Silver of the Day #26 - Nickels
In the last post where I updated you on my Quest for free Continental Silver I said that I hadn't found any silver quarters and I was planning on switching to nickels. Some people suggested that the silver war nickels hadn't been picked through as much and I might have better luck there. I figured it was worth a shot.
As I was going to the bank I started doing a mental calculation about the size and weight of so many coins. If $200 in dimes almost filled the bag, and if they were already really heavy, then $200 of nickels would be even more!
For the record, a nickel weighs 5 grams. That means $1.00 of nickels is 100 grams. If I got $200 worth of nickels, that would be 44 pounds. Since I didn't want to be lugging around 44 lbs of nickels, I opted for $100 worth of them. They gave me this awesome sealed box!
I felt bad opening it because it was so orderly and pristine, but there was too much potential waiting inside.
I tore it open and began my quest. Nickels take longer to sort than the quarters because I had to look at the individual dates. You can't cheat by looking at the edge to see if they have copper. Each coin has to be checked. Fortunately I had a few tv shows queued up, so I had entertainment while I sorted.
I was looking for very specific years, very long ago. 1942 - 1945 were the only years that the war nickels were minted.
After searching through most of the rolls, I hadn't found any silver ones, but I had found some older nickels. I had a few that were sooo close, but not quite the right year. 1941 is pre-war, so still no silver.
I was beginning to think I had struck out again, when I found this!
I was so happy that I had actually found a 1942 nickel!
It was strange though, the nickel didn't look like the other war nickels I had, so I wondered if there was just a different shine on this one because of its specific history. So I did some digging.
I found out that while the US Mint did begin minting the silver nickels in 1942, they also had minted some non-silver nickels preceding that. So while there were 90,000,000 silver nickels produced in 1942, there were also 64,000,000 non-silver nickels made as well.
I checked the back for a mint mark.... but there was none. That means it's not a wartime nickel. That's disappointing.
I finished looking through the box and I did find another interesting coin.
It's a 10 Pfennig coin from 1899 Germany.
Apparently it's the same size and similar weight as the nickel so it got mixed in by mistake. It's not in great shape, but it's still an interesting find and I'll take it. I haven't been able to get a clear idea of it's worth, but I don't think it's much given the condition of the coin.
Nickels Done
There you have it. I went through 2,000 nickels and ended up with zero silver, but it was another fun adventure. I found some interesting coins and learned a bit more about the composition of coins during World War 2.
I would have loved to show off a bunch of silver coins to you, but it wasn't in the cards. Regardless, thanks for reading!
Love the interesting finds - too bad you didn't get one! Still fun to see how some of them have aged and how some look like they spent a lifetime in the parking lot of a 7-11.
Thanks. It was strange to get a German coin in there.
Ha ha, it's true. Some of them are a lot worse for wear.
Are you going to put them all back and sell it at the same price? This way you wouldn't lose any money...
Going through each coin must have been hard and really time expensive! How many tv shows did you watch while going through all of those?
I searched one roll at a time and when I had finished searching the roll, I put all the coins back. Or if the roll had been damaged, I re-rolled in a new sleeve. I'll just take them back to to bank like I did with the dimes and quarters. No value lost.
It wasn't that difficult to do. I think it only took me a few hours. And I was binge-watching tv with my wife, so the time passed quickly.
Oh, duuuude! So close! Right year, but no! Folks combing through the coins for war nickels would have to be pretty savvy about which were silver and which were not, so if that's what happened here, not much of a chance of finding those either.
Still, from a suspense standpoint, I was there with each reveal.
Man! I guess you've got the German coin. Looks like it was made out of copper, so maybe some collector's value? You can shine it up can't you? Rub some oxyclean or whatever the wonder product is that removes all kinds of unwanted stuff. :)
I was pretty bummed that it wasn't actually silver. I thought I finally had something to tell you all about, so it was disappointing, but that's ok.
It's my understanding that if you use cleaners on coins, it destroys their numismatic value. I still think it's an intriguing piece of history though.
Okay, so the coin has to basically remain clean naturally, or else it devalues. Great. I guess that means keeping all coins, worthless or worth a lot, in a safe, sterile environment in case the numismatic value on it pops some day.
I tell you, I was thinking, "He's got it this time! Yeah!" But no. Still, I think it's awesome you got into the war year with that one, even if it wasn't silver. Especially since it was the only one in all the rolls. Maybe that means there's still a chance.
In the process, too, like you said, you get to learn some more history about coin making during WWII in the US, and then you get to turn around and figure out whether there's any value to a German coin that was made in the last part of the 19th century. That thing is going to be older than a lot of things and nearly all people. Come to think of it, the last person born in the 19th century may have passed away a few years ago, which would make it older than all living people.
The stories it could tell if it were alive, could talk, and didn't freak everyone out. My guess is, it would mostly talk about pockets, purses and lint. Or maybe that annoying breath mint that just wouldn't clam up. :)
Yep, that's the idea. I keep all my coins in an airtight case so that someday, my 2018 nickel/copper nickel will be worth something! Ha ha.
It was a good experience. I enjoyed getting to look through them all. I really thought I had a winner, but that's ok. I still like it and I got some other coins that are also really old. I can't remember what site I found, but one of them seemed to indicate that pre-war nickels were worth a little something anyways, regardless of silver content. It's probably the rarity factor kicking in.
If the Pfennig could talk, it wouldn't help. I don't speak German. I understand a few words, but you can only say "flugzeug" and "luftballons" so many times. Ha ha!
Maybe I could just sell the talking German coin. ;)
Gesundheit, Sprechen sie deutch, achtung, zeitgeist, mercedes, lufthansa, wienerschnitzel, Schwarzenegger, dummkopf, mein freund, fraulein, herr, wunderbar, nein, dusseldorf, duesenberg, luftwaffe, panzer and edelweiss, my favorite song from The Sound of Music.
Easiest way to find silver nickels is the mint mark for the silver ones is above monticello house. If mint mark is to the right then it js base metal
Yeah, I didn't see a mint marking on it, so it seems that I got just a regular nickel. Oh, well.
It is a pity that you have not found a single war nickel, but, as you said, it was fun...
Thanks, friend. I appreciate the sentiment. Maybe one day I'll find one. :)
Thank you for your continued support of SteemSilverGold
howdy @themanwithnoname! very interesting hunt there and we learned about the War Nickels with you so thanks for the education, this was pretty cool, another $100 worth tomorrow?
I'm glad you enjoyed the hunt and the little history lesson. I haven't taken the nickels back to the bank. I've been focused on other things. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do anther round. It seems to be easier just to save up and buy them at the store. Yes, it costs more, but then I'm not driving to and from the bank all the time. ;)
yes sir I understand, that's a very practical and logical and efficient and businessman approach to it.