Silver Or Not?

a 1941-1945 nickels still in circulation?

Get yourself a Red Book.

Here's a somewhat random list of info about different denominations. This won't explain absolutely everything, but it may be a help.

CENTS (A.K.A. "Pennies")
1943- Steel, will stick to a magnet, silver in color. Contains NO actual silver. Not by any means rare, but neat to have, and needed for the 7070.
Wheat Heads- Any cent 1958 or older, keep. Needed for the 7070. Some are rare. Have wheat heads on the reverse.
Silver- There are NO silver Cents.
Large Cents- A Cent about as big as a Half Dollar, different kinds, all needed for the 7070.
Copper content- Any Small Cent pre-1982 is made of bronze, which in this case in 95% copper. With copper on the rise (now almost $4 a pound), keep them if you can. Large Cents have a slightly different composition, and are not the same rich bronze that old small cents are made of.

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5CN's and 5CS's (A.K.A. Nickels)
Copper content- The cupronickel clad for Jefferson nickels pre-1958 was rich in copper, keep them if you can.
Silver- The 5CS (A.K.A. the War Nickel) contained 35% silver and was made during years 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1945. In 7070.
Pre-Jefferson Nickels- Includes the Indian Head, Liberty Head, etc. Keep them, in 7070.

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Dimes
Silver- Any Roosevelt dime pre-1965 contains 90% silver. In 7070.
Mercury- Looks like a Roman goddess on the obverse, considerably rarer than the silver Roosevelt, but contain the same content (90%). In 7070.
Any other funny looking dime- Exactly what it says. Keep in mind that there were also Half Dimes (it actually said that on the coin until the name of the coin was changed to 'nickel'). Most are in 7070.

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Quarter Dollars
-Same with the pre-1965 thing.-
-Same thing with the 'funny looking' thing.-

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Half Dollars
-Jefferson Half Dollars-
1964 Jefferson Halves contain 90% silver, hence the nickname "90%ers".
1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1970 Jefferson Halves contain 40% silver, and are simply called 40%ers. These tend to tone beautifully.
-Funny Looking Halves-
Any Half Dollar other than a Jefferson contains silver.

Here are the silver bullion values of various silver coins. Remember the value of silver is constantly changing. At the time I am typing this, the silver bullion value is $17.88/oz. Net. Wt. is in Troy Ounces of .999 fine, and this figure never changes.

War Nickel (.350)
Net. Wt. 0.0563
Melt $1.01

Mercury dime (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.0723
Melt $1.29

Pre-1965 Roosevelt dime (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.0723
Melt $1.29

Pre-1965 Washington quarter Dollar (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.1808
Melt $3.23

Liberty Walking half dollar (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.3617
Melt $6.47

Franklin half dollar (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.3617
Melt $6.47

90%er Jefferson Half Dollar (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.3617
Melt $6.47

40%er Jefferson Half Dollar (.400)
Net. Wt. 0.1479
Melt $2.64

Morgan dollar (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.7734
Melt $13.83

Peace dollar (.900)
Net. Wt. 0.7734
Melt $13.83

Eisenhower dollar (.400)
Net. Wt. 0.3162
Melt $5.65

dont forget the capped bust gold series'
they have a few cents worth of silver in each of them. =p

7070 is an album for the US coin type set. Something every collector needs I think, someday i'll start mine