1948-D Jefferson Nickel
Circulation strike struck at the Denver Mint · 44,734,000 made
- Mintage
- 44,734,000
- 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 1948-D Jefferson Nickel worth?
A worn 1948-D is a spender: face value. A bright uncirculated one, or one with a known error, is worth setting aside.
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 1948-D Jefferson Nickel rare?
- Not by date: 45 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1948-D 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 1948 Jefferson Nickel?
- On the reverse, to the right of Monticello. On this coin the mark is D, for Denver.
- Which Denver dates near 1948 are scarcer?
- The 1950-D at 2,630,030, the 1943-D at 15,294,000, the 1951-D at 20,460,000, plus 5 more. So the 1948-D is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1948-D Jefferson Nickel coins were made?
- 44,734,000.
What to check on your 1948-D
- Make sure the mint mark really is a D. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1948-S (11 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 44,734,000 made, you can still find a 1948-D 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 1948-D
Denver made 44,734,000 in 1948, up from 38 million in 1947. In 1949 the figure was 36 million.
1948-S came to 11 million and 1948 came to 89 million, so neither mint's 1948 coin is much scarcer than the other.
Across Denver's 63 Jefferson Nickel issues, the hardest to find is the 1950-D with 2,630,030 made. The 1948-D is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1940s it's 16th smallest of 31, between the 1940-D (44 million) and the 1946-D (45 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 1948
The Franklin half dollar replaced the Walking Liberty half dollar.
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 | 1948 |
| Mint | Denver Mint |
| Mint mark | "D" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 44,734,000 |
| Face value | 5¢ |
| Composition | 75% copper, 25% nickel |
| Weight | 5 grams |
| Diameter | 21.21 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Felix Schlag |
Other 1948 Jefferson Nickel issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 Jefferson Nickel | 89,348,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1948-D Jefferson Nickel | 44,734,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1948-S Jefferson Nickel | 11,300,000 | 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.