What Nickels Should I Keep

I would personally recommend going for a complete collection from at least 1938-1959. I'm personally a hoarder, but I would recommend getting at least one of every coin and then upgrading as you go if you don't want piles of 1940 nickels everywhere you look. I don't have my book with me, but here are some of the more valuable nickels to look for:

1950-D (~2M minted): $5 -10
1939-D (~3-4M minted): $3-5
1938-S (~4M minted): $2-3
1938-D (~5M minted): $1-2
1939-S (~6M minted): $1-2
1951-S (~7M minted): $0.50

And of course, all 1943-1945 nickels (and about half of 1942) are silver and worth roughly $1 each, depending on the silver price.

Some other coins that are worth keeping if you find:
1938-P - Not too common
1949-S - <10M minted
1950-P - <10M minted
1955-P - <10M minted (1955-D is very common)
1958-P - inexplicably hard to find (1958-D is not worth keeping if not uncirculated)
2009-P&D - lowest mintage since the 50s and nearly impossible to find.

There are also plenty of error coins, minor varieties, and buffalo, V, and foreign coins to find. You'll figure out what you do or don't want to keep, and it's always easy to downsize your collection as necessary. The average nickel from 1939-1955 or so is worth 6-7 cents, so it's your call if you want to bother with keeping a huge collection, or just stick to album-filling.

Thanks guys. what would be a good book to get to collect?

I started out keeping every nickel 1959 back to 1938,But it started to take up too much space.

Here's what we keep:

1. Liberty nickels
2. Buffalo nickels
3. Silver nickels
4. Any other nickel under 15 million mintage
5. The 1938p, which is not under 15 million mintage, but my son likes to keep them.

Thanks Guys

Is there any reason to keep the 1982 or 1983 P & D? Or the 1984 P or 1986 D?

Why not keep at least one of each and do a complete set. You can upgrade the coins when you find better examples. The examples already given are good to keep duplicates of.