1948-S 5C, FS MS66FS Certification #60020171, PCGS #84036

This coin is the second coin that was part of the Monticello Collection offered by DLRC in May 2010 with the 1938 being the first. There is actually a curious story behind my bid on this coin. With a few days left in the auction, a high end coin collector e-mailed me asking about the Monticello Collection. This collector is in the top ten in total points in the NGC registry He told me that he considered me a connoisseur of Jefferson Nickels and wanted my opinion of the collection. He also stated that he was not bidding but was curious about what I thought. I told him that the collection had some real winners and some dogs. I also told him that I considered the steal of the entire auction this 1948-S. If you look closely at the very poor DLRC scan, you will notice hints of color on the obverse of the coin. Based on experience, I knew that this coin most likely had beautiful pastel iridescent rainbow toning. Fortunately, the terrible DLRC scan ensured that I would not have to pay a premium price for the toning and ended up paying 60% of PCGS Price Guide.

Jaime Hernandez

The 1948-S Jefferson Nickel has one of the lower mintages in the series. In circulated grades up to MS65 condition this issue is very common. In MS66 condition they become scarce but still thousands are available with many of them being raw. In MS67 condition there are less than a few dozen known. And in MS67 with the Full Steps designation they are very scarce with about a handful known.