1946-S

San Francisco's 1946 Jefferson nickel mintage was 13,560,000 coins, a substantial return to post-war copper-nickel production. The coin is common in all grades and readily available in Mint State. Strike characteristics are generally strong, and Full Steps examples exist in adequate numbers for specialist demand.

Collectors building complete Jefferson nickel sets acquire the 1946-S without difficulty. The coin marks the return to standard copper-nickel production at San Francisco after the Wartime Silver years. The small below-dome mintmark position replaced the large above-Monticello placement used during the Wartime Silver period, visually confirming the end of the wartime alloy experiment.

The 1946-S is typical of immediate postwar San Francisco Jefferson production. The facility continued producing coins through the demobilization and postwar adjustment period, though its output would eventually be reduced as the Mint shifted resources to other production priorities. By the early 1950s, San Francisco would stop producing circulating Jefferson nickels entirely, though the facility would return to Jefferson nickel proof production in later decades.