1971-S Jefferson Nickel : History & Value

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
 

By late 1970, the Jefferson Nickel Proof grasp dies had grow to be severely worn and lacked wonderful element. To appropriate the difficulty, the United States Mint got down to create new masters to revive Felix Schlag’s iconic design. In the course of the Mint’s re-engraving course of, each Thomas Jefferson’s portrait and the reverse picture of Monticello have been touched up. The Mint additionally strengthened the design by widening the rim barely. On account of this recutting and redesigning, the 1971-S nickel has numerous varieties. The obverse has one named ODV-021, the place the “TR” in belief is barely thinner than regular. For the reverse, there are two varieties: RDV-005 and RDV-006. These RDVs consult with the redesigned Monticello. On RDV-005, the rooftop railings of Monticello are thought-about low aid, whereas on the 006 they’re much stronger.

In keeping with Selection Vista, some of the complete databases of coin varieties, there are 10 DDOs and 34 DDRs for the San Francisco Mint alone. In 1953, 1954, and from 1968-1973, the mint used the Tall model (MMS-005) mintmark. After ’73, the Mint returned to the MMS-002 or “Trumpet Tail”-style mintmark.

Beginning in 1971, San Francisco stopped producing nickels for common circulation. Within the second version of A Guidebook of Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels (2017), Q. David Bowers states that the 1971-S was the primary San Francisco five-cent piece since 1878 to be struck in Proof end solely. All different intervening points had a circulation strike part. Since 1971, all nickels struck in San Francisco have been Proofs.

As a consequence of large mintages, rarity in trendy cash is often a byproduct of situation, selection, or mint error. One such instance is the 1971 “No S” Jefferson Nickel, a regular Proof 1971 nickel in all however a technique: it lacks the “S” mintmark. Whereas the San Francisco Mint did strike the cash, the Philadelphia Mint was answerable for producing the dies. By mistake, they despatched an incomplete die that was used briefly till the error was found. “No S” nickels are the one examples in the whole sequence with out the correct mintmark and Mint officers estimate that 1,655 examples have been by chance launched as a part of the 1971 Proof Units that 12 months.

What Is the 1971-S Jefferson Nickel Value?

Whereas the overwhelming majority of 1971-S nickels are price no various cents over face worth, examples in greater grades do promote for extra. The standard coin present in an undisturbed Proof Set will grade between PR65 and PR67. Free Proof cash that may grade as much as about PR65 at knowledgeable service like CACG, NGC, or PCGS routinely promote for between 50¢ and $1. Higher-grade Proofs promote for barely extra. A spate of latest eBay gross sales reveals costs of $5 being typical for licensed examples in PR69. Thus far, NGC has not graded a single 1971-S nickel Proof 70. PCGS has reported only one instance at this stage.

The “No S” error sort, nonetheless, is rather more invaluable, with even low-grade examples price upwards of $700 to $800. Increased-grade examples, between PR67 and PR68+, often hammer for $1,000 to $1,500. An NGC-graded PR69 even introduced in a document $2,070 within the January 2012 Heritage FUN Signature Public sale.

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Market Knowledge and Noteworthy Specimens

Prime Inhabitants: PCGS PR70 (1, 2/2025), NGC PF69UCAM (181, 2/2025), and CAC N/A (, 2/2025).

• PCGS PR69DCAM #84188562: eBay, February 6, 2025 – $129.95.
• NGC PF69UCAM #3567233-073: eBay, January 31, 2025 – $115.55.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #48850688: GreatCollections, August 25, 2024, Lot 1640864 – View.
• NGC PF69UCAM #3567233-121: Heritage, Might 9, 2023, Lot 23369 – $69.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #15578152: “MKJ Assortment,” Heritage, June 8, 2013, Lot 7577 – $1,527.50; “The George “Buddy” Byers Buckeye Assortment,” Stack’s Bowers, August 16, 2021, Lot 2177 – $132.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #42290639: DLRC, August 8, 2021, Lot 5040 – $100.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #14527982: “The Maltese Assortment,” Heritage, October 20, 2020, Lot 25452 – $99.
• NGC PF69UCAM #3567233-104: Heritage, June 30, 2020, Lot 21083 – $84.
• NGC PF69UCAM #3567233-080: Heritage, June 30, 2020, Lot 21082 – $84.
• NGC PF69UCAM #3567233-049: Heritage, June 30, 2020, Lot 21081 – $84.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #21789868: “Steve Strom Assortment,” Heritage, November 5, 2017, Lot 21108 – $79. Steve Strom Assortment on label.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #30745465: Heritage, April 16, 2017, Lot 25076 – $99.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #15578144: Heritage, August 9, 2017, Lot 23742 – $188.
• NGC PF69UCAM #3567233-039: Heritage, Might 24, 2016, Lot 27655 – $223.25.
• PCGS PR69DCAM #09207360: Heritage, September 28, 2013, Lot 7567 – $705.

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Design

Obverse:

A left-facing bust of President Thomas Jefferson, together with a colonial-era pigtail and strikingly related intimately to the profile of Jean-Antoine Houdon’s 1789 bust, takes up many of the obverse. The highest of his head virtually touches the rim, and the barest of truncations is seen on the backside the place Jefferson’s left shoulder meets the sting of the coin. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST arcs clockwise alongside many of the size of the left aspect of the coin, ranging from Jefferson’s chest and increasing to his hairline. The phrase LIBERTY and the date 1971 run clockwise alongside the suitable aspect behind Jefferson. A small five-pointed star divides the 2 inscriptions. A small S mintmark seems on the backside proper of Jefferson’s portrait.

Reverse:

The reverse includes a entrance view of Monticello, Jefferson’s mansion close to Charlottesville, Virginia. The polymath Jefferson designed the neoclassical constructing himself, based mostly on architectural rules from the Italian Renaissance; the identify “Monticello” comes from the Italian for “mound” or “little mountain”. The constructing loses a lot of its dimensionality within the flattened rendering, however the octagonal nature of the dome can nonetheless be interpreted, and higher strikes reveal vital element within the steps and portico.

Atop the reverse is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM (“Out of Many, One”). The identify MONTICELLO–the position of which on the coin was one of many revisions compelled upon designer Felix Schlag by the Mint–is present in a straight line instantly below the constructing; the positions and spacing of the opposite inscriptions needed to be adjusted to make room for it. The denomination FIVE CENTS varieties a gently curving line beneath that, and the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA runs counterclockwise alongside the underside fringe of the coin.

Apparently, Schlag’s initials didn’t seem on a Jefferson nickel till 1966.

Edge:

The sting of the 1971-S Jefferson Nickel is obvious or easy, as it’s on all Jefferson Nickels.

Designer

Felix Schlag was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1891. After receiving an schooling on the Munich College of Tremendous Arts, he moved to america in 1929. Schlag died in 1974. But whereas he did win quite a few artwork contests and commissions all through a lot of the rest of his life, the Jefferson Nickel was his solely coin design.

Coin Specs

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