Back on October 3, 2024 I started a quest to assemble a complete Jefferson nickel collection just from circulated coins, by going through boxes of rolled coins from bank. To date I’ve searched 60 boxes, and this is a summary of my results so far.

It started with these two boxes and three empty Whitman Classic Bookshelf albums:

And here’s the results of those first two boxes. It was really tough to find the early years as I expected. I was surprised to not find a 1973-D, but that’s just the luck of the draw I guess. I was not surprised to not find a 1968 (P) – I guess Whitman got a little ahead of themselves when they printed this album. 🙂 Otherwise I was able to find everything through 2023-D, but no 2024 nickels.

I did find two silver nickels, both 1943-D. Also five Canadian and one Bahamas.

Here’s the first two albums:

The next few boxes added a few nickels, though some boxes were duds with nothing of interest found. Here’s the status after five boxes: The second and third albums are full except for a 2024-D, and here’s what the first album looks like:

While it might seem surprising to be missing some nickels from the 1950s, that was a decade of fairly low nickel mintage, especially the first half. The 1955 (P) mintage is under 8 million for example. That year in fact turned out to be elusive for quite some time… 2009 and 2024 are also low mintage years. It wasn’t until box five that my first 2024-P nickels appeared. And still no 2024-D.

The sixth box produced my first Buffalo nickels, two in fact! Yes, they’re still out there in circulation. The 1936 was in nice condition, the 1915 had to be acid dated. Also a Canadian and the first 2024-D, along with four 2024-P nickels:

The seventh box yielded another war nickel – a 1943-P, as well as a 1940-S in petty nice condition, as well as a 1950 and 1952-D for the collection. Also some upgrades of previously found coins:

Box 8 had my first ever Buffalo nickel ender. There were two Buffalo nickels total in the box. Box 9 also had a Buffalo nickel in it. There’s still lots of them out in circulation!

Boxes 10, 11, and 12 were hunted one after another. The first box was amazing – a 1935 Buffalo nickel, and a 1906 Liberty / V nickel, both found by my daughter, and I found a 1943-P war nickel. This the first ever V nickel we’ve found in circulation. It’s really amazing to see coins this old still in circulation.

Besides those coins, in total we also got another Buffalo, a 1936, another 1943-P war nickel, a 1983-S proof, and three Canadians.
We also found four more nickels as part of my quest to build a complete Jefferson collection from circulation: 1940-D, 1941-S (found two), 1948-D (found two), and 1956 (found three). Along with a bunch of upgrades. Still missing 15 coins, 6 war nickels, plus some of the usual suspects. I’m most surprised about still missing a 1947-S, just the luck of the draw I guess.

Box 13 was a dud. Box 14 was a real dud – all shiny new 2023-P nickels! Box 15 was better: I found two needed nickels for the collection: 1947-S and 1951-D. I’m still missing 13 coins, 6 of which are silver war nickels.
I also found a Canadian, Bahamas, two proofs, and two nice 1963 nickels. The one upper left looks particularly nice. Any chance it is a proof? Only reason I ask is I found the other two, and this one came from the same box:

Box 16 was mostly a dud, nothing new, just a few minor upgrades to previously found nickels. Not even a Canadian nickel.

Box 17 was interesting, while I didn’t find any nickels I needed for the collection, or silver or Buffalo nickels, I found a 10 Halalat coin from Saudi Arabia:

Boxes 18 and 19 produced two new coins: a 1945-S and 1948-S. Also a few minor upgrades. And a Canadian nickel. As of this time, I still need 11 more: 38-D, 38-S, 39-D, 39-S, 42-S, 43-D, 44-D, 44-S, 45-D, 50-D, 55 (P):

Box 20 gave me a 1913 Type 1 Buffalo nickel, two proofs, and a nickel with a counterstamp, which are always fun to find:

Box 21 gave me… ready for this? 18 pennies. One roll even had a penny on the end of it. But I did also find two 1943-P silver war nickels, and a 1926 Buffalo nickel. Curiously enough there were a LOT of 2022 nickels, I’d say about half the box. There was a 2024 nickel, so the box wasn’t an old one that had been sitting on a shelf. Weird:

Boxes 22 and 23 were mediocre, one had two Canadian nickels.

Box 24 didn’t give me anything new I needed for the collection either, but there were two Buffalo nickels, one was a 1920-S which is a lower mintage, under 10 million made. Also two Canadian nickels and one from Bermuda.

Box 25 had one 1943-P silver war nickel. Box 26 had two silver war nickels, a 1942-P and a 1943-S:

Box 27 had a Buffalo nickel ender, and gave two Buffalo nickels – a 1937 and one that needed to be acid dated, as well as two silver war nickels, and two proof nickels. Nothing I needed for the Jefferson collection, but still a great box:

Box 28 had two nice enders, a 1928 Buffalo and a 1945-P silver war nickel. Plus there was a Canadian nickel in the box:

Box 29:

Box 30:

Box 31 has one no date Buffalo nickel and a 2009. That’s it:

Box 32 gave me a 1927-D Buffalo nickel and a 2005-S proof nickel, which ironically has a buffalo on its reverse as well! I like the comparison of the two nickel reverses:

