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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 8310970, member: 101855"]I just finished give a talk that covered the war nickels to my local club. The large mint mark was added to the design because the mint was planning to withdraw these coins from circulation once World War II was over. The mint mark made it easy to identify these coins which contained 35% silver. The rest of the alloy was 56% copper and 9% manganese. The manganese was added to give the coin enough of a metallic quality so that it could be used in the vending machines of that era. The machines were set up to reject slugs and other counterfeits. And yes, it's hard to believe, but you could buy something worthwhile in those days for a nickel. A bottle of Coke was an example. The wartime nickels were issued from 1942 to 1945. In 1942, the Philadelphia Mint produced five cent pieces with both the copper-nickel alloy and in the wartime alloy. Philadelphia issued these two coins as Proofs, which is why there is a six piece 1942 Proof set. The Denver Mint produced all of its coins in copper-nickel, and the San Francisco Mint made all its coins with the wartime alloy. These coins have long been collected as a subset in the Jefferson Nickel series. Here is a Mint State set that I bought several months ago. [ATTACH=full]1471175[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1471176[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]