The Philadelphia Mint focused primarily on 1964-dated coins during 1965, and just 972,000 nickels bearing the 1965 date were actually struck during that year. The majority of this date's nickel production occurred in 1966, with Philadelphia contributing only 11,468,000 that year. To further combat the coin shortage then ongoing, all mintmarks were omitted through 1967, and Denver struck 82,291,380 1965 nickels during 1966. San Francisco added 41,400,000 more, all of them anonymous.
The suspension of proof sets and regular Uncirculated sets during 1965-67 left collectors frustrated, and the U. S. Mint devised an alternative that combined the two. Polished dies were combined with regular planchets and presses to produce this hybrid product labeled a Special Mint Set. These were produced at the San Francisco Assay Office, and all the 1965-dated sets were actually struck during the early months of 1966.
Like the proofs of 1950, the 1965 SMS nickels are known with either satiny or fully prooflike fields. Both versions are fairly common in gem condition, though they rarely attain the very high grades of the 1964 proofs. Cameo and Ultra Cameo coins are also more rare than for true proofs of the years immediately preceding.
Mintage:
| Philadelphia | Special Mint Set |
| 136,131,380 | 2,360,000 |