1954-55 Jefferson Nickel Lot Is A "snapshot In Time"

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Author	Replies: 9 / Views: 1,639
Chancellor Sutler Pillar of the Community United States 1372 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 02:03 am I've just spent a couple hours peering through a loupe at a grouping of Jefferson nickels I got in from an ebay seller in Ky yesterday. There are a couple 53s, but the bulk of the nickels are brilliant AU/BU 1954 and 1955 issues. I noticed that the legends on the obverse of some of the 1954s seemed heavier, and started looking for doubled dies. I'm not sure I can see any clear doubling, but these dies were in pitiful shape. I started looking through them, and it seemed as though the Philly minted 1954 issues were struck on badly rusted dies. There's heavy pitting between the letters of the legend and the date, and the underside of Jefferson's Jaw is rough and ragged. I was about 2/3rds of the way through this pile, when I saw one of these "5 o'clock shadow" jaw lines and thought...bet it's another Philly, but ahaaa ... it was Denver issue. I ran across a few more after that. Seems that maybe Philadelphia sent some of their nasty rusted dies to the Denver mint as well. I was trying t figure out why this lot of nickels was set aside, and I'm still not sure I know the answer to that question. It may have been quite by accident. I also noticed exceptionally heavy flow lines on some of these coins, and in one case, evidence of a die clash, manifesting itself as the faint outline of the east end of Monticello just ahead (to the left) of Jefferson's mouth and nose. Anybody interested in some pics if I can manage them? It's hard for my el cheapo camera to capture some of these details, but I think I'll give it a shot tomorrow....well, since it's 2:00 am, I suppose that's later today. It's a very intersting lot. Kind of a time capsule, and one that I believe shows the progression from middle to late die state of the particular dies that struck these 54s to a certain extent. Probably nobody cares about Jefferson nickels too much, but I found last night's brief study pretty interesting. Chance Report this Post to the Staff

Casutherland Pillar of the Community United States 520 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 02:12 am Man I would love to see some pictures for sure! Report this Post to the Staff
cc99999 Pillar of the Community United States 1302 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 07:44 am Nice post and to your point about Jeffersons... everybit as important series as any other collected. Please post pics of some of your choice coins, love to see those 50s pieces come alive! Report this Post to the Staff
jgray44 Valued Member United States 90 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 08:48 am i <3 jeffersons! Report this Post to the Staff
nickelsearcher Moderator United States 15416 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 10:30 am Nice post .... show some pictures when you can. Your findings correlate with the findings I have made by looking at gem MS examples at shows .... Jefferson 1952 through say 1956 are notorious for weak strikes on old dies. David Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.jk-dk.art Report this Post to the Staff
TNG Bedrock of the Community United States 10284 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 10:46 am Quote: Probably nobody cares about Jefferson nickels too much, but I found last night's brief study pretty interesting. I sure care. I enjoyed your post. I wonder if you might have a 54 S over D or a 55 D over S in those rolls. I have found it was much easier to find a Denver or SF minted nickel in those years than any Phila. Anything XF-AU and better in those years and better are certainly unusual to find. By the sounds of it, your cache time capsule is a good thing in my book. I'd like to see nice images too. Report this Post to the Staff
southsav Pillar of the Community 2223 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 11:03 am Report this Post to the Staff
Chancellor Sutler Pillar of the Community United States 1372 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 12:32 pm OK .... I have rejoined the ranks of the living. I looked at pocket watches for a couple hours after studying the nickels last night, so I was up reeeeal late. I have yet to take any close ups today, but have included a couple I took late last night. I will be trying to take some better ones, but here's a picture of 16 of the best nickels from this lot. There were some spots of corrosion which I soaked off with dilute ammonia and water, and it's a shame, but they were probably poorly stored. You can see in the uppermost row, and the bottom row, 2 of the 54's ... both Denver issues have much heavier lettering than the others. There are indeed far more Denver coins than Philadelphia coins. There were no San Francisco issues at all, so no S/D. I didn't see any RPMs in the entire lot. More later.... Chance Edited by Chancellor Sutler 11/26/2011 12:33 pm Report this Post to the Staff
mariospaghetti Valued Member United States 421 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 12:58 pm Very nice looking coins! I am hoping to get some nickel rolls this coming week to do some searching. Report this Post to the Staff
Chancellor Sutler Pillar of the Community United States 1372 Posts	Posted 11/26/2011 1:10 pm I just did a census of this lot. There are: 2 ea 1952-P 2 ea 1952-D 7 ea 1953-D 7 ea 1954-P 12 ea 1954-D 11 ea 1955-D There's another bag of nickels here, so I may add the census from that bag. They're more typical in grade...well, still higher than normally found in circulation, but not frosty AU. I do remember a single 1950, but not a Denver issue. There's a couple 39-S and a couple 40-s issues too....but that gets us into the 3rd bag of nickels. OK ... The other 2 bags ... were placed in tubes last night. The first is normal composition, thesecond is War Nickels. the first roll: 1 ea 1939-S 3 ea 1940-P 2 ea 1940-S 9 ea 1941-P 3 ea 1941-D 5 ea 1942 type 1 6 ea 1946-P 1 ea 1946-S 3 ea 1947-P 1 ea 1947-D 1 ea 1948-P 1 ea 1948-D 2 ea 1949-P 1 ea 1949-D 1 ea 1950-P 2 ea 1951-P 1 ea 1952-P 2 ea 1952-D 4 ea 1953-P 1 ea 1953-D 4 ea 1954-P .. rusty dies 2 ea 1954-D 1 ea 1956-P 1 ea 1956-D 1 ea 1958-D Chance Edited by Chancellor Sutler 11/26/2011 1:46 pm Report this Post to the Staff
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1954-55 Jefferson Nickel Lot Is A "Snapshot In Time"