From the late 1930s through the mid 1950s the Denver Mint had produced the most consistently well made coins, but increasing numbers in the late 1950s brought this serendipitous situation to a rapid decline. Attractive 1959 D nickels may be found with very careful searching, but all Denver Mint nickels of the 1960s are of noticeably lesser quality. The very low population of 5FS nickels for 1959 D is quite telling.
Just a few, very minor RPMs are known for this issue.
Mintage:
| Philadelphia | Denver | Proof |
| 28,397,291 | 160,738,240 | 1,149,291 |