Improper Alloy Mix 1946 Jefferson

I recently found a 1946 Jefferson P(no mint mark) nickel with an improper alloy mix. Are these coins common?

 

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I can't open the PDF file. What makes you think it is an improper alloy mix?

Chris

 

Someone suggested it in a comment on my post on a different forum. I researched it a bit and found a photo of a coin identical to mine described as an improper alloy mix.

 

I know that some 1959 nickels turned out very dark "Black Beauty" due to an improper alloy mix and overheating of the planchets.

 

If it isn't an improper alloy mix, what could it be? It has beautiful red striations on both the obverse and reverse. I'll re upload the photo.

 

To be honest I have seen this on alot of Jefferson nickels I have always thought this to be due to circulation and it looks like yours has PMD as well.

 

Here is a link to the match I found on the web https://www.google.com/search?q=all...yYKHZBzA1IQgjYIuAIwBA&ei=RULYVs0qxuaYAZDnjZAF

 

I can see what looks like an improper alloy mix on the obverse but the entire coin suffers from wear and PMD so not worth keeping.

 

New to collecting so it's going with the keepers for now haha. Is the Improper alloy mix a common error?

 

I agree with you that it looks very much like improper alloy mixing. But $500? Never happen. Interestingly, in the War Time Nickel series I had a theory that magnesium (from memory) and other metal mixes for the WWII nickels overall were not stable and hence created a high percentage of lamination errors in this series. For the people that collect this common Federal coin we can all agree to this common error which persists in this series of WWII nickels - lamination streaks in a high percentage - actually more than any other U.S. Federal coin the 20thC.
Running some XRF and SEM/EDS tests I confirmed it was not outside contaminants but just a poor alloy mix SELECTION by the U.S. Mint which looked good for the short term but had issues in the long term (i.e., >1 year) in circulation. It never made it to Mike Diamond and Collector's Clearinghouse since I never bothered submitting my results.
This is NOT PMD. You can argue ... LOL.
But like I said on top ... so what? Its not a so what worth $500. This KIND of error anyway does not attract error collectors that strongly. Its an interesting nickel that we see this error outside of the WWII series - NOT THAT OFTEN.

John Lorenzo
Numismatist
United States

 

Thanks a lot John. I'm def not trying to get $500 for it. That's the price of the match. I do think it is a beautiful error. To clarify 46 nickels are not war time nickels, making my find rare; correct?

 

In my humble opinion, yes. It happens quite frequently. Not much of a premium, if any. Nice to have a few of each denomination.

 

Not sure - never did a population count - but you are correct it RARER than the WWII laminated error improper alloy mix errors as a whole.

JPL

 

Thank you for proving what I have been saying for years - at least assuming that Lincolns follow the same principals as Jeffersons and I see no reason they should not.

 

Circulated Jefferson with PMD no more no less.As a nickel collector this specimen shows no sign of improper alloy mix. It's stained and been in circulation for 70 years.

 

Seems that the professional begs to differ Paddy. Thanks for the input though

 

ha ha ha! You're a newbie this place crawls with experts. This nickel most of its life in a nickel slot machine. it's stained and nothing more.
Nickel collector for over 50 years!
United States

 

I have noticed that the '46 dated nickels are a bit different in colour than the pre-1942 and the post 1946 nickels for some reason. It seems like the mint had to readjust to working with the 75% copper 25% nickel alloy again and maybe the temperature of the blanks when they were struck had changed temporarily or something.

 

Not sure why there is an argument about improper alloy mixing when the coin is circulated and damaged. Furthermore, I don't know anyone who considers improper allow mixing a collectable error type. Personally, I don't think this is improper alloy mixing, and I agree with Paddy.

 

You got me there! I'm incredibly new to this. So I have one expert saying it is not an improper alloy alloy mix and one numismatist saying it is. Irregardless it isn't worth being graded so I'll just add it to my small collection until I find a replacement. I appreciate everyone for weighing in on it.

Cheers