After reading the "Collectable Nickels in Circulation" thread I looked through $96.67 in change.
SanctionII
Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭✭✭
As an academic exercise on a cold Sunday afternoon.
The results of my search are:
One 2016 Canadian dime;
One 1975 5 PTAS from Spain;
Four Kennedy halves - 2017 D NIFC, 1985 D environmental damage, 1981 D EF and 2015 D NIFC burned in a fire;
264 clad quarters - 92 from 1965-1998, 60 SHQ from 1999-2009, 106 from 2010-2020 and 6 from 2021 (details below);
198 clad dimes (details below);
111 nickels (details below); and
332 cents - 31 copper from 1909-1981, 8 from 1982, 26 from 1983-1989, 39 from 1990-1999 and 228 from 2000-2021.
For the clad quarters from 1965-1998 there were 3 from 1965, 1 from 1966, 6 from 1967, 1 1968P, 1 1969P, 1 1970D, 2 1973P, 1 1973D, 2 1974D, 1 1974P, 1 1776-1976D, 1 1776-1976P, 1 1977D, 2 1979D, 1 1980D, 2 1980P, 1 1981D (album worthy), 1 1981P, 1 1982D, 1 1982P, 3 1983 D (one album worthy), 1 1983P, 2 1984D, 1 1985P, 2 1986D, 1 1986P, 3 1987D, 1 1988D, 2 1988P, 4 1989D, 5 1990D, 1 1990P, 1 1991D, 1112 1991P, 1 1992D, 1 1992P, 4 1993D, 3, 1994D, 3 1994P, 1 1995D, 4 1995P, 2 1996D, 4 1997D, 5 1998D and 1 1998P.
The conditions of the above quarters were low, ranging from culls to at best VF. All but two of the coins were not worthy of keeping as they had multiple detractions (though should I have kept the 1969P which is a cull?)
For the SHQ quarters they include 1 Alaska D, 2 Arizona D, 1 Calif. D, 2 Colo. D (one is album worthy), 1 Conn. D, 1 Conn. P, 1 Del. D, 2 Fla. D, 2 Georgia D, 1 Hawaii. D, 1 Indiana P, 2 Iowa D (one is album worthy), 1 Louisiana D, 1 Maryland E, 1 Michigan D, 2 Minn. D, 1 Miss. D, 2 Nebraska D, 1 Nevada D, 1 NH D, 1 NJ P, 1 New Mexico D, 1 NY P, 1 No. Car. D, 1 No. Dakota D, 1 Ohio D, 2 Oregon D, 1 Oregon P, 4 Penn D, 3 RI D, 1 So. Car. D, 1 So. Dakota P, 2 Tenn. D, 1 Texas D, 1 Utah D, 1 Virginia D, 4 Virginia P, 2 Wash. D, 1 W. Virginia P and 3 Wyoming D.
The conditions of the above quarters were low to EF, except the two album worthy coins.
I did not look at the post SHQ quarters, though some of them were AU/UNC.
The 6 2021 quarters were all from Denver and they look nice (the obverse relief is a throw back to earlier days and a welcome sight for my eyes).
For the dimes, 147 were from 2000-2021 and I did not look at them closely. 3 were from the 1960s, 9 were from the 1970s, 12 were from the 1980s and 27 were from the 1990s.
The 1960s included 1966, 1967 and 1968D (all very low grade). The 1970s included 1 1971D, 1 1973D, 1 1975P, 2 1976D, 1 1977D, 1 1978D and 2 1979D (all very low grade). The 1980s included 1 1980D, 2 1980P, 1 1982D, 1 1983D, 1 1984D, 2 1985D, 1 1986D, 1 1986P, 1 1987D and 1 1989D (all very low grade). The 1990s included 1 1990D, 2 1992D, 4 1994D, 2 1994P, 1 1995P, 3 1996D, 3 1996P, 2 1997D, 3 1998D and 6 1999D (grades of these were better than earlier decades but still not enough to warrant setting any aside).
For the nickels 68 were from 2000-2021, 1 from the 1950s, 4 from the 1960s, 4 from the 1970s, 12 from the 1980s and 21 from the 1990s.
I did not look at the nickels from 2000-2021.
The 1950s include 1 1959D, the 1960s included 1 1960D, 2 1964D and 1 1964P. The 1970s include 1 1971D, 1 1973P, 1 1976D and 1 1979D. The 1980s include 1 1980P, 1981P, 1 1982D, 1 1983D, 2 1985D, 2 1986D (one of which is a dryer coins with the devices worn down), 1 1987D, 1 1988D and 2 1989P. The 1990s include 3 1990D, 2 1990P, 2 1991D, 1 1992P, 1 1993P, 1 1995D, 1 1996D, 1 1996P, 1 1997D, 1 1997P, 2 1998D, 1 1998P, 3 1999D and 1 1999P. The conditions of these nickels range from low to VF. Many are culls and none are album worthy.