Box 33 was another not very exciting box, although the 1936 Buffalo nickel was a nice find, plus a Canadian, and this 1963 which seems a little better struck than most, the rim is slightly thicker, the weight is correct:

Box 34, After a few boxes, I finally found a needed nickel, the 1942-S. Three silver war nickels in total, one no date Buffalo, two proofs, and a nice condition 1941 I’m using as an upgrade. Overall a decent box:

Compared to box 34, box 35 was meh. Just the one silver war nickel, and two Canadians. Not sure why I like finding Canadian nickels, it just means I lost a penny 🙂 Oh, and I did get a dime, so that helps blunt the loss I took with a box a few weeks ago that had 18!! pennies:

Box 36 had nothing I needed for the collection, but I did find two 1943-S silver war nickels, a Canadian nickel, a Bermuda nickel, a 1940-S which will be a nice upgrade for the CRH collection, and two dimes! The two dimes help make up for the box a month or two ago that had 18!!! pennies in rolls:

Box 37 had nothing I needed for the collection, but I did find two Buffalo nickels, a 1925 and a 1937:

Box 38 gave me a 1942-P silver war nickel. Also, not pictured, a 1983 Canadian nickel and two 1939 nickels, P of course, not D or S. Nothing I needed for the collection:

I got skunked with box 39 – nothing, Box 40 had nothing I needed for the collection, but I did find a 1943-P silver war nickel, a 1991 Swiss 20 rappen (which was an ender) and two dimes. Better than finding two pennies 🙂

Box 41 had nothing needed for the collection, but I did find a 1942-P silver war nickel and a 1969-S proof nickel:

Box 42 only had one Canadian nickel, nothing else of interest, and even that wasn’t interesting enough to warrant a picture.

Box 43 had nothing I needed for the collection, but I did find a 1937-S Buffalo nickel, and one Canadian nickel:

Box 44 had nothing I needed for the collection, but I did find a 1945-P silver war nickel, and one Canadian nickel:

Box 45 finally gave me a 1955 (P) nickel! That took longer than expected. I also found a 1935 Buffalo nickel. No silver war nickels or foreign:

Box 46 just had a nice condition 1974-D which was an upgrade, and a 5 cent piece from Bermuda.

Box 47 yielded nothing I needed for the collection. But I did get a 1945-P silver war nickel, and this 201?? nickel that met the business end of a power tool 🙂

Box 48 had nothing I needed for the collection. Yes, I was excited when I saw the 1938 and 1939 obverses, and they did make some nice upgrades. Plus I got two silver war nickels and the Canadian nickel:

Box 49 had nothing I needed for the collection, no Buffalo or silver war nickels. I did find two Candian nickels, and a 1 Franc coin from Belgium – my first CRH find from that country:

I found three Buffalo nickels in box 50, a 1936 and two no-date. I acid dated them, one was a 1919, the other 1920-S, both of which I need for my collection of Buffalo nickels that I am also building just from CRH (I already have a complete set). I doubt I’ll ever complete one from circulation, but I wonder how far I can get? Here’s the finds from this box:

Box 51 didn’t have anything I needed for the collection, but I did find a 1900 Liberty/V nickel (the 4th so far), a 1944-P silver war nickel, and a 1986 Canadian nickel:

Box 52 had a 1942-P silver war nickel and a Bermuda five cent piece – my 6th such coin from Bermuda in 52 boxes.

I found a 1939 in nice condition in box 53, a 1964 which looks like a proof, and a 1955 nickel, only my second found so far.

Nothing much in box 54, just two Canadian nickels.

Box 55 had nothing I needed for the collection, but I did find a 1936 Buffalo nickel, a Canadian nickel, as well as a Mexican 50 cent coin and a 5 cent coin from Panama. I believe these are the first Mexican and Panamanian coins I have found in nickel rolls. Just one 2024 nickel, well below average:

Box 56 had a 1943-S silver war nickel, a 1985-S proof, and two Canadian nickels:

In box 57 I found a 1942-P silver war nickel and a Canadian nickel. Also a few upgrades for previously found nickels:

Box 58 gave me two Buffalo nickels and a Canadian nickel. One needed to be acid dated and was a 1929, the other was a 1934, which I needed for my album I am also filling just from circulation finds:

Box 59 once again didn’t add anything new to the collection, but I did find two Buffalo nickels, two Canadian nickels, and a really nice condition 1965 nickel. One was a 1913 Type 1 (which I foolishly acid dated before checking the reverse closely enough to notice it was a Type 1), the other was a 1918-S which I needed for Buffalo nickel album I am also filling just from circulation finds. That’s worthy of its own blog post, or series of posts.

Box 60 of my quest/personal challenge to build a complete Jefferson nickel collection just from circulation produced another needed coin – the 1944-S ! I also found a very nice condition 1956 with some steps visible, a 1938 which you don’t see very often and is an upgrade, and two Canadian nickels. As of now, I’m still searching for the following nickels: 38D, 38S, 39D, 39S, 43D, 50D. The quest goes on:

And here’s what the albums look like after 60 boxes. Just six more to go! Of course, they’re the six hardest to find, the five lowest regular issue mintages, plus the lowest mintage silver war nickel, as expected. (Ignore some of the writing in the albums, I bought them used and still need to remove some old ink)

1938-1964:

1965-1989:

1990-2024: