Completed My Set Of Jefferson Nickels From Circulation

CRHer700

This collection may not be pretty, but it sure was cheap! Every member was bought at face value from the bank over about a year and a half. The 1938-D&S were the last ones to be found. I am also only 3 away from a second set, with only the 1938-D&S and the 1939-D needed. I greatly enjoyed the hunt, and had in reading about others doing the same thing. I wouldn't have gotten this far with out you guys, especially @Coinscratch , @OAKSTAR , @JoeyCoins , @Joe_360 , and @rec78 with the CRH thread before I joined. Thank you for looking!






This 1945-S is the only member of the set to have been found in a quarter roll.

These are my extras of the hardest to find dates.

Note: this is my second post with this title, as the first one disappeared and said that it had to be reviewed by the mods before it would post when I edited it too many times. I attempted to contact Heather, but got no response, so I am reposting it.

Steven59

That's pretty good to find a whole nickel set from circulation now a days. Time to put them in an old whitman coin folder for nostalgic purposes!

Mr_Spud

That’s actually awesome. You going to put them in an album?

291fifth

You actually found a 50-D! That is a real accomplishment! (A very high percentage of the mintage was hoarded shortly after the time of issue. Nearly all seen are mint state pieces.)

Project Numismatics

An excellent project - congrats on finishing! I am surprised it only took you a year and a half. How many nickels do you estimate that you searched?

OAKSTAR

A consistent looking circulated set like yours has real character. We know that took time a effort. It's a real accomplishment! Congrats! 👍

DelawareDoons

Took me a solid 60+ boxes until I found a 50-D, the last I needed. Congrats.

Dave99B

One cool set! It’s great to know this still can be done!

Dave

Tibor

Back in the late 70's I put together 7 roll sets, 38-64. Never found a 50 D.

NeophyteNumismatist

Congrats. Thats not an easy task from circulation.

jmlanzaf

Congratulations. I always recommended this set to YNs and their parents as a good way to start a kid hunting. It's the only set that you can pull from circulation other than memorial cents

alaura22

Very cool, just took me back 65 years when I was doing the same
Congrats

golden

I never did find a 1950-D back in the 1960's when I was looking.

dcarr

Have you found a 2009-P and 2009-D, or does your collection end prior to 2009 ?

thebeav

That's impressive....Congrats !

Downtown1974

Very cool! Congratulations on completing the set.

Crypto

impressive, well done. If you PM your address Ill send you a nickel folder

TwoSides2aCoin

Good feat. That's not as easy as it seems. Yet, it's done just like in the old days.

MICHAELDIXON

That's great!

GaCoinGuy

Very cool! Simply circulation finds or from rolls or both?

Overdate

I nearly completed a set from circulation in the early 1960's, but could never find a 1939-D (but I did find three 1950-D).

nwcoast

That’s super cool and took some SERIOUS box searching!
What a great example of just what’s possible still.

lcoopie

That’s real coin collecting.

lkenefic

Congrats!!! I can personally attest to "seeding" the population of 1938's and '39s by "catching and releasing" several over the last five or so years... but I have NEVER found a 50-D in circulation! Awesome to get back the the "roots" of collecting!

cladking

There are a few big surprises here. The biggest is the poor condition of the '47-D. There should be a few rolls of '47-D's before a '39-D is found. Surely you simply failed to upgrade this coin as you assembled the set.

Also the'42-D is much nicer than to be expected. This date wasn't heavily saved but there were enough nickel collectors in 1964 to actually stress the mintage. This left almost every single '42-D in low grade and few of this date has reentered circulation.

It's a shame you didn't try the later dates as I'm sure there would be a lot of surprises. Several of the early dates are hard to find even in nice VF. These coins are not only beyond their life expectancy but are usually beaten up pretty badly in circulation. Most of the survivors are also heavily worn.

CRHer700

@GaCoinGuy said:
Very cool! Simply circulation finds or from rolls or both?

Sorry that I haven’t responded quickly. These were primarily from rolls from my bank.

