1939 Jefferson Nickel Rev questions...

fcloud

What are the differences in the rev of 38 and rev of 40? Is there a rev of 39, if not why is the rev of 40 not the rev of 39? One last question--which is more rare, or are they about the same? I'm confused on this one

RGL

The Reverse of 38 features wavy, ill-defined steps; the Reverse of '40 features the straighter, sharper steps we have seen since; 1939 was the transitional year for the new master die for the reverse with part of the year's mintage featuring the '38 steps and the other portion the '40 steps. They seem to have been struck in relatively equivalent numbers. The reverse varieties for proofs, however, are rarities... The 1939 proofs were largely struck with the reverse of '38, with the reverse of '40 the rarity. A very few 1940 proofs also were struck with an old 1938 steps reverse and are highly valued.

fcloud

RGL,

Thank you.

Fairlaneman

Thanks here also.

Ken

NIckelCollector

Here is a picture of both 1939 reverses. The 38 rev is referred to as the wavy step variety. The 39 rev is referred as the straight step variety.

The 1938 rev is definitely more difficult in full steps.

Fairlaneman

Pretty easy to tell when you know what to look for.

Thanks Much.

Ken

fcloud

You can see the difference in the photos! Thanks!

boston

From "THE JEFFERSON NICKEL ANALYST":

"The reverse design introduced in 1938 featured weak, wavy steps on Monticello. For some unknown reason, the mint decided to prepare
a new reverse featuring a thickened porch and sharply defined steps."

'This change happened in early 1939 and was the rev. until 1967.'

My experience(?), and input from collectors and dealers, suggests that PCGS did not recognize the '38 steps because they were considered a weak strike.
In reality, they were a different die. The early PCGS slabs do not acknowledge the different dies, but are still considered "38 REV's, although many
are actually '40 REV's.

Frank, (CORSO COLLECTION), gave some BREEN numbers in a varieties post. I wonder about the actual numbers because other grading services did recognize the
'38 REV, well before PCGS. Those grading companies do not have the pop's recorded accurately, excepting NGC, which does maintain pop's. I would consider these
subjective also.

My input and looking for more myself.

BOSTON BOB

RGL

The Reverse of '40 may have been implemented early in 1939, but in my experience, it is not particularly difficult to locate circulation strikes with the Reverse of '38. I do not know this to be a historical fact, but given the limited mintage of Jeffs in 1938 and the flood of Jeffs that came out of Philly in 1939, I must imagine a sizeable portion of the mintage was coined early in the year prior to the switch of master dies. The 39-D and 39-S are, of course, much smaller mintages.

leothelyon

<< <i>The Reverse of '40 may have been implemented early in 1939, but in my experience, it is not particularly difficult to locate circulation strikes with the Reverse of '38. I do not know this to be a historical fact, but given the limited mintage of Jeffs in 1938 and the flood of Jeffs that came out of Philly in 1939, I must imagine a sizeable portion of the mintage was coined early in the year prior to the switch of master dies. The 39-D and 39-S are, of course, much smaller mintages. >>



In another thread Frank gave these estimates.
If you believe Breen's estimated numbers of each reverse - 38/40 - 1939 20%/80%, 39D 60%/40%, 39S 67%/33%.

Frank


Leo