1964-1965 International Nickel 25 cent test pieces from the Estate of Inco Officer Kenn Henderson

oreville · August 7, 2017 2:36PM

Interesting reading!!!

Just to give Roger Burdette an advance look at the collection I will send him!!!!

2015 January 7 - 12 FUN US Coins Signature Auction - Orlando #1216

1964-1965 Inco 25 Cent Test Pieces
From the Estate of Inco Official Kenn Henderson
1964-1965 International Nickel Company 25 Cent Test Pieces. In 1964-1965, extensive non-precious metals coin testing was done outside the Mint at different facilities, including International Nickel Company, Dupont, and Corning Glass Works. The pieces in this lot are from the estate of Kenn Henderson, an officer of Inco at the time. Andrew Pollock wrote extensive background information about these pieces in his 1994 reference United States Patterns and Related Issues, pages 443-447. We strongly recommend that bidders refer to Pollock's in-depth treatment of these little-known patterns. We have grouped the 58 pieces in this lot into three categories: 1964 Inco Large Head 25 Cent Test Pieces, 1965 Inco Small Head 25 Cent Test Pieces, and Miscellaneous "Component Pieces." Included are:

1964 Inco 25 Cent Test Pieces - Large Head

Pollock-5340. 95% nickel, 5% silicon on 2% "Permalloy" Core. Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Pure nickel (Ni engraved in right obverse field). Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Blank Planchet for above. Pure nickel. Type 2. Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5351. 45/55 nickel/copper (45 engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5353a. 75/25 copper/nickel (CuNi engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365a. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 8 pieces.
-- Blank planchet for above. Type 2. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365b. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365c. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 1 piece.

1965 Inco 25 Cent Test Pieces - Small Head

Pollock-5380. 95/5 nickel/silicon on 2% "Permalloy" core. Reeded edge. 6 pieces.
Pollock-5380. Sealed in original presentation poly holder. 2 pieces.
-- Blank planchet. Proof Quality, manufactured by the Franklin Mint. 18 pieces.
-- Blank planchet. Similar to the above, said to be annealed in oxygen rather than nitrogen. 6 pieces.

Miscellaneous "Component Pieces"

-- 75/25 copper/nickel outer clad layer. 2 pieces
-- Pure copper inner core. 2 pieces.
-- Bonded 2-piece set - copper/nickel layer and copper core. 1 piece.
-- Blank planchet - copper/nickel layers over copper core. Type 1. 1 piece.
-- Blank planchet - copper/nickel layers over copper core. Type 2. 1 piece.

RogerB · August 7, 2017 3:28PM

Thanks!

This group of pieces, direct from an officer of International Nickel Company's New York office, will be a great help in calibrating other pieces. It will also aid in making the final publication as complete and accurate as possible.

[I presently have access to about 140 Inco coins and blanks, so these 58 will enlarge the number of pieces by 1/3 - plus their clear identification by Mr. Henderson will improve accuracy and overall publication quality. As with the WW-II Pattern book, this will open new opportunities for collectors and researchers.]

oreville · August 7, 2017 5:08PM

Roger! I do not know how to access the new PM feature of this web site!!!

HELP!!

Please re-send me your email address to my email account if you prefer the email venue.

Raybo · August 7, 2017 6:59PM

oreville!

Icollecteverything · August 7, 2017 8:12PM

TTIUWOP

cladking · August 7, 2017 8:29PM

I assume these are all Martha Washington issues.

Zoins · August 7, 2017 8:42PM

@cladking said:
I assume these are all Martha Washington issues.

These are Paul D. Merica issues. Incredible collection!

Here's the Kenn Henderson collection auction mentioned by oreville in the OP:

https://coins.ha.com/itm/patterns/1964-1965-international-nickel-company-25-cent-test-pieces/a/1216-6783.s

oreville · August 7, 2017 9:45PM

@cladking said:
I assume these are all Martha Washington issues.

No, not at all. They are mostly International Nickel Company Inc. tokens celebrating the opening of it's brand new world wide research facility just outside of New York City (In Sterling Forest, NY) in 1964 on the reverse with the obverse showing the bust of Paul D Merica.

Sadly, Inco no longer has their huge research facility in New York.

RogerB · August 8, 2017 7:20AM

The Inco pieces with Dr. Mercia's portrait were designed by Gilroy Roberts for Inco. Some of the small bust type (PDM-2) were made at the nascent Franklin Mint. Tests made by the US Mint using Martha Washington dies were the only ones the Mint technology office would accept as "meaningful" even though Inco hoped the large bust (PDM-1) design would be sufficient. [The CuNi-Cu-CuNi clad material finally adopted was first identified by Bell Research Labs. Inco's version was Cu-70/Ni-30 on a smaller copper core.]

