Identification Of Non-Silver Nickels In Lot Of War Nickels Question

My understanding is that ALL 1943 nickels contain 35% silver.

I am with fplagge. I too have never heard of this, but I don;t really follow US coins much.

I wouldn't waste my time or money on this endeavor, but I agree that only XRF is going to help much here, I doubt any kind of DIY SG measurement is going to be precise enough (though I am curious about the reference you found that cited the difference in SG)..

Where did you read this information? can you post up a link to it?

The only nickel I know of that was 'issued' was the Henning counterfeit nickel but that one did not have the large MM above the dome, and that was made in the 1950's and back dated. I don't think Henning used any silver in his coins.

Thank you for all the tips and information. My source: According to the Coin World Almanac, Eighth Edition, the specific gravity of a copper nickel 5 cent is 8.92, while the specific gravity of a wartime alloy nickel is 9.25.

Ah ok, your looking for the very rare transitional errors which may still have the large mint mark but is on the wrong planchet. Some info on specific gravity as its not generally discussed much since its advanced but can be helpful when weight alone does not give all the answers if your able to do it yourself following these instructions.
https://coinsblog.ws/2016/06/detect...gravity.html ANACS senior numismatist Michael Fahey said graders relied on the 40 percent silver 1971-D Kennedy half coin's specific gravity in making the silver-copper clad determination as an example if you cannot do it yourself you can send to anacs which is less if your unsure and just want to check some of them, or PCGS. https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-c...-silver.html

Otherwise for that specific one when you look at 1943-p Jefferson nickels. look for a coin with the color of a nickel minted after 1945 if its not a silver planchet. Circulated War Nickels appear much darker and grayer in color than regular nickels. Some of these silver nickels also have a fairly streaky toning pattern — caused by the particular metallic composition and how it reacts to the effects of heat, perspiration, and other environmental factors. The color difference on uncirculated versions of the copper-nickel and 35% silver nickels is flipped — Mint State silver nickels usually appear much whiter in color than the copper-nickel specimens do. There is also the sound difference in the two but you mentioned you could not use that for some reason. The value is high for these errors so if your pretty sure its probably worth to send in to have it evaluated in that case. Theres 4 of those kind of errors mentioned in the Strike it rich with pocket change 5th edition book by the way to look for, one has an error in the book where it mentions a denver coin but then says to look at philadelphia coins, some proofreading error in the book text. Of course it mentions others you could look for at the same time for those War Nickels. I'd have to check my notes if the others I have notes on are the same ones in the book or not. Hope you find one, few look at those for errors so they would be out there just waiting to be found by someone like you.

Thanks @datatdragon. I have one that I soaked forever in acetone and the streaks remain ( lol ). I figured something bad had happened to it.

I have bought some of these recently ( 42-45 )and am amazed as to the sharpness and luster of these years. I have a 45 S that I would love to have graded , maybe one day.

Excellent. Yes, usually its just learning the information first or knowing where to look it up when needed, and then having the opportunity such as having those coins available to search. There are many stories out there of people who just said I just happened to read this book or website or watched a video seeing that this exists then I looked. One thing is certain if you dont know the info or dont look your sure not to find anything :)




Good luck on the grading if the graded values are higher than the cost to grade of course. The silver nickels were easy to spot when freshly minted because they had a dazzling brilliant finish on them that was whiter in appearance than regular nickels and often with sharp striking of the details. However, with time the finish tarnished and toned, often becoming a dull grey and less attractive, which also happened with the 1943 steel pennies made for the war effort too. So you have some great examples worth good money and the typical not so great ones but at least here those are silver.