@golden said:
I never did find a 1950-D back in the 1960's when I was looking.

I currently have found 2 1950-Ds and 1943-Ds, and 1 each of 1938-D&S and 1939-D. These are the rarest ones in my finds.

@dcarr said:
Have you found a 2009-P and 2009-D, or does your collection end prior to 2009 ?

I have found both the 2009s, as well as every other circulation strike varieties up to and including the 2023 issues as well as approximately 25 different proofs.

@Project Numismatics said:
An excellent project - congrats on finishing! I am surprised it only took you a year and a half. How many nickels do you estimate that you searched?

I know for a fact that I searched over 114 boxes last year, that’s over 228,000 coins. It is more than that, but I didn’t keep records in 2022, so I really don’t know how much more.

CRHer700

@cladking said:
There are a few big surprises here. The biggest is the poor condition of the '47-D. There should be a few rolls of '47-D's before a '39-D is found. Surely you simply failed to upgrade this coin as you assembled the set.

Also the'42-D is much nicer than to be expected. This date wasn't heavily saved but there were enough nickel collectors in 1964 to actually stress the mintage. This left almost every single '42-D in low grade and few of this date has reentered circulation.

It's a shame you didn't try the later dates as I'm sure there would be a lot of surprises. Several of the early dates are hard to find even in nice VF. These coins are not only beyond their life expectancy but are usually beaten up pretty badly in circulation. Most of the survivors are also heavily worn.

These are not necessarily my best examples of each date, they are in stacks, and I just grabbed the top one for most of them.

AUandAG

I did the same some thirty or more years ago and it was probably a bit easier back then. Still have it. Put a roll of 38's into circulation last week or two. Didn't even look at mint marks or varieties.... All had seen better days as they were commerce used and pulled back in the 60's and 70's.
bob

joeykoins

Congratulations!
A job well done!
A sign of a true coin collector enthusiast.
Now, search to upgrade them. Only if you wish too?

BLUEJAYWAY

May provide some incentive to induce others to begin a set from circ.

Manifest_Destiny

Very cool! I did that 30 years ago but never found the 50-d.

LeeBone

Sweeeet

Wish I coulda built my complete set at face value

davewesen

you did this all in last couple years? what an accomplishment ++++

crazyhounddog

I am totally impressed with your accomplishment. I’ll bet it wasn’t easy and took a long time.
Very cool😎

Pizzaman

That's awesome! Congratulations!

cladking

@CRHer700 said:

These are not necessarily my best examples of each date, they are in stacks, and I just grabbed the top one for most of them.

A complete set from circulation is a remarkable achievement in this day and age.

I completed a set in 1975 and it was quite a challenge even then.

Congratulations.

CRHer700

@BLUEJAYWAY said:
May provide some incentive to induce others to begin a set from circ.

I sure hope so. Anyone is welcome to post in the Coin Roll and Mint Set thread.

cladking

@CRHer700 said:

@BLUEJAYWAY said:
May provide some incentive to induce others to begin a set from circ.

I sure hope so. Anyone is welcome to post in the Coin Roll and Mint Set thread.

There are a lot of interesting and challenging sets that can be made from circulation. Most people would be amazed even at the difficulty of the post-1964 sets in nice attractive VF. Not only are many of the coins somewhat elusive but most examples are poorly made, heavily worn, and cull.

Even the one cent coins have many dates that are almost invariably spotted or otherwise cull. Nice attractive 1966 issues, for instance, are rarely seen. Many of the zincolns are a mess.

dbldie55

39-D is the only one I didn't find. Vividly recall finding the 1950-D. Still have the set in a folder.

rec78

Congrats! I never found a 1950-d in circulation and I searched in the early 1960's. I still need it in my circulation find whitman folder!
I'am still looking but only usually search pocket change nickels these days.

BuffaloIronTail

@291fifth said:
You actually found a 50-D! That is a real accomplishment! (A very high percentage of the mintage was hoarded shortly after the time of issue. Nearly all seen are mint state pieces.)

