Jefferson nickels have been minted since 1938 at the Philadelphia and Denver mints and from the San Francisco mint until 1970. Key dates for the series include the 1939-D, and 1950-D nickels. The 1939-D nickel with a mintage of 3,514,000 coins is the second lowest behind the 1950-D nickel. The cause of the key date of 1939 stems from the new design that excited collectors the year prior, after the initial hype had settled down fewer nickels were saved. [ 1] 2,630,000 nickels were minted in Denver in 1950, this remains the lowest mintage for the Denver mint in the series. Despite its low mintage the nickel is not rare, its value is thought to be connected to the brilliant uncirculated roll boom that burst between 1963 and 1964. [ 2] On the opposite spectrum, the year 1964 saw the largest combined mintage of nickels to date. The result of the large mintages were due to a widespread shortage of small change that was blamed on coin collectors. [ 3] the following year, The Coinage Act of 1965 removed all mint marks from nickels that were issued by the mints, this lasted until 1968 when the mintmark was moved from the reverse to the obverse side of the coin. [ 4]
Pre-War Composition (75% copper, 25% nickel) 1938-1942 Year Mint Mintage Comments 1938 (P) 19,515,365 First year of issue D 5,376,000 S 4,105,000 1939 (P) 120,627,535 D 3,514,000 Semi-key date S 6,630,000 1940 (P) 176,499,158 D 43,540,000 S 39,690,000 1941 (P) 203,283,720 D 53,432,000 S 43,445,000 1942 (P) 49,818,600 D 13,938,000
Wartime Composition (56% copper, 35% silver, 9% manganese) 1942-1945 Year Mint Mintage Comments 1942 P 57,900,600 Can be told apart from the non-silver nickels since these have a mintmark above Monticello. S 32,900,000 1943 P 271,165,000 D 15,294,000 S 104,060,000 1944 P 119,150,000 D 32,309,000 S 21,640,000 1945 P 119,408,100 D 37,158,000 S 58,939,000
Post-War Composition (75% copper, 25% nickel) 1946-2003 Year Mint Mintage Comments 1946 (P) 161,116,000 D 45,292,200 S 13,560,000 1947 (P) 95,000,000 D 37,822,000 S 24,720,000 1948 (P) 89,348,000 D 44,734,000 S 11,300,000 1949 (P) 60,652,000 D 36,498,000 S 9,716,000 1950 (P) 9,847,386 D 2,630,030 Key date (lowest non-proof standard Jefferson Nickel) 1951 (P) 28,609,500 D 20,460,000 S 7,776,000 1952 (P) 64,069,980 D 30,638,000 S 20,572,000 1953 (P) 46,772,800 D 59,878,600 S 19,210,900 1954 (P) 47,917,350 D 117,136,560 S 29,384,000 1955 (P) 8,266,200 D 74,464,100 1956 (P) 35,885,384 D 67,222,940 1957 (P) 39,655,952 D 136,828,900 1958 (P) 17,963,652 D 168,249,120 1959 (P) 28,397,291 D 160,738,240 1960 (P) 57,107,602 D 192,582,180 1961 (P) 76,668,244 D 229,342,760 1962 (P) 110,602,019 D 280,195,720 1963 (P) 178,851,645 D 276,829,460 1964 (P) 1,028,622,762 D 1,787,297,160 1965 (P/D/S) 136,131,380 Mintmarks suspended until 1968 to discourage coin collecting. 1966 (P/D/S) 156,208,283 Mintmarks suspended until 1968 to discourage coin collecting. 1967 (P/D/S) 107,325,800 Mintmarks suspended until 1968 to discourage coin collecting. 1968 D 91,227,880 S 100,396,004 1969 D 202,807,500 S 123,099,631 1970 D 515,485,380 S 241,464,814 1971 (P) 106,884,000 D 316,144,800 S 3,220,733 Proof only. Includes the very rare "No S" variety, of which there are ~200 known. 