By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
The Jefferson Nickel entered into its forty fourth yr of manufacturing in 1982, its 14th yr of getting mintmarks positioned on the obverse, and the third yr wherein the Philadelphia Mint denoted its strikings with a “P” mintmark on the obverse.
The United States Mint took a two-year hiatus on manufacturing U.S. Mint Uncirculated Coin Units beginning in 1982, which implies that almost each Uncirculated coin produced by the Mint in ’82 or ’83 survives as a result of collectors set these cash apart after they entered into commerce. There are a number of exceptions to this rule and people are cash that the Mint pulled from manufacturing to package deal into Memento Units that had been bought on the Philadelphia and Denver department mints.
In whole, Philadelphia struck 292,355,000 nickels in 1982. With such a big mintage, there isn’t a method to know with certitude the variety of cash that survive in Mint State. We are able to mannequin a guess, nevertheless, based mostly on the variety of United States Mint Uncirculated Units that had been bought in 1981 and 1984 (the yr this system was introduced again). In 1981, the Mint bought 2,908,415 units. These units included what was on the time considered the final of the Susan B. Anthony Greenback cash. In 1984, when Uncirculated Set manufacturing resumed, the Mint bought only one,832,857 units. It’s affordable to imagine that had the Mint supplied units on the market in 1982, that demand would have fallen between these two figures and that the annual Mint Set manufacturing quantity would function a baseline for what number of Mint Set cash possible survive.
With no units supplied on the market, the Federal Authorities must have a stockpile of thousands and thousands of uncirculated 1982-P Jefferson Nickels (extremely unlikely) or speculators would have needed to maintain again thousands and thousands of cash instantly upon launch. There isn’t any doubt that speculators and sellers did market 1982 and 1983 cash to collectors on the premise that these units weren’t made. Nonetheless, it’s unlikely that two to a few million cash of every denomination and mintmark had been held again for this goal.
A extra possible inhabitants of extant 1982-P Uncs would have that whole within the a whole lot of hundreds, with a minority of them (maybe 20 to 30 thousand) in grades approaching Gem.
Issues to Know Earlier than You Purchase or Promote a 1982-P Jefferson Nickel
In circulated grades, the 1982-P Jefferson Nickel is price 5 cents and you may nonetheless discover them in circulation. Regardless, some collectors are prepared to pay premiums for flippantly circulated examples. We have now seen XF and AU 1982-P nickels promoting on eBay for about $1.50 every. This looks like an inexpensive valuation.
Licensed 1982-P nickels graded by PCGS and NGC commerce for increased costs. The best licensed instance graded by PCGS on the time of publication of this text is graded MS67+ with Full Steps. NGC applies two Full Step designations, one for cash that exhibit 5 full steps and one other for cash that exhibit six full steps. Thus far, NGC has licensed one coin as MS67+ 5FS, and 4 cash as MS65 6FS. These grades are comparatively current, because the main nickel collections by means of the 2010s didn’t comprise 1982-P Jefferson Nickels with grades increased than MS66FS. No new prime pop Jefferson Nickels have been licensed by the main companies inside the previous six months.
Incomes Full Steps Designation
To earn the designation of Full Steps, a Jefferson nickel should meet the next standards:
On this graphic, you see that the steps are situated on the design between the stylobate (a flat pavement part on which relaxation the 4 entrance columns of the design) and the muse block on the base of the steps. Components resembling die situation, putting strain, and incidental contact with different cash play a major consider whether or not a Jefferson Nickel will earn the Full Steps designation.
1982-P Jefferson Nickels in MS67FS have traded lately for costs between $1,500 and $4,000. Evidently the development is downward as sometimes occurs to widespread cash which might be “conditionally uncommon” in excessive grades.
A toned PCGS MS67+FS coin has “traded palms” twice prior to now yr, realizing over $6,000 at a March 2023 GreatCollections sale earlier than doubling that quantity two months later at Heritage. The shut proximity of the 2 gross sales as and wild swing in value leads us to induce collectors to be cautious when decoding the info. The coin, properly toned for a nickel, is one among three to date licensed by PCGS.
Judging the longer term market ranges for the 1982-P Jefferson Nickel in Very good Gem with Full Steps is troublesome, however high-grade Full Steps nickels owe a lot of their premiums to Set Registry contributors, whereas non-Full Step cash, even in excessive grade, are clearly not as fascinating to this demographic. The problem of finishing a Jefferson Nickel Full Steps set is unbelievably excessive, with a number of key points and no less than one coin that we’d establish as a “stopper”.
In case you are the form of collector that simply desires to construct a pleasant set of Jefferson Nickels, you may ignore the FS designation and buy a pleasant MS65 or MS66 licensed instance of this date for roughly the identical value as you’ll get for a Alternative Uncirculated instance supplied in a 2″ x 2″ flip by your native vendor. In our opinion, that is the best way to go.
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1982-P Jefferson Nickel Market Knowledge and Noteworthy Specimens
High Inhabitants: PCGS MS67+FS (3, 12/2024), NGC MS67+5FS (1, 12/2024), and CAC N/A (0, 12/2024).
- PCGS MS67+FS #46401051: GreatCollections, March 5, 2023, Lot 1149166 – $6,019.88; Heritage Auctions, Could 4, 2023, Lot 3705 – $12,600. Sea foam firming with shimmering gold and orange. Diagonal mark on Jefferson’s collar. On the reverse, there’s a small mark above RI.
- PCGS MS67FS #45848022: GreatCollections, September 25, 2022, Lot 1136545 – View; Heritage Auctions, Could 6, 2024, Lot 53118 – $3,120.
- PCGS MS67FS #47352719: GreatCollections, September 24, 2023, Lot 1381373 – View.
- PCGS MS67FS #47970805: GreatCollections, August 20, 2023 Lot 1422333 – View.
- NGC MS67 5FS #6343560-005: GreatCollections, August 13, 2023, Lot 1136544 – View.
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Design
Obverse:
A left-facing bust of President Thomas Jefferson, together with a colonial-era pigtail and strikingly comparable intimately to the profile of Houdon’s 1789 bust, takes up the vast majority of the obverse. The highest of his head nearly 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–which turned the nationwide motto in 1956–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 inscriptions LIBERTY and the date 1982 run clockwise alongside the suitable aspect behind Jefferson. A small five-pointed star divides the 2 inscriptions.
Reverse:
The reverse encompasses 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 title “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 title MONTICELLO–the location of which on the coin was one of many revisions compelled upon artist 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.
Edge:
The sting of the 1982-P Jefferson nickel is apparent or clean, with out reeding or edge lettering.
Designer
Felix Schlag was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1891. After receiving an training on the Munich College of Tremendous Arts, he moved to the United States 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
| Nation: | United States of America |
| Yr of Concern: | 1982 |
| Denomination: | 5 Cents (USD) |
| Mintmark: | P (Philadelphia) |
| Mintage: | 292,355,000 |
| Alloy: | .750 Copper, .250 Nickel |
| Weight: | 5.00 g |
| Diameter: | 21.21 mm |
| Edge: | Plain |
| OBV Designer: | Felix Schlag |
| REV Designer: | Felix Schlag |
| High quality: | Uncirculated |
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