. If I remember correctly, I also have 30% to 50% of the silver Washington quarters, walking liberty halves, and mercury dime sets from circulation.

7up2000 · Aug 18, 2016

The 1939d and 1950d are the hardest to find. Some of the war nickels are also extremely difficult to find--like the 1943d. I've been through 170 boxes of nickels(in the past 2 years) and there are probably more than a few I still haven't found. I'm sure I've only found two 1939d and two 1950d. I'm two coins away from completing 5 of the Jefferson Nickel sets(Harris, Whitman folders) and some of these coins I've bought from coin shops or bought off ebay since they are too difficult to find via boxes from the bank. Give yourself a break and don't try to find coins in boxes that just aren't there---it can be frustrating. I feel a lot of satisfaction in completing the four sets I have. It was a lot of fun--and as a side note-- I figured out a way to make some extra money through going through the massive amount of nickels. I hope some of this makes sense or is helpful to someone out there. Just as a postscript....I had a coin dealer tell me I wouldn't find any war nickels in circulation(i.e. boxes)....boy was he wrong...obviously he hadn't recently tried it--or it wasn't his thing...

bertmaster2000 · Aug 19, 2016

mxh5891 said:
Taco bell has been around for 30 years?

Heck yes, when I was in high school in the 80's my local Taco Bell had "Taco Tuesday" and would serve either hard or softshell beef tacos for only $.50 each with no limit on the number of tacos one could order...Those were the good old days!

GMan00001 · Aug 19, 2016

I looked last night and I have found like 5 or 6 of the 1939-D (can't remember if I bought one or if I found all of them) and only 2 of the 1938-S and 2 of the 1950-D. So for me the 1938-S is far tougher and that is with heavy volume for multiple years.

jcole77 · Aug 19, 2016

7up2000 said:
Give yourself a break and don't try to find coins in boxes that just aren't there---it can be frustrating.

Well, something very special happened to me the past two days... I am now 3 coins from completing my set! I basically hit the jackpot at my bank. Got a partial box (44 rolls) and found 170 pre-60s including a 1938-D, got a full box from the same bank today and found 37 more pre-60s including an AU 1939-D and an EF 1938-S. It appears these nickels had been sitting around for a very long time and someone was culling the silver out as there was not a single War Nickel amongst the 207 coins and there were many AU/BU coins from 1956 through 1960 and also BU coins from the 1970s.

Here's the full story! http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/coin-roll-hunting/512847-loomis-nickel-bonanza.html

The thrill of the find is much better than the frustration of not finding stuff.