Found a nickel! posted by Scott Gardener

[CSJournals-migration]

In a bit of nostalgia, a 20-year-old hole in my coin folder is filled.

 

Yesterday I received in change a rather worn-looking nickel, heavily circulated, its appearance indicative of having been in circulation a long time. I found its date to be 1951. To think, this coin was minted 59 years ago; back when segregation was legal and politicians actually used racist words in campaign speeches; when Poland and Russia were Communist and Germany split into pieces in the aftermath of World War II; and when black-and-white television was bleeding-edge technology and most people listened to the radio. Just think about what that coin has been through! This morning, I was about to drop it back into circulation yet again, another brief stop on its odyssey, when I decided to look at an old Jefferson nickel coin album I have laying around. Sure enough, the spot for 1951 (Philadelphia) was empty. I have not added coins to that album since maybe 1996, and I've even taken out two in recent times with the idea of getting them certified. But, I added this morning to one of my oldest running coin sets, a collection I started in childhood, pulling coins straight out of circulation.