The '64-D Nickel.
cladking
Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
This coin never interested me very much because so many millions of nickels were set aside every year up until 1965. It was probably in excess of 20 million but who knows.
Coin Week has a new article by this title in which the author states;
" But the determined collector should be able to cherry-pick a full five-step specimen out of almost two billion potential candidates."
I find this somewhat humorous since I searched rolls and bags of these and can't recall seeing a nice strong FS example. And I had a 50 year head start! Now days there aren't so many left and finding a bag or two is very unlikely to result in a FS. I think if you bought a roll from 50 to 100 different sources your odds would be OK though. Good luck finding this many sources. It is not a coin that dealers stock... ...ever. There are a few sources on eBay right now for rolls so that's a good start. I don't see any bags left though.
More than 60% of the '64-D nickels are gone now and there's no chance of finding a FS in circulation.
I'm never going to be a fan of this date but I'd hang onto Gems and FS because, just like moderns, they are not very common. The FS '64-D lists for $34 by PCGS in MS-63 so I know other searchers aren't having a lot more luck than I am. If you're going to search for this one you might try eBay where it's like shooting fish in a barrel. I even see a couple raw examples for $35. They might not be quite FS but they are at least close.
I know these are awful small fry to the big dollar collectors but it is very unfair painting moderns as far more common than they are and listing their prices at less than market. Nothing is more common than a '64-D nickel (other than '64 cents) so why single it out?
Comments
Makes me want to dig out my albums and look at my 64Ds
When I was reading the article I thought the photo looked familiar
I made this coin - had it graded at PCGS quite awhile back and sold it sometime afterwards 
https://pcgs.com/cert/10759230
My Washington Type B/C Set
Guessing the damage pooned this one from making it:
That's a remarkable amount of coin for $10.
You won't find many with so many steps, better struck, from better dies, or gemmier. This one has it all except no FS and a little too much marking.
'64-D's just don't often come very nice. There are not "two billion candidates".
I remember when I was a kid selling papers, about 75% of the nickels I would receive would be the ubiquitous 1964-D.
Now, when looking through rolls, they are actually starting to become scarce.
Hard to believe.
They're not only "scarce" but they are almost universally heavily worn. There are more higher grades than most dates of the era because lots of them were saved in 1964 and released. A few people save everything before 1965 so these get caught up in hoards a little bit. You can find a VF with a little effort and an XF is possible bit no "determined collector" is going to find a FS in any grade.
By mid-1965 there were an awful lot of 1964 nickels and most of the rest were '57 to date. Even the dateless buffalo nickels were disappearing.
It's quite obvious that collectors weren't really responsible for the coin shortage because mintage plummeted in 1965 and it took many years of production just to equal the number of 1964 P & D's.
Just this morning I looked at my nickel jar (accumulated from pocket change - 2 quarts) and thought I should go through it, roll them, and turn them in to the bank.... OK... some day ...
Probably no '64D FS in there anyway... Cheers, RickO
When I was out cherry picking I would buy rolls of them for not much over face. So you can say I have some bags and rolls I never looked at. But when I would open some rolls and would put all the nice ones in kointain holders and put them in my cigar box’s. Haven’t looked at them for years now. Had some really nice ones I think I had some graded as well.
Hoard the keys.
Here are a couple I found when I pulled a cigar box some P’s and D’s. I also need to get a new camera sorry if pic’s are not very good.
Hoard the keys.
The 64 d has been very good to me in years past on 3 occasions, One now resides in a Top Registry Set and I still have about a half roll of close but no Cigar somewhere around the house
Steve
Wasn't the mintmark next to Montecello on the 64 D? I see where type2 put 64 P in his post now. Cladking was talking about 64 D, that's where my confusion came from.
The bottom two are "D's" I said I found both Phillips and Danvers when I was looking so I just posted both.
Hoard the keys.
They're all nice coins.
The Philly is tough in Gem too but I've seen one or two of them with FS.
Here's the article but I don't recommend it.
https://coinweek.com/modern-coins/united-states-1964-d-jefferson-nickel/
I like Coinweek a lot but some of their articles on moderns not so much. They often feel a little like friendly fire.
I've been lucky with about fifteen dates but they're almost all clad quarters.
I've looked at so many of the early '60's nickels you'd think I would have found something. Even where I did get lucky with these dates like the '62-D cent it's almost impossible to make a profit unless they are a pop top. Then you're at the mercy of the odds, grading, and the whims of a few collectors who make these markets. I've even had chances to look through other peoples' stashes of Gems like cherried out bags of nickels and not found a FS.
Cherry picking moderns and early '60's coins is a lot of fun but very few of even the most determined collectors are going to find a FS '64-D. You've got to cast a wider net and fill that '64-D slot with a Gem while you're still looking for the nice FS coin.
Prices are at the rock bottom and most bashers think they are through the roof because they actually believe articles like this. They believe that if Bowers tells them all the clad quarters are easy in chBU or Gem then they must be and high prices are caused by ever greater fools.
It's far easier to shell out $35 for a FS than to find your own and this is more true if you started looking long ago.
I had Cherrypicked the 64d that's in a Registry Set about 35 years ago and it was in my Dansco, any how I remember numerous Coin Shops and Bid Boards around where I live back in them days just dumping rolls of 64d nickels in there tills whenever they needed them, heck some shops were still doing that with 64d nickels into the 90's, actually they did that with alot of early 60's nickels and cents as well as clad dimes and quarters when needed
Steve
Looking at them, they look real nice and maybe not FS but should be 66 maybe even better
Steve
People have this idea that if coins are made in large enough quantities they can save themselves. If billions are made everyone has them and they will be plentiful forever. This mightta half worked with the '64-D since so many millions were actually saved out but where are you supposed to find a '67 MS quarter? Nobody saved any and if a roll did come into a coin shop it was dumped in the till. Today there are sellers at five or ten dollars a coin and they can't seem to keep them in stock.
But back to the '64-D; these hardly exist in the quantities they once did. I just cashed in most of the ones I saved over the years. I'm trying to sell off everything and these were not nice Gems like the pictured coins here. They were just run of the mill Gems. I saved two or three coins in flips and that was it. The others weren't worth trying to sell because there is no market for an MS-64 with four+ good steps.
I don't know how many rolls and bags are left but I hear stories of vaults full of coins and '64-D nickels once existed in quantities that would fill a lot of vaults so I assume there are at least some in such hoards. There are a few sellers of BU rolls so they aren't scarce. But I do know exactly what the typical roll of these looks like and it ain't pretty. No determined collector is likely to find a FS or a Gem. I said earlier that 100 rolls would yield a FS but the statement is misleading because the coins will bunch up. It would be more accurate to say that in 300 rolls there is a good chance of finding 3 FS but they'll all be in the same roll. Then, too, I'm referring to a proper sample and not whatever is available. By "sample" I mean random coins as they came out of the mint in 1964. Maybe one roll per day. Even in 1964 you couldn't just buy a few bags of Denver nickels and be likely to find a FS. If you did find one then you'd have dozens. But all these nickels are gone now spread to the winds of time. They have been recycled with junk cars and dropped into Niagara Falls. The ones that are left are worn and frequently mutilated.
And then there are the ones that were set aside and never spent or tossed in a dealer's cash register.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
Interesting discussion.
So, I gather it’s not worth my while to break these open in search of the elusive “full steps”?
Only one of these rolls is a 64-d anyways. The ones I can see peeking out from both ends are quite nice.
It’s not really my series anyways.
Finding one out of 100 rolls is terrible odds!
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014