1931-S Buffalo Nickels Re-Struck
CRHer700
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I was reading Q. Bowers’ book A Guide Book of Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels, and it stood out to me that he states that 1931-S nickels were made “Using about $14,700 in old nickels available for recoinage and the regular nickel stock on hand...”
He cites it as a quote from “R. W. Julian” and re-quoted by David W. Lange.
This would mean that about 294,000 nickels were minted in this fashion.
What I want to know is if many 1931-S nickels are known to be struck over older nickels to support his point, and furthermore, if it did happen, if anyone can come up with a reason for this rather odd action taken by the mint.
Any response is appreciated.
God bless all who believe in him. Do unto others what you expect to be done to you. Dubbed a "Committee Secret Agent" by @mr1931S on 7/23/24. Founding member of CU Anti-Troll League since 9/24/24.
Comments
I think it means the old nickels were on hand and melted down for recoinage, not restruck in lieu of planchets.
Probably a depression era money saving move on the part of the mint.
I wrote an article for COINage about how the hard times of the Great Depression caused people to dig out old family heirloom coins and spend them to survive. A lot of these coins were filtered out by the banking system and returned to the Federal Reserve Banks and then the Mints. Some got reissued, a lot got melted down and recycled.
They got hundreds of Half Cents, thousands of Large Cents, and large quantities of white Cents and Shield Nickels and other obsolete coins. The metal got recycled into new ingots and strip and blanks and coins. It happened in every year in every mint back then.
Do you have any exact numbers?
God bless all who believe in him. Do unto others what you expect to be done to you. Dubbed a "Committee Secret Agent" by @mr1931S on 7/23/24. Founding member of CU Anti-Troll League since 9/24/24.
Just look through various Mint Reports from the 1920’s and 30’s for a report on uncurrent coins melted. They are available for free on the Newman Numismatic Portal.
Not every year carries the report.
In the depths of the Depression, no one needed any extra supply of metal. It was the prudent thing for the mint to melt and re-use the old stuff.
Having that metal on hand helped the mint get out of a real jam.
A small amount to 1931-S nickels were coined early in the year (1931) and nearing years end the mint realized the minuscule amount of nickels coined, so they ran nickels at the end of the year to increase the mintage totals.
They got lucky and didn't produce another rarity, the original mintage being very small.
Pete