On Saturday morning, I went to get breakfast. When I received my change from the cashier, one coin was a 2010-P Dime, and the other was a 1944-D War Nickel! That was the first War Nickel that I have ever found in change! Pics to follow later...
I used to find 'em here and there in my dads change back in the early to mid '90's when I was a kid. Nice find, congrats. The '43-D eludes me through several thousand in Nickels searched, ugh.
Just picked up the same in my wife's change, plus a 1943-S Washington quarter. I'm not quite sure why there seems to be so much silver floating around recently (four '64 Kennedy's plus sixteen 40% Kennedy's from $54 worth of halves from the local bank).
With the terrible economy, more people are spending old coins. Pick your hypothetical scenarios.... Timmy the Teenager wants a soda and can't find a job, so he steals from Dad's stash of old dimes. Tanya the Tweaker needs a fix, so she "borrows" her roommate's 1964 Kennedy halves. Some of these are quickly removed from circulation. Some stay in circulation long enough for you find them. I found a bunch...and I do mean a bunch...of mostly foreign coins in the reject bin of a Coinstar machine a few weeks ago. Within that batch was a 1960 Roosevelt dime. I gave it to my daughter who, at six, understands that silver is special.
Could be a combination of things-- People who were hoarding silver coins in the '60s have died and their heirs just think the silver coins are regular junk metal coins. (I've actually come across quite a few people on the Internet who refuse to believe that a pre-1965 dime, quarter or half has any value above its face value ) Kids raiding Dad's coin collection. Thieves raiding Dad's coin collection.
I live in a tiny town, 1 food market, 1 drug store, 1 gas station and not much more but there are a bunch of war nickles around this week. My neighbor has found at least 10, a friend 6 and myself 2 in the last week. Love to find out who is cashing rolls in and head them off at the pass.
44-D is the only one that has escaped me from circulation so far. Haven't found any in a good 6 months or more. Silver in circulation in general has been staying on the down low lately.
I am a collector who can't afford to buy coins very often. Instead I focus almost entirely on loose change, looking for older coins and errors. I find older nickels to be the most common, or consistent, find in my change. I ALWAYS look forward to searching the nickel pile, and reserve it for last ...just 'cause I KNOW I'm gonna find something! P.S. - I have collected more older nickels than I can count, quite a few of the WWII issues in there, but wanted to add: Nice Find !!!
Afterthought: After re-reading all the other comments ...I think I'll go find some super-cheap items to buy, something I'll get a lot of change from ...and see if I can find some more treasure! (laughs)
I have a '43-P that I picked up somewhere along the way, either in change or roll searching... I didn't realize at the time what it was but just kept it for my nickel collection.
Oldest Nickel I've found in my change was a dateless buffalo. Never a wartime nickel though. Nice find.
I've only found 1 war nickel in circ or rolls. I think it was a 44-P? Just last week, I found a 1913 wheat cent. It looked barely circulated. I was surprised so kinda wondering where it spent most of it's 98 years sitting unused? And last year, I made my thread about going to a coffee store and walking out with SIX silver quarters I got in change . I did am happy dance to my car that day http://www.cointalk.com/t132254/ Been a few months since I found silver. Still do, but mostly I find wheaties and the occasional 40's nickel (not war though)
I average about one war nickel for every box ($100) of nickels I search. I also usually find several non-silver forties, and once in about every two boxes a '38 or '39. i've had the best luck searching nickel boxes for silver because not everyone knows about the 35% silver nickels. The first box I went through I found a 1938 in uncirculated condition! what a find. This story kills me. I had searched through $500 in nickels or so and found no buffaloes. My girlfriend asked if she could go through a couple rolls, so I threw her three and said she could keep anything she found. First roll, she yells "Buffalo Nickel!" I looked, and it was one of the new ones I said that's not a buffalo nickel. On the third roll, once again I hear "Buffalo Nickel!" I said yeah right. Sure enough, she had a buffalo nickel with a nice full date on it. I thought she was tricking me and had taken one out of my collection. So, it's in her piggy bank (reserved for old coins), and I still have yet to find a buffalo nickel in circulation. Rats.
Last winter I found a 1945-S nickel on the floor of a local store. I haven't found one in actual change in years, though.