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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
I have a rather odd story to relay, and I want to know what people think of this. I have a relative who was stationed at the Panama Canal during WW2. He was not a coin collector but swore that while there he used "Rectangular nickels with the Buffalo design on them." I have never heard of any sort of military issue of coin that would have looked like this, and It does not appear that Panama issued any rectangular coinage at that time. He swore that he brought a couple of them back to the states but has no idea where they are now. So does anyone know what these "rectangular nickels" were or what he mistook as a rectangular Buffalo nickel? This story has puzzled me for ages now. Thanks! |
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Moderator
 United States
16677 Posts |
archraz, that is very interesting. I will do some research. Let me know if you find out anything.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3499 Posts |
vermontensium- unfortunately I'm not sure that I really will be able to get any more info than that. He has sworn for a decade now (since the first time that he told me about them) that they were "rectangular Buffalo nickels." I'm not sure if there are any witnesses to the coins that he brought back, but I'm not sure that the witnesses would even remember now. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Fascinating story! I doubt anyone mistook a regular nickel for a rectangular one.  Did you say he brought some of these back? (Ah--I did not read closely) Edited by KurtS
07/20/2008 1:47 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
KurtS- yes he did! But after 60 years they are nowhere to be found. I'm not sure how many he brought back though.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
UPDATE: I talked to this relative of mine just a bit ago. He said that he still believes that they were US issue and that some were SQUARE and others were rectangular. In addition, his brother in law also remembers using them while stationed in the Panama Canal. And a coworker once showed one to my relative and said that he too picked it up during WW2 in Panama. So there are definitely 3 people who saw them and used them.
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Rest in Peace
United States
1943 Posts |
I would suggest looking through a token book to see if US tokens of this type were issue around this time period.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
pyrbob- hmmm any token books that you'd recommend?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1666 Posts |
You said some were more square and some more rectangular. If the shape is inconsistent it's a possibility that someone took a batch of regular nickels and mechanicaly altered the shape.
Edited by Numismat
07/20/2008 7:01 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Numismat- well the shape is just what he claims. I'm not sure if he remembers if they were rectangular or square. As for the reshaping of regular nickels, why would they bother to do that?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1840 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
snowman- thanks for the tip!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1666 Posts |
I guess it doesn't make sense for someone to reshape a large quantity of nickels, unless they specifically wanted to discern them from regular circulation strikes for a specific purpose (like token currency in a foreign land). But you are right that it's not all that practical.
If it's something that circulated on a US military base I would assume it to be of US origin. Did Panama have a series for the soldiers?
Edited by Numismat
07/20/2008 8:44 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Hmm, well I have scoured the site linked to me by snowman, but I see no issues for US soldiers during WWII that look to be square or rectangular. Now I'm a bit stumped.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
My suspicion is they were carved by bored soldiers with lots of spare time on their hands. Coins are popular subjects for "trench art".
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Member
United States
3242 Posts |
KustS have you been in a war zone?
I was the only thing I carved was a few fox holes
as for the Buffalo they were paper coin army scrip not coins
Edited by amac44
07/21/2008 09:48 am
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Replies: 24 / Views: 2,360 |
Posted 07/20/2008 04:01 am
