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

CND - this is a great inspirational thread! I've just started my nickel search (220 rolls so far), and I'm keeping a similar log. I'm trying to complete a circ set only from circ, but it looks quite daunting! Good luck with the hunt!

I admire you guys, and enjoy the hunt/data you report!

Just curious CND - are you at all worried about how you're going to dump a million nickels? Hopefully you live near Las Vegas. :)

But seriously, I'd have one heck of a hard time dumping even 1% of that quantity here in Canada!

Im gonna start one of these with pennies. I'm curious what the percentage is myself on finds in penny rolls. Ill probably pick up a few boxes next week sometime.

Next update...

100 rolls
36 pre-1959
1 Silver Nickel (1943P)

GRAND TOTALS TO DATE:

5900 rolls
2505 pre 1959 (5 most common: 1958d(249),1957d(189),1941(175),1940(168),1946(136)
97 Silver Nickels (3 most common: 1943P(21),1943S(18),1945P(18)
2 Liberty nickels (1901,1905)
15 Buffalo nickels ((4)dateless,1920,1924,(2)1927,1928,1928s,1929,1929s,1935,1937,1938d)
4 Proof (1974s,1987s,1993s,2007s)
4 Bermuda 5 cents (1970,1986,1987,1996)
4 Bahamas 5 cents (1981,1998,(2)2000)
1 Belgium 1 Franc (1975)
1 Cayman Islands 10 Cents (2002)
1 Germany 50 Pfennig (1972)
1 Latvia 1 Lats (1992)
1 Mexico 50 Centavos (1993)
1 Norway 1 Kroner (1997)
1 Saudi Arabia 10 Halala (date unknown)
1 Somalia 5 Shillings (2000)
2 Switzerland 20 Rappen (1969,1970)
1 Tanzania 50 Senti (1990)
1 Unidentified foreign coin (no date)
1 Cincinnati Ohio Transit Token

NEEDED TO COMPLETE SET:

38d,39d,44S,50d

Correction on the above post:

The part that reads "NEEDED TO COMPLETE SET" should have had the 1938d removed, leaving only three to finish the set.

CND, I hope you don't mind. I took your 6000 rolls update and analyzed it on Excel. There are some very interesting findings, that, due to the incredible number of nickels you've gone through, should continue to hold up.


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1. 85-90% of the silver nickels have already been removed from circulation and are severely underrepresented. Maybe it is a surprise that it isn't more like 95-99% on the one hand, but maybe also surprising they aren't more common, since % silver is low and many people don't know about the silver way nickels.

2. Older dates are underrepresented. For example, 1938 at 19.5 million mintage- you pulled 23 but 20 years later, 1958 at 17.9 million mintage, you pulled more than twice as many- 58. This plus the number of 1940s vs 1950s coins pulled compared to their mintages. 2.12 billion nickels minted for the 40s, 1.05 billion for the 50s, yet even if you correct for the silver war issues being underrepresented, there is still approximately 1.5-fold more 50s than 40s. This translates into approximately 50% more 50s than 40s, combining amount pulled versus mintage figures. Another example is 1946 vs 1958D. 1946= 161 million, 1958D= 168 million, yet 58D is pulled 254 to 138 or 1.8x more frequently, which is way over 50% more common than 46. Another example is 1939 (120.6 million minted pulled 98 times, and 1954D (117 million, pulled 135 times or 1.4 times more frequent)

3. There are anomalies outside of the silver war years. 1947 vs 1948 is a great example. Only about 6 million separate these in mintage, both Philly mintage's and yet you pull vastly more 1947 than 1948. No explanation for this.

4. Mint marked coins versus Philly coins- when there are similar mintages, the Philly is pulled 2x more frequently- maybe due to your geographic location- close to Philly. Examples: 40s, 41S, 40D, 48D, 49D and 46D were all pulled 22-29x and have mintages of 36-45 million, but 57, 53, 54, 42, 49 were pulled 42-53x at 39-60 million mintage. Problem with this analysis is that other than 42, there are no other 1940s philly coins minted between 36-45 million.

5. As to be expected for the lowest mintages, the nine lowest mintages have been pulled 10 or fewer times and the 13 lowest mintages pulled 15 or fewer times. 1958 is the 14th lowest mintage but is plentiful likely due to it being more modern. But give it another 20 years and 58 could become a semi-key as well.

6. Extrapolation out to 25,000 rolls would yield (multiplied by 4.167 [25,000 to search/6000 rolls already searched]:
10,679 pre-1959 coins
412 silver nickels
70 Buffalo nickels

You would get complete roll sets for all years and mint marks for nearly all except those in which you currently have 9 or fewer coins. If you have 10 now, you should theoretically get a complete roll, by 25,000 rolls searched. That means 18 coins from 1938-58 will not have a complete roll by the end of this. To me, that is really extraordinary, since 1 million nickles will have been searched. 12 of these 18 you have fewer than 5, so even if you search 50,000 rolls, you wouldn't get a complete roll set on most of those 12.

1058 1958D nickels (about 10% of the total).

I do think you ought to be keeping the 1959, which is relatively low mintage, especially compared with 58D.

Cdn,

I know those nickels are tough trying find the keys like 1939d, 1939s, 1938 stuff, 1950d, 1951s, 1950 . It seems all wartime silvers, any from s mints are tough. Trust me I know I went thru thousands of nickel rolls over the years. I onley found 1 1939d nickel ever and no 1938d, 1938s, 1939s, 1950d ever yet. I was luckey this year to have found that 1939d nickel to finish my set and I was the guy who posted it this year.

One thing I was going tell you after I did some history reading.

Example on 1950 d nickel. 2.6 milion made in 1950. One company bought up millions of dollars worth 1950d nickels back in 1950. They were hoarded big time and rolls of nickels would sell lots money in 1960 something. Thats the reason why in 2008 you can buy an bu 1950d nickel for 10 to 20 dollars. The trouble nobody knows how many 1950d nickels were circulated or got used as money. Maybe onley 1 million were used as money and 1.6 million was hoarded and never used.

Its also very tough to build nickel set 1938 thru 1961 nickel book since I been trying finish 5 or 6 old sets. They are all missing the 1938d, 1938s, 1939d, 1950d, 1939s, 1951s. I may never finish them since I dont want to buy the keys for 25 to 50 bucks. Reason the intire set can be bought on ebay for same price of me buying the keys . Its not worth it since intire set greysheat at 25 bucks or cost 35 bucks complete on ebay as cirulated.

Thats reason I was always an devoted an lot time searching nickel rolls over the years. I always enjoyed searching nickels and trying to build sets of them.

Good luck and keep going thru those rolls. I just bought 6 boxs from bank and I need start searching them. I hope I can find something good.

Chevrolet454ss

Speaking of the 1950-D. My parents bought me that coin in the late '50's to complete my collection at the time. I was 9 or 10 at the time. I think they paid around $20; alot for a nickel at the time.
mfhorn