1938–1945: Early minting; World War II changes Production of the Jefferson nickel began at all three mints (
Philadelphia,
Denver, and
San Francisco), on October 3, 1938. By mid-November, some twelve million had been coined, and they were officially released into circulation on November 15; more than thirty million would be struck in 1938. According to contemporary accounts, the Jefferson nickel was initially hoarded, and it was not until 1940 that it was commonly seen in circulation. In 1939, the Mint recut the hub for the nickel, sharpening the steps on Monticello, which had been fuzzy in initial strikings. Since then, a test for whether a nickel is particularly well struck has been whether all six steps appear clearly, with "full step" nickels more collectable. For specialty collectors this 1939 die change also created two varieties for all three mints and proof strikings that year, the "Reverse of 1938" and the "Reverse of 1940", the latter being more common for Philadelphia, scarcer for the other two mints. A 1940 proof with the 1938 reverse has also been discovered. , the mint mark of the part-silver "war nickels" appeared above the image of
Monticello.|alt=A silver coin with an image of Monticello in the middle. Text at the top says "E Pluribus Unum" and text on the bottom says "Monticello", "Five Cents" and "United States of America". With the entry of the United States into
World War II, nickel became a critical war material, and the Mint sought to reduce its use of the metal. On March 27, 1942, Congress authorized a nickel made of 50% copper and 50% silver, but gave the Mint the authority to vary the proportions, or add other metals, in the public interest. The Mint's greatest concern was in finding an alloy which would use no nickel, but still satisfy counterfeit detectors in vending machines. An alloy of 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese proved suitable, and this alloy began to be coined into nickels from October 1942. In the hopes of making them easy to sort out and withdraw after the war, the Mint struck all "war nickels" with a large mint mark appearing above Monticello. The mint mark P for Philadelphia was the first time that mint's mark had appeared on a US coin. The prewar composition and smaller mint mark (or no mint mark for Philadelphia) were resumed in 1946. In a 2000 article in
The Numismatist, Mark A. Benvenuto suggested that the amount of nickel saved by the switch was not significant to the war effort, but that the war nickel served as a ubiquitous reminder of the sacrifices that needed to be made for victory. Within the war nickel series, collectors recognize two additions, one official, the other counterfeit. Some 1943-P nickels are overdated. Here a die for the previous year was reused, allowing a "2" to be visible under the "3". In addition, a number of 1944 nickels are known without the large "P" mintmark. These were produced in 1954 by Francis LeRoy Henning, who also made counterfeit nickels with at least four other dates.
1946–2003: Later production of original designs When it became known that the Denver Mint had struck only 2,630,030 nickels in 1950, the coins (catalogued as 1950-D) began to be widely hoarded. Speculation in them increased in the early 1960s, but prices decreased sharply in 1964. Because they were so widely pulled from circulation, the 1950-D is readily available today. A number of reverse dies with an S mint mark, intended for the San Francisco Mint, were created in 1955; they were not used as that mint struck no nickels that year and subsequently closed, and the unused dies were sent for use at Denver, where the S mint mark was overpunched with a D.
Proof coins, struck at Philadelphia, had been minted for sale to collectors in 1938 and continued through 1942. In the latter year, proofs were struck in both the regular and "war nickel" compositions, after which they were discontinued. Sales of proof coins began again in 1950 and continued until 1964, when their striking was discontinued during the coin shortage. In 1966 a small change was made to the design to add the initials of the designer (FS) to the obverse, underneath Jefferson's portrait. In commemoration of that change, two proof 1966 nickels with the initials were struck and presented to him. Special mint sets, of lower quality than proof coins, were struck from 1965 to 1967. Proof coin sales resumed in 1968, with coins struck at the reopened San Francisco facility. Coins struck at any mint between 1965 and 1967 lack mint marks. Beginning in 1968, mint marks were again used, but were moved to the lower part of the obverse, to the right of Jefferson's bust. No nickels were produced in Philadelphia in 1968, 1969 or 1970, and so there are no nickels from these years bearing the P mint mark. From 1971, no nickels were struck for circulation in San Francisco—the 1971-S was the first nickel struck in proof only since 1878. In both 1994 and 1997 matte proof nickels, with distinctive grainy surfaces, were struck in small numbers at the Philadelphia mint for inclusion in
commemorative coin sets. During the late twentieth century the Mint repeatedly modified the design. In 1982, the steps were sharpened in that year's redesign. The 1987 modification saw the sharpening of Jefferson's hair and the details of Monticello—since 1987, well-struck nickels with six full steps on the reverse have been relatively common. In 1993, Jefferson's hair was again sharpened.
2003–present: Westward Journey nickel series; redesign of obverse struck for Jefferson served as the basis of one of the Westward Journey designs|alt=A bronze coin depicting a handshake with an axe and pipe crossed above it. "Peace and friendship" are written in text. In June 2002, Mint officials were interested in redesigning the nickel in honor of the upcoming bicentennial of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition. They contacted the office of Representative
Eric Cantor (
Republican-
Virginia). Cantor had concerns about moving Monticello, located in his home state, off the nickel, and sponsored legislation which would allow the Mint to strike different designs in 2003, 2004, and 2005, and again depict Monticello beginning in 2006. Plans to include an uncirculated 2020-W nickel in the annual uncirculated coin set were abandoned due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 () was signed by President
Donald Trump on January 13, 2021. It provides for, among other things, special one-year designs for the circulating coinage in 2026, including the nickel, for the
United States Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary), with one of the designs to depict women. In 2024, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and the Commission of Fine Arts recommended a simple dual-dating of "1776~2026" for the nickel without further modifications to the reverse. The Mint affirmed this as the 1776–2026 nickel on December 11, 2025. ==See also==