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 Replies: 34 / Views: 2,781 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1107 Posts |
Hello all! I've recently gotten back into coins have been working on assembling a collection of Jefferson nickels. I enjoy nickels since they are generally very reasonably priced, and don't include any expensive silver proofs like quarters, dimes and half dollars do. So, I have the Whitman album that includes P, D and S mint marks from 1938-2003. However, like most other albums, Dansco included, it does not include proofs before 1971. This is a bit frustrating for me, as I had considered collecting the earlier proofs that I could get my hands on as well. From what I can tell, Jefferson proofs were made in Philadelphia before 1968. I had recently converted my Whitman album with blank nickel pages for the time being simply covering all the business strikes. There's 5 pages, with 30 coins per page and it actually worked out pretty well. However.. I have some of the proofs I left out. I'm not really sure what to do now whether I should continue to try to add some of the proofs to some degree, or not. Also, if I decided to try to literally collect all the proofs, including the older philadelphia minted ones, some of the older ones, particularly it seems to be before 1952 can be really costly. I can find a set of them from 1956-1964 on ebay for literally 20 bucks. I guess I could go another route and just collect and assemble all the "S" proofs. This would technically be much easier to complete. Just hate the fact that some albums don't include all of them. My Whitman album doesn't include the Type 2 slots for both the 79 and 81 proofs. Or, I could try assembling all proofs going forward from 1955. These are still pretty reasonably priced. Or, I suppose I could just not mess around with proofs at all and merely focus on business strikes. I also started up an album of Buffalo nickels, and may down the line look into "V" nickels as well. Any thoughts or advice? |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6449 Posts |
I have a nickel proofs-only Whitman folder. I started my collection at 1956, since as you point out, that is the year where the coins are reasonably priced ($1-3). I did include both type 1 and 2 for 1979 and 1981. I ended that folder at 2004/2005 on the four Louisiana Purchase nickels. For the remaining additional slots, I added a 2006 proof, a 2017 enhanced proof, and I am looking for a decent 2018 reverse proof at a good price. Might add an example of the 2006 obverse, the 2005 obverse, and the prior 1938-2004 obverse.
I am also working on 1938-1942, 1950-1955 proofs, plus the 1994 sms. Those are too expensive to jam into a folder.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1107 Posts |
Interesting. Yes, this is something I suppose I could dabble in as well, given that I do have a Whitman blank nickels album.
One thing that I don't like about the Dansco albums compared to the Whitman is the fact that they always end the series dates with tons of blank spots, like the album you mentioned I believe. I don't intend on collecting any of the nickels outside of 2005 honestly as I'm not really a fan of the redesign.
My Whitman album literally only has one empty slot.
Also, why the heck are proofs before 1955 so darned expensive? Low mintage? I've seen some of them go for as much as 100 dollars. Definitely out of my price range.
Should I perhaps stick to collecting only the S proofs? This way, technically I could say it's "complete" in that sense.
The thing that bugs me is that I'd like to have the complete "set" of Jeffersons from 38-2005. But that would basically have to include all proofs IMO.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6449 Posts |
Just to be clear, I used the blank Whitman nickel folder for this purpose. None of the slots are numbered.
Mintage is definitely a huge factor in price. You can get the post-war (1950+) proof nickels at tolerable prices, but the first four years (1938-1942) are way more expensive. People particularly seem to fight over the graded 1942-P silver proofs. Those coins often have a beautiful silver or golden glow to them, and also have the cachet of being the only silver nickel proof, and the only WWII proof nickels.
1938 19,365
1939 12,535
1940 14,158
1941 18,720
1942 29,600
1942-P Silver 27,600
1950 51,386
1951 57,500
1952 81,980
1953 128,800
1954 233,300
1955 378,200
1956 669,384
1957 1,247,952
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1107 Posts |
Ah, okay. I get it. I use the albums, which are similar to Dansco. I have seen the folders, though.
I could also collect whatever older proofs I could reasonably afford, use a blank nickel album with blank pages, and arrange them as I see fit.
