Nickel war manganese/silver/copper coins look bad?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Howard Ryan, Aug 6, 2021.

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  1. Howard Ryan

    Howard Ryan Member

    Hi, I have a coin book with every Jefferson coin up to about 1976 and they all look 40-63 accept for every war era nickel where they changed the composition to copper, manganese and silver.

    These have a black tinge to them.

    See photos:
     

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  3. Howard Ryan

    Howard Ryan Member

    I suspect the manganese oxidized? I don't really know. I put them in saflips and dunked one into acetone just to see what would happen, but the tinge remains.
     
    spirityoda likes this.
  4. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    That's totally natural. The pictured coin is actually not bad looking at all for a circulated War nickel. The really well worn ones often got quite black (well, dark battleship grey, anyway) in circulation. Laminations and other planchet quality issues plagued the series.

    The slightly different color of a War nickel always stuck out like a sore thumb to me when I was hunting nickel rolls back in the day. I'd get excited to see it, because once upon a time, I used to be able to pluck quite a few out of circulation.
     
    Inspector43 likes this.
  5. Heavymetal

    Heavymetal Well-Known Member

    Always nice to find a silver war nickel CF32FE1E-BC3B-4E4A-80F2-C1843E975AE1.jpeg
     
  6. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    Nice lamination as well.
     
    lordmarcovan, Heavymetal and CygnusCC like this.
  7. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    Very natural.
     
  8. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Supporter! Supporter

    Love the history of them too.
     
  9. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    Manganese doesn't play well with the copper and silver, I'm surprised it doesn't cause more problems on the dollar coins. Possibly because it is a much lower percentage of the alloy.
     
  10. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    I have seen a lot laminations on war nickels. Back when I was kid, you could grab them out of circulation. I put together a couple rolls when I was high school and sold them when the silver price made them worth more than their face value.

    As for the way they tone, yes, most of circulated pieces are unattractive. They look quite nice in Proof and Choice to Gem Uncirculated. I have never seen one with beautiful toning.

    I have always liked the 1942 Proof War Nickel.

    1942 Proof War Nickel All.jpg
     
    Penny Luster likes this.
  11. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    I personally don’t find the (non-crusty) circulated ones unattractive. Just different. They are what they are, to use a cliché.
     
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