Proof Jefferson Nickels Ebay Lot Is Cheating?

I do that with sets too. For common newer dates, why spend a ton buying them one at a time. I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time or money buying all of those proofs separately.

There is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes we do not know what we want until we openly discuss it. Even if you do know what you want, it is always good to consider other options.

I think buying an album already complete is "cheating." Buying lots like the one you listed is not, in my opinion, "cheating." I bought decade sets like this to complete the clad part of my Washington quarters because I could get them in the mint cellophane, and picking those one-at-a-time would have been very time consuming and kind of expensive. Then, I can dedicate my time and effort to finding the BU silver quarters to fill the rest of the album.

With your nickel set, spend the time and money finding the 38-PDS, 39-PDS run. Those are the coins that I believe make the difference between a mediocre nickle album and one that "pops."

I agree with others who have said to buy the keys first. It sets your standard, and set your spending standards as well.

Rather convenient way to get them all in one easy shot. None of these nickels are particularly important coins in the Jefferson series. I suspect that the album you are trying to fill has the S mint only proof issues for the date slots to fill starting with 1971 S ... right?
If you get any real clunkers in the batch, maybe they will swap for a better one. I have bought lots like this and asked the seller to please look them over for any cloudy or spotted coins before shipping since they usually have more than 1 lot like it to sell. Most always if not every time they were happy to do so and I returned again for more business.
If you were getting pre 1955 nickels to complete a whole set, then you might want to get them one at a time and look for quality and maybe cameo proofs if that is what you were shooting for but these are common and you are saving a ton on shipping getting them all at once.

Your album is probably titled Jefferson nickels Proof only issues or something like that.
Since there were no business strike issues intended for circulation in the years you have slots ( 1971 S 1972 S etc. ) with an S mint marks, they make the album to have a slot for one of each mint mark for each year. In 1968 1969 and 1970 though, there were no Phila coins so you had to find a D & S mint mark in circulation. Even though there was a 1970 S business strike and also the 1970 S Proof.
The thinking with the album you have is about collecting one coin from each mint for each year.
Prior to 1965 when proofs were made they had no mint mark just like the Phila minted circulation coins had none.

It will come to you sooner or later.
Take a look at this and see if it makes some sense to you.
It lists all the proof and circulation coins mintage's.
http://www.coincommunity.com/us_nic...efferson.asp

Nope. They key term here is "proof-only," meaning that it includes the years in which only a proof is available. For the years that have both proof and business strikes available from the same mint, you have to choose one or the other.

I have the Dansco 7113 and added a blank nickel page to hold the proofs separately.

Oh, so they're changing the #7113 and #8113? My 7113 goes through 2016-P. Egads, the #7100 is changing too!

Maybe this gives me a strategy for breaking up my 1999-to-date silver proof sets... Get the new #8114 to house newer nickels and proofs and the #8104 for newer cents and proofs. Get a 1-a-year for silver proof State Quarters and another for silver proof ATB Quarters. Put the 1999-2005 proof nickels in the remaining slots of my #7113, and the 1999-2009 proof cents in the remaining spots in my #7100. Then I can replace my P&D Sacagawea Dansco with a PDS. Then I just need to figure out what to do with the silver proof halves and dimes.