Nickels And How Strikes Vary

some years the die's were made better or harder (MO) and some die's were used to the end so they were worn plum out before replacing. nickle is a very hard metal. I think that's the reason the both quarters and nickels are some times showing weak strikes and worn die marks. this is only my opinion though and maybe someone who knows better will show up. makes sense to me though lol
Gary

On all coinage you find a difference in strikes. Some because of mechanical issues, some because of material. Some because of dies states and hub states that made the dies. The first die mad with a new hub will look the best. After a large number the details may not be as nice. Save for a Die. The first few coins are it best. The differing die states hare listed for different reasons. The EDS (Early Die State) has the nice really nice edges between the fields and the edges of the lettering. MDS (Mid Die States) have a slight wear pattern on the field around the devices and a small bit of die flow flowing to the edge. LDS (Late Die State) you note a more worn edges on letters/numbers with the (Cent) L on LIBERTY is worn to a wider L. Plus die flow is a Lot stronger and prominent. Less of the dies scratches remaining from the MDS examples. May even have started new ones, sometimes going in different directions and under them you can see the faint die scratches. In the VLDS (Very Late Die State) coins the field and letters/numbers/devices form a snowdrift pattern between the devices and fields. The crispness of detail in long gone and the die flow is very noticeable. In fact you may see marks appearing caused by die flow that were not there in earlier die states. IE: The outside edge of numbers/letters move to the rim direction. The false 1955 Poor mans doubled die appears as the die wear (VLDS) happens it makes a shadow in the area. It is just heavy die wear, not present on the EDS, MDS, LDS die states. I know I went off the tangent with Cents instead of nickels, but all these processes take place on all coins that they use to make more and more coins from the same die. So when you get a batch of coins, you will note the differing die states, why some look better than others. It just depends on the coin your looking at.