Canada 1943 5 Cents Tombac George VI Canadian Victory Nickel
acadien
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This is a great story, no mater the low value, it is very, very, nice to have
The 1943-45 Canadian five cent coin, known as the “Victory Nickel,” is unusual in that it contains Morse Code. Most Canadians were unaware that they were carrying a Morse message in their pocket, since the code is discernible only upon close examination with a magnifying glass. It is partially visible on the image shown here. It’s on the reverse of the coin, and runs clockwise along the edge. It begins just to the left of the letter “N” in the word “CENTS”.
The beaver design currently appearing on the coin first appeared in 1937, but the coin was redesigned during the war. The reverse featured the letter V, with a dual significance. In addition to being the Roman Numeral for five (which was used on the U.S. Liberty nickel from 1883-1912), it was also the symbol of victory.
And with little fanfare, it also included the message, in Morse Code, “WE WIN WHEN WE WORK WILLINGLY.”
The Canadian Mint re-issued the design in 2005, dated 1945-2005, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the war. However, the 2005 design did not include the Morse Code inscription.
Specimens of the coin in which the full message is legible are fairly uncommon. Most were made of steel, plated with nickel. The sheets were plated before the blanks were cut out, resulting in the edges being unplated. This has caused most of them to rust around the edges, making the Morse Code illegible. In the example shown above, the words “WE WHEN WHEN WE” are very legible, but most of the rest of the message is impossible to make out.
The 1943 coin was made of tombac (a brass alloy), and the message is more likely to be legible on specimens from that year
Comments
Okay, something else to add to my when I'm snowed in list of things to do related to my coins. is this a variety for just that three year span? Thanks for that. Peace Roy
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'43 & '44 were Tombac, but the copper and zinc was needed for the war.. For the 2nd half of '44 and 45, they used chrome-plated steel. The Morse code reads "We win when we work willingly"
Actually the tombac five cent coin was first struck in 1942, I have found a very few of them in circulation. Because of the bronze colour they stand out as different so they don't slip back into circulation as often as the earlier nickel pieces from 1937 or even the chromium plated steel coins.