The intent is to carefully document all Henderson items - coins, blanks and planchets - then correlate with other examples that have been similarly documented. [Data collection will include: design, diameter, weight, thickness, density, magnetic attraction, alloy or composition, face and edge description, and high resolution photos.]

The final product will be a printed color booklet examining the Inco and related "private patterns" in detail. The plan is to use the present Pollock numbers (from US patterns.com) and assign additional numbers as needed, but allowing for future discoveries. It would be nice to eliminate any "a, b, c..." suffixes.

There's no deadline. Accuracy and quality are determining factors.

cladking · August 8, 2017 1:13PM

Thanks for all the info and pictures.

These are way cool.

Icollecteverything · August 8, 2017 8:20PM

Thanks for the pic. Never seen one before. I like the steel blue one.

RogerB · August 9, 2017 5:48AM

The pieces are mostly light gray - much like new clad coins. The blue photo is either odd oxidation or a color balance problem.

oreville · August 10, 2017 5:15AM

Agreed, most of the pieces are light grey but a couple of them including one large bust and one small bust Inco Paul D piece is a more lustrous piece with some blue toning.

CaptHenway · August 10, 2017 5:51AM

@oreville said:
Agreed, most of the pieces are light grey but a couple of them including one large bust and one small bust Inco Paul D piece is a more lustrous piece with some blue toning.

Probably the ones made with radioactive cobalt...........

Found my half dollar Inco token yesterday. Any idea of the total population of this size and the dime size?

cladking · August 10, 2017 12:02PM

The switch to clad was not only the largest single event that ever happened to US coinage but it was also the most traumatic to the coin hobby, industry, and most individual coin collectors alive today.

These are historic tokens of that time now half a century in the past. And best of all they have attributes of being coins as well as patterns. I've long sought these and similar items that mark this historic event.

RogerB · August 10, 2017 2:34PM

Most of the Inco "private patterns" are approximately the size of a quarter. 10-cent, 25-cent and 50-cent sample were included in publicity sets. But so far it appears that few 10-cent and 50-cent pieces were made for composition testing. This is understandable, since the purpose was to find compositions that would work in US vending machines and a quarter was the largest coin most of them accepted.

I'd appreciate photos and data on any of the Inco or Gould (1977) pieces members might have. Full credit given in the final report for all sources and images.

Cameonut · August 10, 2017 3:28PM

Those are pretty cool. Thanks for sharing as I had not heard of them. These days a quarter would likely have way more than 25 cents worth of nickel. Plus, i was under the impression that pure nickel was tough on dies.

From the same time period, Canada minted pure nickel nickels in 1967 - their centennial year. Won't find those in circulation anymore.

RogerB · August 10, 2017 3:43PM

Canada made 5-cent coins from powdered nickel planchets produced by Sherritt mining. Their density is slightly less than coins made from rolled ingots.

Nickel can be difficult to work with in coinage but modern annealing and handling techniques have removed most obstacles. (Grrrr....spellcheck keeps wanting to replace that with "testicles.")

CaptHenway · August 10, 2017 4:40PM

@RogerB said:
Canada made 5-cent coins from powdered nickel planchets produced by Sherritt mining. Their density is slightly less than coins made from rolled ingots.

Nickel can be difficult to work with in coinage but modern annealing and handling techniques have removed most obstacles. (Grrrr....spellcheck keeps wanting to replace that with "testicles.")

Give spellcheck the sack!

cladking · August 10, 2017 4:56PM

"The United States Clad Coinage" 1992 -Rapsus lists Bureau of the Mint trial pieces (pg 48-51) as well as some pieces made by DuPont.

RogerB · August 10, 2017 5:33PM

The material I'm working on does not include the Martha Washington test pieces, although Inco provided samples of their 95% Ni-5% Si-peralloy core composition for Mint tests. The DuPont test pieces will be included, provided I can locate enough original material to make the section an improvement of present knowledge.

EXOJUNKIE · August 10, 2017 7:26PM

Here's a related piece of exonumia. Same company, right?

RogerB · August 11, 2017 4:36AM

Yep: International Nickel Company. They promoted nickel for "everything;" however, they ignored the metal's toxicity to some people. (See https://rais.ornl.gov/tox/profiles/nickel_and_nickel_compounds_f_V1.html for a short exposition.)

