1941s nickel

[VanBenjamin]

Ah, the 1941-S Jefferson nickel! A genuine classic from the year right before America's piggy banks were raided for the war effort. This little five-cent piece hails from the esteemed San Francisco Mint, which you can tell by the fetching little "S" mint mark located on the reverse, to the right of Monticello.

This coin is a bit of a last hurrah for the standard pre-war nickel. It's made of the usual 75% copper and 25% nickel alloy. Just a year later, nickel became a critical war material, and the composition was famously changed to include silver, creating the "war nickels." So, your 1941-S is one of the final specimens of its kind before things got complicated.

As for its value, don't book a tropical vacation just yet. As one seller suggests, a circulated version might fetch you a few dollars, which is a handsome return on a five-cent investment, to be fair. It's a desirable and familiar coin for collectors, but with a mintage of nearly 33 million, they aren't impossibly rare. However, if you find one in pristine, uncirculated condition with all the steps of Monticello perfectly struck, then you might be able to afford a slightly nicer dinner.