Home U.S. Coin Forum

ERROR experts, Help needed , 5.2 Gram war nickel doesn't look silver ??

SmittysSmittys Posts: 9,876 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited May 9, 2017 1:59PM in U.S. Coin Forum

Silver "war nickels" weigh 5 grams, which is the same amount as the normal cupronickel coins minted all other years since 1866. War nickels were the only US nickels that ever contained silver.
Any ideas? since it weighs 5.2 grams 80 grains


Comments

  • JBKJBK Posts: 15,858 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It might just be the screen on my PC, but I sense he slightest hint of green in the tarnish, which for me is indicative of a silver war nickel. Also the striations in the metal also remind me of a silver nickel.

    For your sake, I hope it is an off metal error. I had one that based on color I swore was not silver but I did a drop test and it rang out like silver. I would take a normal nickel (best if from that era) and a war nickel, take turns dropping them from a couple inches onto a hard surface (glass, or a countertop, for example), and the difference will be obvious. Then test your mystery nickel for the answer....

  • JBKJBK Posts: 15,858 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I Googled the weight of a nickel and Cornell Law had a blurb from the US Code: “The weight of the 5-cent coin may vary not more than 0.194 gram.”

    Somewhere else I saw that a Henning counterfeit nickel weighs 5.5 grams, but your nickel does not seem to show any characteristic of a Henning.

    All weights given anywhere will have certain tolerances allowed – a coin can be off, over/under, by a certain amount. I do not know if yours is within tolerance. I also don’t know what it means if it is NOT within tolerance. Counterfeit? Overweight error?

    I would start with a simple drop test to see if it is silver. Or, you can pay PCGS to do a metallurgical test to confirm composition. After that, not sure what a slight overage means, or if it matters....

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @JBK said:
    After that, not sure what a slight overage means, or if it matters....

    Could just mean an inaccurate scale! To test that, I'd just weigh a current nickel, and see what you get.

    But agree....the weight doesn't seem to be the important thing at this point....

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • SmittysSmittys Posts: 9,876 ✭✭✭✭✭

    80 grains so within tolerance ugh, my bad. weighed a worn war 4.8 grams a new nickel 5 grams and this one 5.2 so I thought I had something, plus it was in a purchase of a large lot of error coins.

  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,391 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks like wartime alloy to me.

    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • dcarrdcarr Posts: 8,697 ✭✭✭✭✭

    To me it looks more like the regular (non-war) nickel composition than the war-time silver alloy.
    But the one way to be sure is with an XRF test.

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file
You can use Markdown in your post.