1946-S Jefferson Nickel
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 13,560,000 made
- Mintage
- 13,560,000
- Metal
- 75% copper, 25% nickel
- Weight
- 5 g
- Diameter
- 21.21 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1946-S Jefferson Nickel worth?
Worn examples are worth face value and can be spent. Keep it only if it looks uncirculated or shows a known variety.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- Full steps on Monticello (5FS or 6FS)
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1946-S Jefferson Nickel rare?
- Not in absolute terms: 14 million were made. It is one of the smaller runs in the series, though, so uncirculated examples are worth a little more than most dates.
- Is the 1946-S Jefferson Nickel silver?
- No. It's 75% copper, 25% nickel. The only silver nickels are the 1942 to 1945 wartime coins with a large mint mark above Monticello.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1946 Jefferson Nickel?
- On the reverse, to the right of Monticello. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1946 are scarcer?
- The 1951-S at 7,776,000, the 1949-S at 9,716,000, the 1948-S at 11,300,000. So the 1946-S is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1946-S Jefferson Nickel coins were made?
- 13,560,000.
What to check on your 1946-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1946-D (45 million made).
- Judge the grade under good light. The steps of Monticello are the key: coins with 5 or 6 full steps (5FS / 6FS) sell for large premiums. On the obverse, check Jefferson's cheekbone and hair.
With 13,560,000 made, you can still find a 1946-S in rolls, old jars and inherited collections. The coins worth keeping are the uncirculated ones and any with a doubled die or other variety.
The story of the 1946-S
Production at San Francisco fell off a cliff in 1946. Only 13,560,000 were made, against 59 million the year before. That drop is why the 1946-S is the one people look for. The next year it made 25 million (1947-S).
The other mints made far more that year: 1946 alone came to 161 million, roughly 12 for every 1946-S. That makes the 1946-S the scarcer 1946 coin, though still a common one.
San Francisco struck the Jefferson Nickel in 19 issues between 1938 and 1970. By mintage this one lands in the scarcer half, while the key for that mint is the 1938-S (4,105,000). Within the 1940s it's 3rd smallest of 31, between the 1948-S (11 million) and the 1942-D (14 million).
Return to copper-nickel and the 1950-D (1946 to 1955)
The prewar alloy of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel returned in 1946, along with the small mint mark to the right of Monticello. Output was modest in the late 1940s as wartime demand eased. The 1950-D, with only 2.6 million coined, became the key date of the series. Speculators hoarded it in rolls almost at once, so it is found in uncirculated condition more often than worn.
Overmintmarks from this period include the 1949-D/S, 1954-S/D and 1955-D/S, created when a die was punched with one mint mark and then corrected with another. San Francisco stopped striking nickels after 1954. Philadelphia struck a low 8.3 million in 1955. Coins from these years are common in uncirculated condition, but full steps examples are scarce for many dates, especially from Denver and San Francisco.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1946
The Roosevelt dime was introduced in January 1946, less than a year after President Franklin Roosevelt's death, honoring his work with the March of Dimes.
How to recognize it
Felix Schlag's portrait shows Thomas Jefferson facing left with IN GOD WE TRUST, LIBERTY and the date. The reverse shows the front of Monticello, Jefferson's home, with MONTICELLO and FIVE CENTS below. The mint mark was to the right of the building until 1964 (above the dome on wartime silver nickels) and moved to the obverse, near the date, in 1968. Schlag's initials FS were added below the bust in 1966.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Jefferson Nickel (1938–2003) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 13,560,000 |
| Face value | 5¢ |
| Composition | 75% copper, 25% nickel |
| Weight | 5 grams |
| Diameter | 21.21 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Felix Schlag |
Other 1946 Jefferson Nickel issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 Jefferson Nickel | 161,116,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1946-D Jefferson Nickel | 45,292,200 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1946-S Jefferson Nickel | 13,560,000 | Circulation strike | – |
Mintage: United States nickel mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.