Jefferson Nickel Values: War Nickels, Key Dates and Full Steps

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The Jefferson nickel at a glance

The Jefferson nickel is the United States five-cent coin the Mint has produced continuously since October 3, 1938. It replaced the Buffalo nickel at the end of the mandatory 25-year design cycle. The obverse features the third President of the United States. The reverse features his Virginia home, Monticello.

Three mints have struck the coin over its life. Philadelphia coins carried no mint mark for most of the series but received a P for the war nickels of 1942 through 1945 and again on regular coinage after 1979. Denver strikes carry a D. San Francisco strikes carry an S. West Point issued a small number in 2020 with a W mint mark.

The Mint made only three visible design shifts since 1938. The 1939 hub recut sharpened the steps on Monticello. The 2004 and 2005 Westward Journey issues placed commemorative reverses on the coin. In 2006, the Mint restored a modified Monticello reverse and introduced a new obverse portrait of Jefferson by artist Jamie Franki.

Live silver melt calculator (war nickels)

The tool below computes the metal floor on any silver or gold United States coin at a spot price you enter. For the Jefferson series, only the 1942 through 1945 war nickels contain silver, and the calculator has a war nickel preset. All other Jefferson nickels return zero because they contain no silver or gold.

Design story: Schlag, Monticello and Westward Journey

Felix Schlag won an open competition in 1938 to design the replacement for the Buffalo nickel. His obverse portrait of Thomas Jefferson was based on a bust sculpted by Jean-Antoine Houdon, a French artist who worked from life sittings during Jefferson's tenure in Paris. The reverse showed a three-quarter view of Monticello.

The Mint required a straight-on view of Monticello for the actual production dies. That change altered the visual impact of Schlag's original submission. His initials, FS, did not appear on any circulating nickel until 1966. On the modern 2006 obverse, the initials moved to the truncation of Jefferson's shoulder.

The Westward Journey Nickel Series of 2004 and 2005 marked the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Two reverse designs appeared in 2004 (Peace Medal and Keelboat) and two in 2005 (American Bison and Ocean in View). A new Jefferson portrait by Joe Fitzgerald replaced Schlag's original for the 2005 issues. In 2006, the current Franki obverse and a modified Schlag Monticello reverse became the standard.

Verified physical specifications

Every genuine Jefferson nickel matches the same measurable specifications outside of the wartime composition change. The table below is the identification baseline. Any coin sold as a Jefferson nickel that does not match these numbers deserves a closer look before you accept it as authentic.

War nickels: 35 percent silver, 1942 to 1945

The United States needed nickel metal for military production during World War II. Nickel was a strategic alloy used in armor plating and other applications. On March 27, 1942, Congress authorized a temporary substitute alloy for the five-cent coin. Production of the new wartime composition began in October 1942.

The wartime alloy is 56 percent copper, 35 percent silver, and 9 percent manganese. Each war nickel contains about 0.05626 troy ounce of silver by weight of alloy times fineness. That silver content is the reason war nickels trade above face value regardless of date or condition.

To make the wartime coins easy to sort out and withdraw from circulation after the war, the Mint placed a large mint mark above the dome of Monticello on the reverse. That mint mark position is the single visual identifier of a war nickel. If the mint mark sits to the right of the building at the base of the coin, it is a regular pre-war or post-war nickel and contains no silver.

The P mint mark for Philadelphia appeared on a United States coin for the first time on these war nickels. Before 1942, Philadelphia strikes carried no mint mark. The war nickels of 1942 through 1945 include Philadelphia P, Denver D, and San Francisco S issues, all with the large mint mark above Monticello.

Regular 75/25 copper-nickel Jefferson nickels dated 1942 also exist alongside the wartime silver 1942 issues. The two are told apart by the mint mark. A 1942 or 1942-D with the mint mark in the normal small position to the right of Monticello is the regular composition. A 1942 with a large P, D, or S above Monticello is the silver war composition.

Melt-floor math on a single war nickel

Key dates and verified varieties

A handful of dates in the Jefferson series carry structural scarcity or a documented die variety. These are the coins any serious buyer will check for first and pay real money to secure in original condition.

Dollar values on any of these coins are highly grade-sensitive and shift with the auction market. Use current listings from an established auction house or an established grading service population report to price a specific coin. Do not accept a verbal offer for a key date without a certified grade first.

The Full Steps designation and why it matters

The reverse of a Jefferson nickel shows the front of Monticello with a set of stairs leading to the entrance. When a coin strikes with all six steps clearly visible and unbroken, independent grading services will attach a Full Steps notation to the certified grade. The abbreviation is FS.

Full Steps is not automatic. The steps sit on a high point of the reverse die and often show mush or breaks even on freshly struck coins. Weak strikes were routine on the early series before the 1939 hub recut. Sharper strikes became more common after the 1987 die modification.

