By Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez for PCGS ……
At least three United States Mint coins silent in use today have seen two importantly different mint distinguish positions, including the Roosevelt Dime, the Washington Quarter, and the Kennedy Half Dollar – all of which saw mint marks at a certain spot on the reverses of the coins before this bantam feature was moved to their obverses. And as the batch score ( or lack thereof ) normally indicates which ramify of the U.S. Mint struck a coin and much denotes a coin to be common or rare, knowing where mint marks are located on any given coin is of great importance to the collector .
however, one mint hush in habit today has seen a thousand total of five different mint score locations over the naturally of its history. This coin is the Jefferson Nickel !
The Jefferson Nickel premiered in 1938 and branch-mint issues saw the inclusion body of a mint mark on the reverse barely to the correct of Monticello, with “ D ” indicating coins struck in Denver and “ S ” symbolizing specimens from the San Francisco Mint. primitively, Jefferson Nickels lacking a batch distinguish signaled coins made at the Philadelphia Mint .
however, things soon changed for the Jefferson Nickel, a coin traditionally consisting of a 75 % copper, 25 % nickel composition. emergency materials rations during World War II led to the refilling of the master copper-nickel admixture in prefer of one made from 56 % copper, 35 % flatware, and 9 % manganese get down in 1942 .
To distinguish Jefferson “ Nickels ” struck with the silver composing, large mint marks were placed over the attic of Monticello, including a “ P ” for coins hailing from Philadelphia. This would become the first time that coins from the Philadelphia Mint ever carried a “ P ” mint mark .
In 1946, when use of the standard copper-nickel alloy resumed for the Jefferson Nickel, batch marks on returned to their former spot fair to the right of Monticello. This continued through 1964, after which a pressing coin deficit spurred mint officials to temporarily remove mint marks from all U.S. coins to dissuade collecting activity begin in 1965.
Three years late, in 1968, the coin dearth was alleviated, and batch marks reappeared on all new U.S. neologism as necessity. Although it wasn ’ thyroxine quite a resumption of the status quo. All mint marks on circle coins would now be placed on the obverse, and in the case of the Jefferson Nickel the new blemish was barely below the mint ’ south date. In 1980, the “ P ” mint stigmatize returned to the nickel after a 34-year absence .
Beginning in 2004, the Jefferson Nickel saw a biennial commemorative series honoring the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, wherein explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark lease western United States territories purchased under the tutelage of President Thomas Jefferson. To mark this commemorative subseries, fielding four special revoke designs, the obverse was modified in 2005 to show a new right-facing portrait of Jefferson. With this one-year-only change came a new obverse location for the batch chump, spotted just above the “ 2005 ” date and below the inscription “ LIBERTY. ”
In 2006, a new permanent obverse design was paired with the render of the Monticello motif on the reverse of the Jefferson Nickel. The mint grade besides saw a newly home, its fifth distinct localization on the long-running Jefferson Nickel, and this meter back below the date where it remains today.
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