Jefferson Nickel:

The Jefferson Nickel was introduced the same year that the Buffalo Nickel ended – 1938. Felix Schlag, a German sculptor, immigrated to the United States and won the competition to design the new nickel. His obverse design had a portrait of President Thomas Jefferson facing left with the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” on the left side and “LIBERTY” and the date separated by a star on the right. The reverse had a depiction of Monticello in the center with “E PLURIBUS UNUM” above it and “MONTICELLO” below it. The denomination “FIVE CENTS” was below that and “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” was displayed at the bottom.

The composition was unchanged from the prior Buffalo Nickel at .750 Copper and .250 Nickel. From 1940 to the 1942, the Mint struck tens to hundreds of millions of these coins. But in October of 1942, Nickel was declared as a “necessary and needed wartime material” and the composition of the coin was changed to .560 Copper, .350 Silver and 0.90 Manganese.

To be able to identify these new coins, a mintmark was used for the first time. The letter “P” for coins struck in Philadelphia was placed on these coins over Monticello for easy identification. The designs remained unchanged for decades.

In 2004 and 2005 to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, the coins were redesigned on the obverse with a stylized portrait of Jefferson on the obverse and 4 completely new designs on the reverses. The coins minted in 2006 to date kept the stylized obverse portrait of Jefferson but returned to the same reverse first used in 1938, In 2004 and 2005 to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, the coins were redesigned on the obverse with a stylized portrait of Jefferson on the obverse and 4 completely new designs on the reverses. The coins minted in 2006 to date kept the stylized obverse portrait of Jefferson but returned to the same reverse first used in 1938, making the Jefferson Nickel one of the easier and more popular sets of US coins to complete.