Circulated 1950-D Jeffs are rarer than the uncirculated ones.

Pete

CRHer700

@rec78 said:
Congrats! I never found a 1950-d in circulation and I searched in the early 1960's. I still need it in my circulation find whitman folder!
I'am still looking but only usually search pocket change nickels these days.

Nickels are my favorites to search. There always seems to be something to find, compared to halves that is.

Estil

Near the end here Dennis says the grocer's got a whole cash drawer full of nickels to get started on! And I reckon back then it was a LOT easier to find war and buffalo nickels!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LazLxk5fcyE

ambro51

Oh Yeah…..roll searching in the mid ‘60s you’d slide the coins out in your hand and pull out the warnicks and buffs by the Edges!

cladking

@Estil said:
Near the end here Dennis says the grocer's got a whole cash drawer full of nickels to get started on! And I reckon back then it was a LOT easier to find war and buffalo nickels!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LazLxk5fcyE

I collected buffalo nickels starting in '57. I was a little too late to the party but there were still some heavily worn key date coins then. Most better dates were cull and even common dates were heavily picked over. Millions of people were collecting these coins. It rapidly got much worse after about 1962. Virtually every non-cull buffalo of any date was gone and all that were left by 1965 were no-dates and culls.

War nickels remained plentiful though because nobody wanted "debased silver", they were very common, and they appeared very dirty. These didn't so much get picked over as they just disappeared relatively suddenly as the price of silver went up.

WAYNEAS

@CRHer700
Your post has made my day.
I will be walking down memory lane for the rest of the day.
At the age of 12, my whole world revolved around going thru pocket change for those missing dates primarily centering on Lincolns. I am now in my 70's.
I am still looking for a really nice "50-D Jefferson in a Pcgs holder but have not found the one that says buy me. lol
Keep up with the searching.
Wayne

Barberian

I think I fell three or four dates short of a complete set in the '60s: 50-D, and 38-D&S, 39-D. To accomplish that today is amazing.

Estil

@WAYNEAS said:
@CRHer700
Your post has made my day.
I will be walking down memory lane for the rest of the day.
At the age of 12, my whole world revolved around going thru pocket change for those missing dates primarily centering on Lincolns. I am now in my 70's.
I am still looking for a really nice "50-D Jefferson in a Pcgs holder but have not found the one that says buy me. lol
Keep up with the searching.
Wayne

You'd be right around Jay North's (Dennis; he'd later do the voice of teenage Bamm-Bamm) age! I don't suppose you had a Mr Wilson you drove crazy, eh? You adjusting for inflation, doing a penny collection would be the same as doing a dime collection today. Interesting how Dennis and his dad Henry were only finding mostly 40s/50s pennies (the past two decades at the time) but nowadays you an very easily find ones going back the past six decades (you can still find the occasional Wheatie). I don't suppose in your day you were able to find Indian pennies?

CRHer700

@cladking said:
There are a few big surprises here. The biggest is the poor condition of the '47-D. There should be a few rolls of '47-D's before a '39-D is found. Surely you simply failed to upgrade this coin as you assembled the set.

Also the'42-D is much nicer than to be expected. This date wasn't heavily saved but there were enough nickel collectors in 1964 to actually stress the mintage. This left almost every single '42-D in low grade and few of this date has reentered circulation.

It's a shame you didn't try the later dates as I'm sure there would be a lot of surprises. Several of the early dates are hard to find even in nice VF. These coins are not only beyond their life expectancy but are usually beaten up pretty badly in circulation. Most of the survivors are also heavily worn.

New 1947-D fresh from circulation.


A lot nicer!
Interestingly enough, I have not even found one roll of 1947-Ds, and in fact I believe that I have found more of every other non-war Denver mint nickel than it.

CRHer700

Also, a new ‘46-D and ‘49-S.

CRHer700

This ‘71 is actually slightly PL, though my pics really don’t show it. By far the best that I have seen.