Despite a relatively low mintage, this issue is plentiful in Mint State from rolls squirreled away at the time. This practice was widespread among collectors, and S-Mint coins were sought in particular.
Fully struck coins are scarce, those having either 5FS or 6FS being genuinely rare. The luster on 1949 S nickels is generally pleasing, frequent re-polishing of the dies to remove erosion lines often giving them smooth fields with isolated hot spots of over-polishing. Far more rare are fully proof-like coins, but these are known for most dates of S-Mint nickels from the late 1940s. Such surfaces are typically accompanied by raised polishing lines.
A number of S/S varieties are known, all of them of little interest to general collectors of this series.
Mintage:
| Philadelphia | Denver | San Francisco |
| 60,652,000 | 36,498,000 | 9,716,000 |