eBay of course! Seller claims a 1899 nickel was melted due to the Pitman act for it's silver content. I reported this auction, let's see if eBay does anything. 1899 Liberty nickel item # 310124198743
The act authorized the conversion of not exceeding 350,000,000 standard silver dollars into bullion and its sale, or use for subsidiary silver coinage, and directed purchase of domestic silver for recoinage of a like number of dollars. Under the Act, 270,232,722 standard silver dollars were converted into bullion (259,121,554 for sale to Great Britain at $1.00 per fine ounce, plus mint charges, and 11,111,168 for subsidiary silver coinage), the equivalent of about 209,000,000 fine ounces of silver. Between 1920 and 1933, under the Act, the same quantity of silver was purchased from the output of American mines, at a fixed price of $1 per ounce, from which 270,232,722 standard silver dollars were recoined. The fixed price of $1 per ounce was above the market rate and acted as a federal subsidy to the silver mining industry.
**************************************************** Nice detailed information. Thanks. What does it have to do with melting nickels for silver content?
Ha right! But one eBay seller seems to think so. He has two Liberty V-nickels listed as silver. He has a long description explaining how the nickels were melted under the Pitman act. How stupid. One nickel is bid up to $25 already. I doubt eBay will pull that auction-profit to be made there...
Yep, not much silver in a V nickel. Now if the had their time machine set to the mid fourties...........
Wrong. War 2 Nickels have been melted down by jewlers in massive quantities. And it's "Their Silver" isn't it? And everyone knows if there is a law against something, it just doesn't happen. :goofer:
I don't have a lot of pity for these buyers. Accurate nformation on this nickel isn't that hard to find. Look at it this way... maybe this will eat up the bankroll of the uninformed buyers, and that will leave all the good coins for us.
I think that is a thankless job [melting war nickels]. They are only 35% silver. The work involved separating the puny percentage of silver versus handling the quantity of nickels give a very small return.
