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 Replies: 12 / Views: 688 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6449 Posts |
I have an accumulated pile of worn War Nickels that I was going to auction off individually on ebay. I would like to start the auctions at effectively the silver market value of the coins. That begs the question: What is the market silver melt value of a War Nickel? I would like to have a rule of thumb in the back of my mind, such as XYZ% of current melt or $ABC per $1FV. Is it analogous to 40% silver, like 7/8ths the value? |
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Moderator
 United States
187475 Posts |
It is 35% of the weight of a silver nickel, which is 5 grams. So, each one has 1.75 grams of silver. Find the value of sliver in grams—I use Kitco, it has all the weight values—multiple it times 1.75 times the number of nickels you have and Bob's your uncle.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5821 Posts |
Each War Nickel, being 35% silver, contains 0.0563 troy ounces of silver. So just multiply the current silver spot price by 0.0563. For example, right now silver is at $93.30/oz, so a War Nickel would be worth about $5.25. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2951 Posts |
 with the above, and if you really want to have fun with silver prices, I go to Google and type this: Melt on a silver dime... Brings up this: The NGC site on prices of American silver coinage, pretty handy all in one webpage. I also like this: Melt on a Canadian dime and I also go to the NGC webpage for common silver world coins current melt prices...  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
24878 Posts |
First, @Brand specifies worn War Nickels. Weigh them and multiply by 0.35 to get grams ASW. But selling them individually might be futile. Buyers will be considering the shipping costs, and adding 78 cents to the price of a single nickel would be a deterrent. Sell them in lots. Second, this calculator does US coins and precious metals, as well as coins from Canada, Mexico, UK, France, Australia, and New Zealand: https://www.silverrecyclers.com/Cal...culator.aspxInordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1747 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
187475 Posts |
Quote:I don't think you will get anywhere near spot for War Nickels. Never hurts to ask though. Speculators will be speculating.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
JM Bullion pays 40-45% of melt for War Nickels. I'd consider that the absolute floor. I'd recommend that you check ebay sold prices for War Nickel lots. It looks like a full roll has been selling for 150-200 lately, which is more like 80-90% of spot. Even after the 15% or so that you'll be paying in ebay fees, shipping, mailing materials, etc. you'll still be ahead of what JM Bullion is paying. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6449 Posts |
Quote:
Buyers will be considering the shipping costs, and adding 78 cents to the price of a single nickel would be a deterrent. Sell them in lots. The way I run my hole filler auctions, I charge $1.12 for the first coin and all additional coins are free. Quite a number of nickels will fit into a 3 oz ebay envelope, although silver coins might exceed the $50 insurance limit. It's a great point, though. Quote: JM Bullion pays 40-45% of melt for War Nickels. I'd consider that the absolute floor. That's more what I was expecting. Quote:
It looks like a full roll has been selling for 150-200 lately, which is more like 80-90% of spot. I find that really surprising, unless they are wholesale rolls of nice coins. The market seems to turn its nose up at War Nickels even more than 40% junk silver. |
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Moderator
Australia
16805 Posts |
War Nickels are particularly problematic for the people who would actually melt them down and try to turn them into refined silver ingots. The manganese in the War Nickel alloy is notoriously difficult to remove. This increased difficulty means increased cost to refine, which in turn means a lower price people will be prepared to pay for a source of scrap silver contaminated with manganese. Remember, the "true melt value" of a coin isn't the melt value of all the individual pure metal components - that may be what it originally cost the mint to manufacture the blank, but it's not what the scrap metal merchants will pay. The "true melt value" of a coin is the melt value of it's most valuable or abundant component (in this case, silver) minus the cost of removing all the other metals, which the refiner will consider to be contaminants and waste. If and when we invent hypercientific Star-Trek-like technology where we can put a piece of alloyed metal into a little black box, press a button, and it magically spits out little piles of purified components at little to no cost, then this rule will no longer apply.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
Quote:Quite a number of nickels will fit into a 3 oz ebay envelope, although silver coins might exceed the $50 insurance limit. You should be okay for a while. ebay rules limit a 3 oz standard envelope to no more than 5 raw coins. The $50 insurance (combined orders only, $20 for a single order) would be $10 per coin. Silver spot would have to be $177.77 for a War Nickel to have $10 of silver value. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6449 Posts |
Edited by Brandmeister
01/22/2026 09:32 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
613 Posts |
The easiest reference for world and US coins is the NGC Melt Value page. |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 688 |
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Posted 01/21/2026 1:00 pm