Probably something like P, P proof, D, S
Also, from my understanding, the SMS and regular business strike nickels from 1965/66/67 are technically two different things, correct? I only have the SMS in my slots. It doesn't really have anything labeled to differentiate.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6449 Posts |
Correct, the SMS are not business strike nickels. They are more akin to proofs than to business strikes. Aside from the polished fields and well formed steps, they noticeably lack the Die Deterioration found on 1965-1967 circulation nickels. The 1956-2006 set is quite affordable. I believe that my entire 50 year set came in well below $100. |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10470 Posts |
Just get a blank nickel page and add it to your album for the proofs. I don't know how Whitmans are held together but Danscos are held together with 2 screw type fasteners, easy to add one blank page without getting longer screws.
Edited by Marv65
10/27/2024 11:17 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1107 Posts |
Whitman is similar to Dansco in that aspect. Only sort of issue with that is that Whitman album is already six pages long and pretty full lol So I was just looking into it... If I collected all proofs from 1955-1964, the 79 and 81 Type ll, 2004/2005 BU and proof coins, and also added the SMS into the page, it would basically fill out an entire blank page. I may go this route. When trying to assemble a complete set, is it always necessary to add the proof coins? I'd rather almost put my efforts into adding nicer BU coins, particularly the earlier years from 30's and 40's, since they get pretty costly. I can imagine higher grades of silver War Nickels might cost close to 100 dollars. Edited by Humanist1287
10/28/2024 05:44 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6449 Posts |
Actually, the higher grades of War Nickels (MS66) can usually be had in a PCGS slab for less than $50. There are some exceptions. If you have patience, a sharp eye, and don't care about slabs (which you probably don't, if these are album coins), you can pick up raw mint state examples on ebay for less than $10. The varieties are what beat you up in nickels. A nice graded 1943/2 will set you back a few hundred bucks. But if you aren't collecting varieties, then nickels are quite affordable. Unless you are determined to get all full steps nickels or some other esoteric and expensive goal. Even the low mintage 1950-D are not really that expensive. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1107 Posts |
Interesting. Yeah, other than like the type l and ll proofs from 79 and 81, I'm not really looking to get into the varieties too much. Too costly for me. The seller I have been using on ebay does have some decently priced BU War Nickels. I have seen them for 15-30 dollars generally. I don't know if they are like MS or slab worthy or anything, but that's fine for me. I don't know if they are like officially certified or anything... But generally, the coins he sends me look very good. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1107 Posts |
So I also recently ordered two Dansco albums. They are both for Jefferson nickels from 1938-2005, but I purchased the one both with proofs included and without. Just a bit of trial and error to see how they fill out once I got the coins already into them that I have. Suckers weren't cheap. One advantage of Whitman, they are way cheaper. Then again, you get better quality for what you pay for with Dansco. Cost me like, 100 bucks for the two. However, with Whitman, for that price, you could buy like 4 albums lol |
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
It seems like Dansco album prices have gone up a lot over the past few years, their move from California to Washington state could not have been cheap.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6449 Posts |
Those of us who are inclined to be thrifty might question spending as much on an album as on the coins inside. But to each their own, many folks really adore those Dansco albums! =)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1107 Posts |
Technically, I didn't spend anything on them yet. Lol. I used Affirm.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Quote:
Those of us who are inclined to be thrifty might question spending as much on an album as on the coins inside. When I made the move from folders to albums in the mid to late 1980s—when Dansco albums were much cheaper—I did feel a little apprehensive shifting over my found-in-circulation Jefferson nickels. At least I had some silver in the other sets to up their value to album cost ratios.  Over time, adding my proof nickels helped balance it out.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1107 Posts |
Interesting! Dansco definitely did use to be cheaper back when I used to be in to coin collecting initially 10-12 years ago. I don't really remember them being 50, 60 or sometimes even 70 dollars. I think 30-40 was the average price back then. Their prices really took off after I think they either had a flood or a fire, something like that? Oh, and the pandemic as well I'm sure. I also ordered two new Whitman albums recently, one for V nickels and one for a type set. Crazy how it only came out to around 60 dollars. |
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Replies: 34 / Views: 2,781 |
Posted 10/27/2024 10:25 pm
