68-S Jefferson {s Over D (Is It Possible?)}

Somebody will say die chip or gouge, I bet. Nice nickel tho.

I don't believe it is a D. Whether it is a die chip or just a surface feature of the S mintmark punch I can't say without examining other 68-S nickels. A punch has a letter on the end of a steel bar. That letter sits on a "field" of it's own that surrounds the letter. If there is a defect on that field and the punch is hammered into the die far enough, those field defects will also show on the coin.

Once at a show I came across a dealer selling an 1873/2 Shield nickel. He had enlarged photos and a digital microscope showing enlarged images on the computer. I looked at it an some of his other 1873's an told him it wasn't an overdate. I had him put some of the other 1873's under the microscope, pieces from demonstrably different dies, and pointed out the same "underlying 2", in the ame positional relatinship to the 3, on several different piece. What he was calling a 2 were just surface defects of the field of the date punch.

On numismedia.com there are several D/S and S/D nickels listed in the 40's and 50's(at least I THINK that is what S/D means). So, apparently it is possible.