I guess 1969 was a really, really crappy year for Jefferson nickels?

Russ

I was just cruising around in the pop reports and there are ZERO full step nickels listed for either mint in 1969. Are the strikes really that bad on these coins? It looks like 1968 isn't much better, with only 7 for the S mint and none for the D mint.

Russ, NCNE

VonZipper

Those few years, along with the early 50's and 60's are hard to find with full steps.

littlewicher

I think the years between 1950-1970 are extremely hard to find with steps and carry a heavy premium.

cladking

'69 was also a bad year for the dimes, quarters, and half dollar. The cents aren't easy
either. The only other coins which aren't real tough for the year are the Denver dime and
quarter. The Denver quarters in mint sets have suffered a lot of corrosion in the last ten
years so they may end up being tough too. The nickels usually have multiple problems and
gems are very elusive. There were huge quality improvements for most circulation strikes
and mint set coins in 1970. There was another improvement in 1971 which affected nickels
the most.

mdwoods

Thanks Sam, as usual, you are a wealth of information on Clad coinage. Maybe you should try and work that into your forum name.

ursabear

I've been through lots of 68-70 mint sets, and lots of rolls of really pretty nickels from those years, especially the S and D.

To put it mildly, they were all NS (no steps) nickels, with true hit-fests on the bust and Monticello.

I think an FS in any decent grade for those years would probably be the analog of a '64 PR69DC half.

tgilliams

One of the main factor's contributing to the non/almost non-existance of Full Step Jeff's in the mid 1960's until 1971 was due, for the most part on the condition dies. They were just plain worn out. In 1971 new dies were utilized, making a 1971 or 1971-D common and fairly inexpensive through MS66FS's.

GaCoinGuy

1969 was a real bad year for business strikes......I have about 50 mint sets in a drawer that Ii was hoping to be able to get some good enough for an MS collection. Thats why I now collect proofs.

cladking

<< <i>1969 was a real bad year for business strikes......I have about 50 mint sets in a drawer that Ii was hoping to be able to get some good enough for an MS collection. Thats why I now collect proofs. >>



On the plus side, there should be two or three '69 D/D dimes in them. There should
also be a couple MS-64 '69 quarters and a few other pretty neat coins.

Russ

Something else about the 1969. The total pop for any and all grades is extremely low. For the D mint, only a total of 41 have been graded, and for the S mint only a total of 39. That's not very many coins to go around if the Jefferson business strike set ever heats up.

Russ, NCNE

rd5425

how much do you think a fs 1969 jefferson would bring in if one was made.

cladking

The '69 mint set is one of the most interesting of modern sets. It was made in lower numbers
than most from the era and it has always had a little higher attrition rate because several of the
coins in the set were hardly saved at all in rolls and bags. In '79/'80 it was profitable to cut the
half out to sell for it's silver and spend the rest of the coins in the set. It was not unusual to see
these coins in the silver being shipped for melting. There wasn't much market for any of the other
coins in the set except the Philly cent which went for around $10 a roll at the time. There were
already a handful of collectors working on Kennedies and the cents and nickels had been collected
by a few right through the transition to the clad era, but there just wasn't any demand for the dimes
and quarters. Throughout the 80's these sets sold for essentially the silver value of the half plus
the face value of the other coins in the set. They always turned up in fewer numbers than the '68
and '70. There may be other reasons for this too. The '68 was available from the mint in larger quan-
tities. They were packed at up to fifty to the box to fullfill orders. There was an ordering limit imposed
for the '69 of only five sets so they were dispersed more evenly. These were shipped in yellow mail-
ing envelopes, like the '70 to '73 issues. In '89-'90 the '69 mint set briefly spiked up in price to $20
per set. This did seem to bring a lot onto the market and the price dropped. I never saw a good ex-
planation for this run-up but suspect it was a promotion which had run it's course. The Philly packet,
like the '68, tends to be a little dark and this has proven a progressive condition. The Denver packet
had mostly nice bright coins until about ten years ago when many of the clads started getting an unat-
tractive mottled toning.

In the last couple years the '69 has a significant premium which apparently is largely caused by the
increased value of the quarters and Philly dime in the set. There may also be some speculation in the
Philly quarter which is quite difficult in any attractive condition.

The nickels are found gem only about 2% of the time though steps can be problematic even on gems.

cupronik

keets

hey sam

i've always suspected that more 40% kennedy's made their way into the melting pot than most assume. perhaps the 1970 sets were saved to some degree because of the 1970-D, but the rest..........

one thing i've noticed about 1969 Jefferson's are many with PL surfaces and reasonable strikes, just weak central detail at the steps and ear. bummer. one nice thing about the sets is that they are dirt cheap. i don't hesitate if i notice anything close to a gem, any denomination in the set. i just get them home and snip, snip, snip out the coins i wanna keep and match up sets to sell back to the dealer.

let the hunt begin anew!!

over on the BST there's a link to a SEGS 1969-D that is noted as 6-6-4-6 on the insert along with "nice for a 69-D" which is rather odd. i guess it attests to the difficulty of the coin.

Hey Russ----please don't bring your energy and collecting zeal to this series!!!

al h.

cupronik

Sorry for the no-show yesterday when I THOUGHT I was sending a reply to
this thread.

My experience with 1969 mint sets is as follows:

Some have nasty hazing on every coin (improper storage?) that disqualifies
any of these coins from being cherry-picked.

NONE of the nickels had the desired steps.

I do appreciate the condition-scarcity of the 1969-P Washington Quarter.
The usual specimen is very unappealing with drab, lifeless luster and/or
contact marks. I've even had 3-4 original BU rolls of 69-P 25c and almost
every coin looked AU or worse due to the blah, lackluster surfaces.
Obviously this is a desirable coin in PCGS MS-66/better grade, but I
also think PCGS MS-65 examples will become more collectible in the future.
(Time marches on and the collecting of high-grade clad quarters will
increase - heck, 1969 is now 34 years ago.)

The 1969-D Kennedy is tough to find in MS-66 due to contact marks. I
haven't found a gem in the mint set, yet.

In summary, this is an inexpensive set that has the potential to produce
some "homerun" singles. I'd like to have access to 1000 unsearched sets!

Cupronik.

baccaruda

thanks for your input on these boards Cladking. Your posts are always a wealth of knowledge and information.

cladking

The half dollar is also pretty tough. Full strikes can be found in the
mint sets but there is lots of marking on most pieces. I appreciate
the thank yous. This site is great fun and best of all there's enough
interest that most things get read by at least a few. The '69 set is
one of my favorite, though gems are a little further and farther be-
tween than most, and the nickels are about the toughest in the set.