Key Date Jeffersons confuse me

I picked up 6 customer wrapped rolls of nickels when I was cashing my xmas bonus yesterday. Excited to have some customer rolls I immediately tore into them. Nothing great, filled a couple holes in my folders and found a 1941, well worn, and about a half dozen from the 50's

But, I have a spreadsheet that I reference with a list of key, semi-key, and "better" dates. I have listed 1964 and 1964-D as key dates. I've found several references that list these as key days but holy hell they made over a billion of these coins.

I'm just curious if anyone knows WHY they are listed that way by so many places. I'm not saving them aside, they turn up almost as much as modern nickels.

 

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Here is a checklist if you need one.
collectors-checklist-jefferson-nickels.pdf (libertycoinservice.com)

 

Here is another link that might help:
Jefferson Nickel Rare Dates and Die Varieties - Appraising Your Coin Collection | CoinCommunity.com

 

64 should not be in the mix. 39 and 50D are probably the most sought after. Followed by the 38D with full steps.

 

Oh thanks, I haven't seen this one before

 

Kind of what I thought, i don't get why so many places list it as a key date.

 

I wouldn’t use any source that credits the most common Nickel as a key date.

 

Found it.
The page says the 64 mirror brockage and SMS make them a key date for collectors. These are pipe dreams for most collectors IMO.
The 11 Most Valuable Jefferson Nickels & Key Dates 2023 - Goldpae

 

For business strike nickels the 1964 and the 1964-D are extremely common. Don’t confuse business strikes with any other strikes.

 

I remember in the 1970's there was a magic trick where you could ask someone to take a nickel out of their pocket, then you would stare out into space and tell them it was a 1964! That's how common they were/are

 

Well, hence my confusion. haha, I knew they were super common so I figured I was missing something.

Here's a couple of the sources, some of which I found the links here.
https://www.coincollecting.com/modern-jefferson-nickels
https://cointrackers.com/jefferson-nickel-key-dates/

There was at least one more but I can't find it now.

 

GOOD QUESTION. I’m going to guess they used the hell out of the dies causing very few early strike dies.

 

I don't do much with nickels but I shot for the best "key date" I could find for my type set... the 1950 d 5fs Not quite toppop but the 67 adds an extra 2 0s to the price lol

 

Generally the 1938 and 1939 Jefferson Nickels with min marks and the 1950-D are considered to be the key and semi key dates. The rest are viewed as common. Of course “full steps”, which has never interested me, is where the big bucks are for certain dates.

 

I remember when the top grade was BU and everyone was happy with them.