Jefferson Nickel: 1975-D "High D"

BigDowgie

I'm a fan of Jefferson Varieties. Always on the hunt. This variety has been on my list for a long, long time. Probably even before it's popularity ballooned. A PCGS AU50 just hammered $830 on ebay. Thoughts on where this beauty might go? Can't wait for PCGS registry attribution status, if ever. Now on the hunt for a Full Step example!

RichieURich

A very rare variety, BD! Congratulations on acquiring it, if you do own it.

BigDowgie

@RichieURich said:
A very rare variety, BD! Congratulations on acquiring it, if you do own it.

RUR....All mine!

BigDowgie

I need to pair this up with a MS66 1964-D/D RPM-001.

RichieURich

@BigDowgie said:
I need to pair this up with a MS66 1964-D/D RPM-001.

That variety's really tough to find also!

seanq

Wow that is one rare coin. Does it have the obverse cud? I can't tell if it's masked by the prongs.

Sean Reynolds

BigDowgie

Hey Sean, no cud on this one!

DCW

Never heard of this one. With something like a mintmark that is highly placed on the die, it may just be hiding in plain sight, no? There has to be thousands of these struck.

Manifest_Destiny

Cool variety that I never knew existed until a couple of years ago. Nice coin!

ernie11

Q. David Bowers has championed this coin, I believe. There has been a photo of this in the annual Red Books for a few years, although there is no listing or price information on it there.

LeeBone

See, this is why I like this forum. I have never heard of this one, and probably wouldn't have, had it not been for these boards. Cool coin

mr1931S

Funny how some series get gobs of collector attention for unusual mm position and other series are virtually ignored. Mintage of 401M for 1975-D nickels. As already mentioned, it seems reasonable to assume there has to be thousands of these 1975 "high D" nickels just waiting to be found. I'm think I'll buy a box of nickels from the bank today. Hundreds of dollars for a lightly circulated 1975 high D nickel on ebay? Thanks for the info.

JBK

Every time I see thread by newbie where they're all excited by a misplaced mintmark I think of this nickel. The standard response is that variations in placement during the days of hand punched mintmarks are of no added value. But there are exceptions to that rule.

scotty4449

Very interesting! I found an XF-40 that sold for $1080 in 2022 at HA from the Fred Weinberg collection. NGC called it a "misplaced mintmark".

https://coins.ha.com/itm/errors/1975-d-5c-jefferson-nickel-misplaced-mintmark-high-xf40-ngc-ex-fred-weinberg-collection-from-the-fred-weinbe/a/1344-7699.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

DCW

Check out the opposite end of the spectrum, the 1973 "low D."

Sold also from the Fred Weimnerg Collection, but for only $216 in AU55

BigDowgie

I have seen an example of this 1973-D "Low D" on ebay. Maybe the next in line of desired misplaced mint marks in the Jefferson Series?

mr1931S

@JBK said:
Every time I see thread by newbie where they're all excited by a misplaced mintmark I think of this nickel. The standard response is that variations in placement during the days of hand punched mintmarks are of no added value. But there are exceptions to that rule.

Red Book says "commands a premium." Not a hint there about how much of a premium. Found out today when I was at the bank that boxes of coins are no longer available to regular customers. Can't even special order them from the Federal Reserve Bank anymore. "Costs us (the bank) too much money," I'm told.

IkesT

@mr1931S said:

@JBK said:
Every time I see thread by newbie where they're all excited by a misplaced mintmark I think of this nickel. The standard response is that variations in placement during the days of hand punched mintmarks are of no added value. But there are exceptions to that rule.

Red Book says "commands a premium." Not a hint there about how much of a premium. Found out today when I was at the bank that boxes of coins are no longer available to regular customers. Can't even special order them from the Federal Reserve Bank anymore. "Costs us (the bank) too much money," I'm told.

Seems harsche.

seanq

@BigDowgie said:
I have seen an example of this 1973-D "Low D" on ebay. Maybe the next in line of desired misplaced mint marks in the Jefferson Series?

I mentioned this in another thread on this variety, but I picked up a clipped example last year that was not attributed and did not attract much attention at all. I honestly think the mintmark position is not so unusual compared to the rest of the mintage that it would attract the same sort of collector interest as the 1975-D with close D.

Sean Reynolds

BigDowgie

Sean,

That will be pretty cool if this 1973-D Low D were to become a variety! You would have an Error-Variety!

Though part of my nickel hunting has always included looking for Error-Varieties, I have not found one yet!

BLUEJAYWAY

@DCW said:
Check out the opposite end of the spectrum, the 1973 "low D."

Sold also from the Fred Weimnerg Collection, but for only $216 in AU55

Seems like:Low mm,low price. High mm high price.

messydesk

@mr1931S said:
Funny how some series get gobs of collector attention for unusual mm position and other series are virtually ignored. Mintage of 401M for 1975-D nickels. As already mentioned, it seems reasonable to assume there has to be thousands of these 1975 "high D" nickels just waiting to be found. I'm think I'll buy a box of nickels from the bank today. Hundreds of dollars for a lightly circulated 1975 high D nickel on ebay? Thanks for the info.

This variety is available with a cud and the dies are not late die state when it has the cud. This tells me the dies were used for far fewer strikes than normal before the obverse die broke and was promptly pitched. Take the average coins per die pair for nickels the 70s ( @BigDowgie do you know this number?) and reduce it by at least half and that's going to be close to how many were made. Now factor in wear and attrition over the past 50 years and you really don't have a lot of these to be found in the wild.

Crypto

I think naked eye die variances form the late 20th cen as a collector niche will come into vogue in the future as computers all but eliminate such variances. It takes human inconsistency to create those and that is the foundation of artisan craftsmanship opposed to simple, mechanical output. Just as our generation appreciates when you can tell every die pair apart for the early stuff, I think future collectors will appreciate any die specific uniqueness such as these.

Cool coins

Manorcourtman

The low D, 73-d looks relatively common based on a very short search for one that I made! It appears to be available in Mint sets. The 75-d is pretty neat! Never heard of it before.

BigDowgie

@messydesk said:

@mr1931S said:
Funny how some series get gobs of collector attention for unusual mm position and other series are virtually ignored. Mintage of 401M for 1975-D nickels. As already mentioned, it seems reasonable to assume there has to be thousands of these 1975 "high D" nickels just waiting to be found. I'm think I'll buy a box of nickels from the bank today. Hundreds of dollars for a lightly circulated 1975 high D nickel on ebay? Thanks for the info.

This variety is available with a cud and the dies are not late die state when it has the cud. This tells me the dies were used for far fewer strikes than normal before the obverse die broke and was promptly pitched. Take the average coins per die pair for nickels the 70s ( @BigDowgie do you know this number?) and reduce it by at least half and that's going to be close to how many were made. Now factor in wear and attrition over the past 50 years and you really don't have a lot of these to be found in the wild.

Massydesk,
I did a little searching for die production numbers for modern Jeffersons and was not successful. I found a typical dime die produces roughly 275,000 coins. My guess would be the nickel production is way less than this. Let's say it is 150,000. We should assume at present, there is only one die until a few more examples can be examined, your cud observation seems reasonable that this die cracked early in its use. This could bring the actual production on this die to 25,00 to 50,000. With nothing super special going on with the Denver Mint 70's production, this date probably went into circulation without any thoughts otherwise. This also supports the fact that I have never seen an original roll of 1975-D's for sale. There just might not ben very many MS examples out there. Just my thoughts.

Dug13