Circulation Sets - Still Possible?

It's absolutely possible to complete a roll found Jefferson nickel set today .... but it's not going to be quick.

Perseverance and lots of nickels searched are the key. It took me 230,800 nickels searched to find the final one I needed (1938-S).

There are several CCF members who have done this including myself. You can visit the roll hunting subform and read about the most recent success story.






Do you mean 1950-D?

The only coins I purchased for my Jefferson collection were the silver wartime pieces and the 1950 and 1950-D. All the rest were pulled from circulation but it took years. Also, most of them were found back in the 1980s and 1990s when, I imagine, the older issues were a little easier to come by. That been said, I got a 1938-D in change from a vending machine not long ago, so they are still out there.

If you are only getting a roll or two occasionally it's going to be a long hunt. My suggestion would be, just go ahead and purchase the ones you are missing - as others have said, Jeffersons are pretty cheap in circulated grades. But still keep hunting anyway! The thrill is still there, even if your collection is complete.

I remember when I hunted for circulating Jeffersons back in 1996-1997 to finish the "newer" coins at that time. I was living in Arkansas which is definitely Denver territory when coins are concerned. I was basically looking for the issues from roughly 1987-1996 as I had gone for a while without updating. My wife worked at a fast-food restaurant as a manager so she let me look through the change drawers at night when they were getting deposits ready. Most of the nickels I needed showed up pretty readily but for some reason it took weeks and weeks of looking to come up with a 1995-P. I probably looked through $200 worth of nickels to find one, but I did eventually come up with it. I still have that particular coin in my Dansco, but to this day I get a thrill whenever I encounter a 1995-P in the wild.

It's the type of set you find completed at many coin shows and for a really decent price.

I completed a set from circulation in 1964 and have probably completed 10 sets since then but never found another '50-D.

The most underrated coin is the '42-D. It's easy enough that most people find it but nice specimens are tough. A lot of the dates from '66 to '77 are getting tough in nice condition.

The '42-D should be a $10 coin in XF.

Good hunting Bump! I was doing 2 boxes a month, for about 9 years now. Found some good ones but it's getting harder and harder today. Went to the LCS today and he wanted uncirculated prices for well circulated Jeffersons. Passed on all of them. Just posted my Want list here today. I know alot of CCF members can fill my needs.

You CRHs continue to amaze me for your dedication despite pretty miserable returns.

It's never been better. There are rare coins in circulation again and some aren't that hard to find. The only thing that I ever found in the heavily picked over coins of 1957 was the '50-D nickel that I sold for $25 and a broad struck dime I Sold for $12.

Today you can find anything from coins that will be worth a lot of money to coins that already are.

Just a couple days ago I found a real nice gemmy '82-D quarter. It's not worth a lot now but in 20 years I wager it will go for far more than a '50-D nickel.