1942 S Nickel, Non Silver - Does It Exist?

Although nothing is impossible, I find it highly improbable that any of these were struck legitimately by the mint.

There are several things that the 1942-s non silver found in 1961 could be. It could be a complete fake, an added mint-mark, or maybe even a Henning prototype that was never used.

No one truly knows whether there are any of these in existence, and without that coin available for reference, we are forced to conclude for the time being that non were struck. At least that's what the mint wants us to believe.

It seems so tantalizing, but you would think that some sort or confirming evidence would have shown up by now.

That was an interesting article. I often wondered what I would do if I stumbled on a rare coin like that. Would I sell it and live comfortably for the rest of my life or keep it for the prestige knowing that I am the only one who has one...decisions decisions...lol

How it came to exist seems obvious if real from the US Mint. The only question would be how it got out. I can see them testing the machines as part of routine maintenance. When they are going that fast at those pressures, the last thing you want is someone standing near when a gear beaks or a belt that can fly off an hit an employee. Maybe calibrating a new machine. Plausible that the wrong dies were used or jsut any found laying around to test the press.

The only question is how did it leave the mint? Did it occur during the war and was overlooked during an evacuation where security said for people to just "GET OUT" and that happened to be in someones pocket or hand?

If It turned up in my box of nickels I would probably put it in a baggy since my folder has no hole for it and forget about it for a few months until I go to sort the baggies of oddities and then ponder what to do with it all along forgeting about this thread or reading the article linked above.

I would think that when they make new dies, they mint a some coins to test it out. The machinist may have just taken his test pieces and tossed them in a bin of 1941 nickels not knowing that there would be a switch to silver.

I'd have to check Roger Burdette's book on the experimental coins of WWII but I always suspected this was the result of a test of the striking quality of the proposed alloy done at the Philadelphia mint. They just grabbed a pair of nickel dies and ran the test. One of them was a small mintmark S mint die. (Philadelphia made the dies for all the mints so the S mint dies would be on hand there.)

Another possibility would be a test piece made at San Francisco when they were testing to see what pressure setting they would need to strike the new composition and they simply used an old rev die.

"unknown collector" when it clearly states in the article I posted (first link when you type in 1942 S nickel non silver) the name of the guy..lol

See, but the thing is, it isn't slabbed though.

Which means the TPGs are not ready to call it genuine since the mint claims it never existed. And to prove that it's real would be next to impossible at this point.