Jefferson Nickel 5c Memorial Reverse, 1938-2003 MS [Type]

Designer: Felix Schlag. Weight: 5 grams. Composition: .750 copper, .250 nickel. Diameter: 21.2 mm. Edge: Plain. Mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco.

Key to Collecting: The Treasury Department desired to replace the Buffalo nickel with a new motif and announced a nationwide competition among artists and sculptors. The obverse was to depict President Thomas Jefferson and the reverse was to illustrate Monticello, his home in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Production of the new nickels began in September, and although coin collecting was extremely popular at the time, as it had been throughout the Depression years, not much interest was paid to the new nickels, and no widespread public hoarding or speculation resulted. Accordingly, unlike the first years of issue for the Liberty Head nickel (1883) and the Buffalo nickel (1913), the first year of issue of the Jefferson nickel, while readily available, does not stand out as being common.

The Jefferson nickel obverse design was employed from 1938 until 2005, with a change to silver alloy during World War II (creating a new type, listed in the following section), and some minor modifications. In 1966, through a campaign conducted by Numismatic News, the initials FS were added to the obverse to recognize designer Felix O. Schlag.

Aspects of Striking and Appearance: Many pieces have weak details on the six steps of Monticello, as this section on the reverse was opposite in the dies (in the press) from the high parts of the Jefferson portrait, and metal could not effectively flow in both directions at once. Planchet weight allowance was another cause, the dies being spaced slightly too far apart.

Proof Coins: Common in the context of Proofs. Usually fairly well struck, but not always.