The premium for a Full Steps designation on the same date and grade is real. A common date in Mint State 65 sells for a modest sum without Full Steps and for a meaningful multiple with the FS notation. For scarce dates, the FS premium can be dramatic. The exact multiple varies by year, mint, and market.

A coin advertised as Full Steps without third-party certification carries no market weight. The designation depends on close inspection under magnification and consistent standards. A verbal claim from a seller does not substitute for a grading service holder.

How to identify what your Jefferson nickel is

The steps below are the sequence a serious hobbyist runs on a Jefferson nickel found in a jar, a drawer, or an inherited collection. Follow them in order before treating the coin as anything more than face value.

1. Confirm the coin is a Jefferson nickel. The obverse shows a left-facing portrait of Thomas Jefferson (or a modified 2005 or 2006 obverse). The reverse shows Monticello, unless it is a 2004 or 2005 Westward Journey issue. If either side shows a different design, the coin is a different type.
2. Weigh the coin on a jewelry scale. A genuine Jefferson nickel weighs 5.000 grams. A digital scale that reads to two decimal places is enough. A weight far outside 4.9 to 5.1 grams points to a fake, a heavily worn coin, or a damaged planchet.
3. Check the date on the obverse. The date sits to the right of Jefferson's portrait. If it reads 1942, 1943, 1944, or 1945, check whether the coin might be a silver war nickel by looking at the mint mark location on the reverse.
4. Read the mint mark and its location on the reverse. A large mint mark (P, D, or S) placed above the dome of Monticello identifies a silver war nickel from 1942 through 1945. A small mint mark to the right of Monticello identifies a regular composition coin. No mint mark on a pre-1980 Philadelphia coin (except 1942 to 1945 war nickels) is normal.
5. Look for the key-date candidates. Check any 1939-D, 1939-S, and 1950-D coin closely. Check any 1943 with a possible overdate at the last digit under magnification. Any of those candidates deserves closer inspection and possibly certification.
6. Inspect the reverse steps under magnification. Count the steps on Monticello. If all six are complete and unbroken, the coin is a candidate for the Full Steps designation. Consider grading if the overall preservation is high.
7. Do not clean the coin. Any polishing, dipping, or scrubbing lowers the grade an independent grader will assign. Cleaning a coin can drop its market value by half or more. Preserve the coin exactly as found.
8. Submit high-value candidates to an independent grading service. Only certified authentication from an established grader carries weight in the marketplace on a key date, a Full Steps candidate, or a suspected overdate. Verbal appraisals and photo opinions do not.

Counterfeit warnings on the 1950-D and the 1944 no-mint-mark

The 1950-D is the classic key date of the Jefferson series with 2,630,030 pieces struck. Because most of the mintage was quickly pulled from circulation and hoarded in Mint State rolls during the early 1960s, the coin is more common in high grade than the mintage number suggests. That popularity attracts counterfeit activity in the form of altered dates on more common Denver-mint Jefferson nickels.

The 1944 no-mint-mark Jefferson nickel is not a genuine variety. Real 1944 nickels are war nickels with a large P above Monticello. Coins dated 1944 that show no mint mark are pieces made in the mid-1950s by counterfeiter Francis LeRoy Henning, who produced non-silver five-cent pieces to defraud the coin market. Genuine Jefferson nickels from Philadelphia in 1944 were struck only in the silver war alloy with the large P above Monticello.

Any 1944 nickel without a mint mark above Monticello is either a Henning counterfeit or has had a mint mark tooled off. Neither state produces a valuable coin. Grading services will not certify a Henning counterfeit as a genuine Jefferson nickel. The pieces do carry a small niche following as documented numismatic counterfeits, but the market for them is thin.

When professional grading is worth the fee

Grading has a per-coin fee that varies by service and turnaround tier. Submitting a common circulated Jefferson nickel worth less than the fee is a losing math. Grading is worth the cost only when the potential upside on the certified grade beats the submission cost.

Grading pays off in a small number of situations. A candidate key date like 1939-D, 1939-S, or 1950-D deserves certification if the coin is Mint State or close to it. A candidate for the Full Steps designation on any date deserves grading if the strike is truly sharp on the reverse steps.

A suspected 1943/2-P overdate deserves grading if the die marker is present. A Mint State common date with pristine surfaces may be worth grading for the population report if the color and eye appeal are strong.

For most household finds, the honest answer is that a grading submission will cost more than the certified coin is worth. Sell circulated common dates in bulk to a local coin dealer or at a coin club show. Save grading dollars for coins with documented upside.

Buyers looking at inherited retirement holdings sometimes ask whether coins can go into a retirement account. Circulating collectibles like Jefferson nickels are not IRA-eligible under Internal Revenue Code section 408(m), which restricts precious metals in retirement accounts to specific bullion and coin classes. See our IRA-eligible gold coins list for the full framework on what the IRS allows.

What your Jefferson nickel is probably not

Jefferson nickel FAQ

By the Harry’s Coins Editorial team. Last reviewed August 2026.