release date for 1942 type II nickel

grayroads

It is commonly stated that the US Mint released the silver wartime nickel later in 1942. Does anyone know the date? Thanks.

WingedLiberty1957

With the entry of the United States into World War II, nickel became a critical war material, and the Mint sought to reduce its use of the metal. On March 27, 1942, Congress authorized a nickel made of 50% copper and 50% silver, but gave the Mint the authority to vary the proportions, or add other metals, in the public interest. The Mint's greatest concern was in finding an alloy which would use no nickel, but still satisfy counterfeit detectors in vending machines. An alloy of 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese proved suitable, and this alloy began to be coined into nickels from October 1942. In the hopes of making them easy to sort out and withdraw after the war, the Mint struck all "war nickels" with a large mint mark appearing above Monticello. The mint mark P for Philadelphia was the first time that mint's mark had appeared on a US coin. The prewar composition and smaller mint mark (or no mint mark for Philadelphia) were resumed in 1946.

coindeuce

In the January 1943 issue of Numismatic Scrapbook, an article titled "Our Nickel Five Cent Coin", author by John E. Waugh reviewed the history of the nickel 5 cent issue, as the year 1941 was noted as the 75th anniversary of the denomination. Among his remarks: "With the entrance of the United States into the second World War in December 1941, and with the increased need for nickel in stainless steels and other alloys used to produce war implements, the decision was reached to substitute silver for nickel in the five cent coin, and in May 1942 the minting of the nickel content coin ceased.
After considerable Mint experimentation with various alloys, a composition of 35% silver/56% copper/9% manganese was finally agreed upon and the minting of this composition began on September 18, 1942."