Just a quick question I was going through one of my friends coins and I believe I found a 1943 copper nickel in his change, now I understand that that the war time penny is worth a lot of money, which means a coin that should not been made, should be worth more then the penny, but who am I...I don't even know if it is real...Maybe some one can take a look at the scans and tell me what you think....Please take it easy on me I am new to this and I am trying to learn.....
I have found coins like that in the past. Sadly, it is just an overly tarnished 1943 Nickel. Not bad shape though!
These nickels are called silver war nickels. They are 15% silver if I remember right and they are worth about $1.25. Yours however looks really nice so it may be worth more than that. Keep up the good work!
@logical123 I wish it was tarnished, then it would be easy to say, but I am sorry it is not tarnished...It is truly a rose color copper on the coin, great color in fact...I am not saying that this is a copper nickel, but I am wondering if it is, for there is some that is out there more rarer then the 1943 penny...But again I don't know for I am new to this this is why I am asking for help....
Take a look at the steps. There is a 'silver' color there where the tarnish or 'copper' color has worn away. Worth about $2 in my book, because that is nice toning, and it is in good condition.
@ Greyford You are correct about the silver war nickel, but should it be silver and not the rose color copper? The pictures of the silver war time nickels I have seen was indeed silver color with a touch of copper, I might be wrong.....This nickel is all rose color just like a freshly minted penny, I thought at first it might of been dipped for it looks to good, but I am not going to scratch it and find out, but if it is worth the big one or nothing at all it still looks good.... And I must thank all for helping me, that should of been the first and for most sorry all...So thank you all...
The war nickel compositions were 56% Copper 35% Silver 9% Manganese. The nickel you've found is a nice one, grading somewhere around VF 30. Which is quite good to be pulled from circulation. The discoloration of your coin is caused by toning. I've seen this type of toning before on war nickels, usually when pulled from an older Whitman folder that has belonged to a heavy smoker. The non war nickels from these sets takes on a greyish / blackish color.
All it takes to make a nickel copper colored is soak it in vinegar. It's similar to what they did several hundred years ago, and longer, with what's call "silver washed" where the coin would have a "good" percentage of silver, but not high, and they would soak it in a solution that would bring the silver to the surface and make the coin look like it was silver but the metal underneath is a much higher percentage copper. I have a 1739 Double Sol that some idiot polished and when they did, they polished off the silver washed surface and the higher copper content shows on the flat surface areas. I asked a friend how the silver washing was done and he gave me this website for his answer: http://www.deepfield.com/anoot/essay/silverwash.html I would like to attempt that someday on my Double Sol, to see if I can bring out more silver to make it look like it's suppose to and not so polished but I just haven't had the time yet. War nickels are 56% Copper, 35% Silver and 9% Manganese so they will probably show their "true" color if you sprayed Windex on them. I hope this helps to explain why your silver nickel is coppered colored and if you weigh it, you'll find out it weighs what it should, 5 grams. Ribbit Ps: For those interested, the 1739-A Double Sol was 25% silver and 75% copper, with a silver wash, and there's a small write-up on them here: http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinText/French.3.html
Here's a copper colored buffalo I found on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.it/Monete-e-Bancono...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 It's been probably cleaned with vinegar. :whistle: Ribbit
