Question

[WheatWaffle]

What do you guys call a low mintage year? Anything under 50 million, 25 million, 10 million etc. This question is for any denomination. Right now, I'm keeping everything under 50 million.

 

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[SilverFace]

Well it depends a lot on denomination and other factors. For example a low mintage year figure for cents would be much higher than a low mintage year figure for halves. The NIFC half mintages are around 2-3 million or so per year and mm but the '09 nickels were very low mintage and they were 39 & 46 million for each mint and the '09 cent mintage figures were in the hundreds of millions for each design and mm but that's still very low mintage figures for a cent as Im sure u know.

 

[WheatWaffle]

Well, it would be mostly for nickels.

 

[baddbluff]

It's all relative. I love US coins w/less than 1 million minted: '09 s vdb, 16d Merc etc.

 

[boristhespider88]

With nickels, I keep pre-'40, war nickels, '50-D, '55-P, and proofs.

 

[WheatWaffle]

Currently, I am keeping all 1938-1942 (not silver), war nickels, buffalos, 2009's and anything under 50 million mintage. Im thinking a should lower the mintage to 25 million.

 

[Joe777Cool]

Im keeping the older nickels as well, but im not very hopeful. Some older jeffersons are 80+ years old and not really worth much over face. I think im better off investing in something more lucrative.

 

[SilverFace]

I still keep all the pre-'60, '09 and proof nic's but I should probably at least let the high mintage D '50's nic's go unless I find one in really nice cond. But there are some mint mark errors to look for like the 1954 S/D & 1955 D/S so I'd wanna at least keep my eye out for any of those b4 throwing them back.

 

[WheatWaffle]

Havent found any proof's yet. How many boxes do you average to find one proof? Ive gotten really lucky and pulled a 2009 proof from pennies.

 

[SilverFace]

Proof nickels are very rare for me. I've only found a few S mint nickels that I can remember and I think I remember finding a glossy looking early '60's nickel one time that I thought might be proof but I was certain about it.

Well S mint proofs I meant to say.

 

[boristhespider88]

Havent found any proof's yet. How many boxes do you average to find one proof? Ive gotten really lucky and pulled a 2009 proof from pennies.

I have found about than 5 proof nickels in a year and a half of hunting. They are harder for me to find than buffs. I usually average 1 war nickel every box, 1 buffalo every 2.5 boxes, and a proof nickel every ~15-20 boxes.

I've found... a 1970-S, a 1974-S, and a 1994-S. There were a couple of others, but those are the only dates I can think of off the top of my head.

EDIT: I've searched a LOT of cents, no proofs.

Cents are the only coins that I haven't found a proof of in the wild. I've found proof nickels, dimes, one (clad) proof quarter, half dollars, and a dollar coin (SBA).

 

[WheatWaffle]

Ive gone through around 40 boxes of pennies and found four proofs. I was lucky though, they all came in the same box.

 

[jamesandsons]

I've found one proof cent, one proof nickel, and one or two proof dimes (pretty sure I immediately lost one that I found though).

 

[crhgymnast1]

Ive gone through around 40 boxes of pennies and found four proofs. I was lucky though, they all came in the same box.

I've gone through 3-4 hundred in nickels with 3 proofs an 88, 2008, an 58. The 2008 and 58 from the same 50$ cwr