1972 (P) 202,036,000 D 351,694,600 S 3,260,996 Proof only 1973 (P) 384,396,000 D 261,405,000 S 2,760,339 Proof only 1974 (P) 601,752,000 D 277,373,000 S 2,612,568 Proof only 1975 (P) 181,772,000 D 401,875,300 S 2,845,450 Proof only 1976 (P) 367,124,000 D 563,964,147 S 2,845,450 Proof only 1977 (P) 585,376,000 D 297,313,460 S 3,251,152 Proof only 1978 (P) 391,308,000 D 313,092,780 S 3,127,781 Proof only 1979 (P) 463,188,000 D 325,867,672 S 3,677,175 Proof only 1980 P 593,004,000 "P" mintmark added to the obverse of the coin. D 502,323,448 S 3,554,806 Proof only 1981 P 657,504,000 D 364,801,843 S 4,063,083 Proof only 1982 P 292,355,000 D 373,726,544 S 3,857,479 Proof only 1983 P 561,615,000 D 536,726,276 S 3,279,126 Proof only 1984 P 746,769,000 D 517,675,146 S 3,065,110 Proof only 1985 P 647,114,962 D 459,747,446 S 3,362,821 Proof only 1986 P 536,883,483 D 361,819,140 S 3,010,497 Proof only 1987 P 371,499,481 D 410,590,604 S 4,227,728 Proof only 1988 P 771,360,000 D 663,771,652 S 3,262,948 Proof only 1989 P 898,812,000 D 570,842,474 S 3,220,194 Proof only 1990 P 661,636,000 D 663,938,503 S 3,299,559 Proof only 1991 P 614,104,000 D 436,496,678 S 2,867,787 Proof only 1992 P 399,552,000 D 450,565,113 S 4,176,560 Proof only 1993 P 412,076,000 D 406,084,135 S 3,394,792 Proof only 1994 P 722,160,000 P 167,703 Special Frosted Matte Uncirculated. Included in collector's sets. D 715,762,110 S 3,269,923 Proof only 1995 P 774,156,000 D 888,112,000 S 2,797,481 Proof only 1996 P 829,332,000 D 817,736,000 S 2,525,625 Proof only 1997 P 470,972,000 P 25,000 Special Frosted Matte Uncirculated. Rare - Included in collector's sets. D 466,640,000 S 2,796,678 Proof only 1998 P 688,292,000 D 635,380,000 S 2,086,507 Proof only 1999 P 1,212,000,000 D 1,066,720,000 S 3,347,966 Proof only 2000 P 846,240,000 D 1,509,220,000 S 4,047,993 Proof only 2001 P 675,704,000 D 627,680,000 S 3,184,606 Proof only 2002 P 529,280,000 D 691,200,000 S 3,211,995 Proof only 2003 P 441,840,000 D 383,040,000 S 3,298,439 Proof only
Westward Journey Series, 2004-2005 Year Mint Mintage Comments 2004 P 361,440,000 Louisiana Purchase reverse D 372,000,000 Louisiana Purchase reverse S 2,992,069 Louisiana Purchase reverse, proof only 2004 P 366,720,000 Keelboat reverse D 344,880,000 Keelboat reverse S 2,965,422 Keelboat reverse, proof only 2005 P 448,320,000 American Bison reverse D 487,680,000 American Bison reverse S 3,344,679 American Bison reverse, proof only 2005 P 394,080,000 Ocean in View reverse D 411,120,000 Ocean in View reverse S 3,344,679 Ocean in View reverse, proof only
Return to Monticello (75% copper, 25% nickel) 2006–Present Year Mint Mintage Comments 2006 P 693,120,000 D 809,280,000 S 3,054,436 Proof only 2007 P 571,680,000 D 626,160,000 S 2,577,166 Proof only 2008 P 279,840,000 D 345,600,000 S 2,169,561 Proof only 2009 P 39,840,000 the Great Recession caused low mintage numbers not seen since the 1950s. D 46,800,000 S 2,179,867 Proof only 2010 P 260,640,000 D 229,920,000 S 1,689,216 Proof only 2011 P 450,000,000 D 540,240,000 S 1,673,010 Proof only 2012 P 464,640,000 D 558,960,000 S 1,239,148 Proof only 2013 P 607,440,000 D 615,600,000 S 1,274,505 Proof only 2014 P 635,520,000 D 570,720,000 S 1,193,735 Proof only 2015 P 752,880,000 D 846,720,000 S 1,099,413 Proof only 2016 P 786,960,000 D 759,600,000 S 1,011,684 Proof only 2017 P 710,160,000 D 663,120,000 S 979,498 Proof only S 223,310 Enhanced Uncirculated 2018 P 629,520,000 D 626,880,000 S 898,986 Proof only S 199,177 Reverse proof [ 5] 2019 P 567,854,400 D 527,040,000 S 989,862 Proof only 2020 P 785,500,000 D 837,600,000 S 823,909 Proof only W 464,658 Proof W 313,183 Reverse proof 2021 P 772,780,000 D 798,000,000 S 861,607 Proof only 2022 P 769,920,000 D 777,600,000 S 647,160 Proof only 2023 P 692,600,000 D 734,800,000 S 551,802 Proof only 2024 P 36,720,000 D 32,880,000 S TBA Proof only
