1950 Jefferson Nickel
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 9,796,000 made
- Mintage
- 9,796,000
- 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 1950 Jefferson Nickel worth?
It's scarcer than a typical date, so even circulated examples sell above face. The best uncirculated coins are where the money is.
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
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1950 Jefferson Nickel rare?
- Somewhat. 9,796,000 were made, fewer than most dates, so collectors treat it as a semi-key.
- Is the 1950 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 1950 Jefferson Nickel?
- On the reverse, to the right of Monticello. No mint mark means Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1950 are scarcer?
- The 1955 at 7,888,000. So the 1950 is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1950 Jefferson Nickel coins were made?
- 9,796,000.
What to check on your 1950
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1950 Jefferson Nickel Proof (51,386 made) is the one to compare with.
- 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.
The story of the 1950
Production at Philadelphia fell off a cliff in 1950. Only 9,796,000 were made, against 61 million the year before. That drop is why the 1950 is the one people look for. In 1951 the figure was 29 million.
It was the big producer of the year, well ahead of 1950-D (2.6 million). In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1949-S (9,716,000) and the 1948-S (11,300,000).
Only the 1955 has a lower mintage among Philadelphia's 64 Jefferson Nickels. Within the 1950s it's 4th smallest of 24, between the 1955 (7.9 million) and the 1958 (17 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 1950
Proof coins were sold to collectors again for the first time since 1942. The 1950-D Jefferson nickel had a low mintage and was widely hoarded as a "key date" in rolls.
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 | 1950 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 9,796,000 |
| Face value | 5¢ |
| Composition | 75% copper, 25% nickel |
| Weight | 5 grams |
| Diameter | 21.21 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Felix Schlag |
Other 1950 Jefferson Nickel issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 Jefferson Nickel | 9,796,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1950 Jefferson Nickel Proof | 51,386 | Proof | – |
| 1950-D Jefferson Nickel | 2,630,030 | 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.