For the cents, there was one wheat (a 1958D that is beautiful with luster and attractive toning that tends to dark that would grade AU). There are a few copper memorials that surprisingly are close to UNC and a fiery orange. Ditto for some of the 1982 and 1983 cents. A few would be worthy for albums. I did find a 1992D cent that is AU and oranges that has very strong mechanical doubling on the date, mintmark and all of the other lettering on the obverse. The doubling is readily apparent. I have seen this on many cents from the 1993 forward.
All and all an interesting exercise.
If the coins I looked at are representative of what is out circulating in society, there is not much in the way of coinage from 1959 to 1999 (cents), 1938-1999 (nickels) and from 1965-1999 in the clad coinage that would be worthy of being placed in albums (i.e. attractive VF or better coins that are free from damage of one kind or another).
Trying to fill holes in an album from circulation for these types of coins would be a labor intensive endeavor (of course it was that way in the 1960's when I was a YN and I enjoyed the hunt, even if most coins I placed into albums were of lower grade).
My next post will be # 10,000 for me. It will be posted when I next submit a group of coins to our host for grading.
I plan on having a 10,000 post give away contest.
SanctionII
Comments
The 1975 5 PTS coin from Espana is called a 'duro,' and should have the head of Generalissimo Francisco Franco on its obverse. He died in November of that year.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
Someone was bored on a Sunday afternoon!
U.S. Type Set
I've long said time don't fly, it bounds and leaps (at least since John Prine said it first). It always makes the biggest jumps when we aren't looking for any reason. I didn't look at nickels closely for 20 years because I thought I knew nickels and exactly where they were going. While I wasn't looking they took a short cut and got there a couple decades early.
Your sample shows the exact same thing; they're simply gone. I've said that sets can be assembled from circulation for so long I didn't notice that it's no longer really true. I suppose with a few boxes of nickels you really will find even the 1971 but the condition will be awful unless you are very lucky. They've sold lots of folders and any '71 will be snapped up.
It is the '80's and '90's coins that surprise me the most. These coins aren't even very old and the few survivors are beaten up pretty bad. I don't understand what forces could chew these coins so quickly and violently but the fact they have no real usefulness any longer except to make change and the inflationary loss of value are certainly factors. It would seem substantial numbers of people must be simply discarding them since they are so bulky and have so little value. They are heavy so subject to wear and tear.
I still intend to try another sample but if California nickels look like my sample I have to believe next month's sample (NW Indiana) will look the same. It's also interesting in how relatively little mixing of mint marks there are. These have been circulating poorly for a very long time.
Funny how there are still nice attractive early '60's and older coins but so little of the later '60's and '70's. You can find the old ones by the barrel in any condition but the 1965 is elusive except as an SMS.
The other coins are interesting as well but less surprising if you've been watching these coins wear out and disappear. The mint in 1965 said the quarters had a 30 year life expectancy, It looked closer to 40 years until the FED started withdrawing worn coins about a decade ago.
...later...
I imagine if I were to get into the large jars of change that I have (filled from pocket change over a couple of decades), I would find a similar situation as @SanctionII and @cladking have described. It would be a major task (several hundred dollars accumulated) for me.... so not likely anytime soon. Cheers, RickO
I'm sure I did the math wrong here.
There should be at least a few '71-P's in a box of nickels. But with so few left and so many folders being filled up with all the nice VG-VF it's mostly going to leave just the very heavily worn and cull coins. All the low mintage dates should be getting heavily skewed to very poor coins remaining. A F/ VF set should be pretty easy if you look through a box of nickels once in a while. Nice attractive F's of the better dates are getting elusive at this point. XF's in the '90's along with a few AU's should be attainable.
When I obtained my rolls last week I really expected to see a couple nice VF's in the '70's along with lots of nice F's rather than that attrition has simply eliminated so many coins. With the uneven and low circulating velocity I expected to see some nice high grades in the '70's while there weren't even any in the '90's. The nickels in circulation have changed a great deal since 2002. In those days most of the '70's coins were still there and a lot had relatively little wear. You could even find AU's with a little effort.
The dimes still aren't being collected. Of course now the coins are pretty well worn and dimes tend to usually be covered in littler scratches. I wonder what will happen with these coins. While my sample had huge numbers of road kill most of the dimes still aren't bent or otherwise disfigured. It's a wonder a lot more of them won't go through counting machines.
The attrition on dimes is nearly as high as the nickels but hasn't changed much since the old days. Nickel attrition is skyrocketing.