The Goal: 25,000 Rolls Of Nickels (All Searchers Welcome!)

So I got back into things with a vengeance as the new decade hit us.

This past Wednesday, 1-8-2020, I hit several banks. Purchasing a total of 7,640 nickels. A very successful start as I ended up with 98 pre-60s (51 of them in my Brinks box from my local Wells Fargo), and 8 2009-Ds. The highlights included 1928 and 1937 Buffalo nickels, along with 5 War Nickels (42-S, 44-P(3), 45-S), 1938, 1950, and 1958 Philadelphia coins, and a BU 1953 Philly.


On Saturday, 1-11-2020, I again hit the banks, purchasing 10,320 nickels total. I found 87 pre-60s along with 12 2009-Ds, a 2005-S Buffalo Proof, and a lone 2009-P. The highlight came out of one of the 8 CWRs I got from one of my local BofAs - all of their MWRs were 2019-Ds, so that was all they had, but I got a really nice coin in one of them:

A nice 1939-S in Choice Extra Fine!

Other highlights (and there were lots) included a 1926 Buffalo, 4 War Nickels (1942-S, 1943-S (2), 1944-P), a 1941-S Large S, 1942-D, 1949-S (2), 1950 (2), 1951-S, and a 1955 Philly to go along with a BU 1956 Philly.

Thanks, jbuck! Nice to have all of the Semi-Key date Jeffersons already accounted for, along with one of the keys, and 4 of the 11 War Nickels.

In the time I've been gone, have seen multiple questions regarding the 2009 Nickels, so am going to answer some of those to the best of my abilities below...




1962penny, there are several good reasons for this. First, they only made a little more than 46 million nickels in Denver that year, the lowest mintage since 1952 from that mint. In addition, many regions of the country did not get any nickels from the mint that year, so they're hard to find for a large part of the population - in many parts of the country, it takes two boxes of nickels searched just to find one! Because of this, there is quite a demand for these coins. As a result, it's pretty easy to sell a circulated roll of them for $20 or more on ebay. Even somewhat damaged 2009-D coins (discolored/roller damage, etc) can easily be sold for $15 a roll or more.



jason39305, a lot of this depends on geography. I'm out in southern California and typically find a 2009-D every 800 coins or so, and a 2009-P about every 15,000 coins.

Dadscoinhobby is in Minnesota, and he has these results:


So we both have about the same difficulty in finding the 2009-Ps, but the 2009-Ds are about 5 times as easy for me to find as him.

Another user, tnt, who lives in S.E. Michigan, put up a spreadsheet in May through about 200K coins searched. He's finding a 2009-D every two boxes or so like dadscoinhobby, but he's finding one 2009-P about every 4 boxes, so about twice as often as dadscoinhobby and I.

I would really be interested in other people's 2009 nickel finds. I've heard (though can't really confirm) that 2009-Ps are somewhat more plentiful in Florida.

I vaguely remember someone saying they had decent luck finding the 2009-Ds in the San Diego area maybe a couple of years ago. Those of us in Southern California seem to be part of the fortunate group that got the coins in decent quantity.

Well done!

I have 4 boxes ready to pick up tomorrow :D

Box #97:

1940 (x2)
1941
1941 d
1942 d
1946 s
1947
1948
1953
1953 d
1954 s
1956
1956 d
1958 d (x3)
1959 d (x2)

3x pennies