RogerB · February 16, 2018 11:35AM

At least one member mentioned his severe nickel allergy. Unusual but it affects some.

CaptHenway · February 16, 2018 11:54AM

My wife has nickel allergy.

RogerB · February 16, 2018 12:50PM

Is she allergic to only particulate nickel or alloy as in US coins?

CaptHenway · February 16, 2018 1:49PM

Don't know the specifics. Can wear a stainless steel watch band.

oreville · December 20, 2021 5:56PM

ttt to help out a fellow poster

oreville · January 23, 2023 12:09AM

Ttt to help out a fellow poster discussing the DuPont bricks which preceded the International Nickel Company Inc test 25 cent pieces.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 12:13AM

@oreville said:
Ttt to help out a fellow poster discussing the DuPont bricks which preceded the International Nickel Company Inc test 25 cent pieces.

Did the INCO pieces have any clad? Or were they more solid like nickels?

oreville · January 23, 2023 12:19AM

@Zoins said:

@oreville said:
Ttt to help out a fellow poster discussing the DuPont bricks which preceded the International Nickel Company Inc test 25 cent pieces.

Did the INCO pieces have any clad? Or were they more solid like nickels?

Definitely… and to boot…different kinds of clad as they were still toying with how to perfect the cladconcept.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 12:23AM

@oreville said:

@Zoins said:

@oreville said:
Ttt to help out a fellow poster discussing the DuPont bricks which preceded the International Nickel Company Inc test 25 cent pieces.

Did the INCO pieces have any clad? Or were they more solid like nickels?

Definitely… and to boot…different kinds of clad as they were still toying with how to perfect the cladconcept.

Awesome! Are there any photos of the edge to see the clad?

oreville · January 23, 2023 12:27AM

I never took the photos but I assure you that they exist. Same concept as the earlier DuPont dynamic bricks. The description of the Heritage auction lot in the thread describes the content of the clad 25 cent pieces.

1964 Inco 25 Cent Test Pieces - Large Head

Pollock-5340. 95% nickel, 5% silicon on 2% "Permalloy" Core. Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Pure nickel (Ni engraved in right obverse field). Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Blank Planchet for above. Pure nickel. Type 2. Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5351. 45/55 nickel/copper (45 engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5353a. 75/25 copper/nickel (CuNi engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365a. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 8 pieces.
-- Blank planchet for above. Type 2. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365b. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365c. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 1 piece.

The inclusion of the nickel combined with the copper made viewing the copper core more difficult to differentiate from pure copper.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 12:32AM

@oreville said:
I never took the photos but I assure you that they exist. Same concept as the earlier DuPont dynamic bricks. The description of the Heritage auction lot in the thread describes the content of the clad 25 cent pieces.

1964 Inco 25 Cent Test Pieces - Large Head

Pollock-5340. 95% nickel, 5% silicon on 2% "Permalloy" Core. Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Pure nickel (Ni engraved in right obverse field). Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Blank Planchet for above. Pure nickel. Type 2. Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5351. 45/55 nickel/copper (45 engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5353a. 75/25 copper/nickel (CuNi engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365a. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 8 pieces.
-- Blank planchet for above. Type 2. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365b. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365c. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 1 piece.

Cool

It would be great to have EdgeView TrueViews for these, like this one:

It's great to see PCGS slabbing these privately-minted pieces with Pollock numbers now.

I picked up a number of the INCO planchets. They are in NGC slabs but it's probably worth cracking them out to examine them. Also, they don't have the Burdette-Leidman pedigree on them so that could be added as well

oreville · January 23, 2023 12:39AM

Inco was trying to demonstrate that the copper-nickel combination would preserve the look of the silver coinage without too obvious a copper looking coin. US Mint was not as concerned and wanted to reduce costs.

Interestingly, Canada went with the essentially pure nickel composition which made their coin magnetic which was a no-go for the vending machines in the USA.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 12:42AM

@oreville said:
Inco was trying to demonstrate that the copper-nickel combination would preserve the look of the silver coinage without too obvious a copper looking coin. US Mint was not as concerned and wanted to reduce costs.

Are there any records on the US Mint's evaluation of the Inco coins?

Interestingly, Canada went with the essentially pure nickel composition which made their coin magnetic which was a no-go for the vending machines in the USA.

I wonder how much of that was due to Inco being a Canadian company?

oreville · January 23, 2023 1:12AM

@Zoins said:

@oreville said:
Inco was trying to demonstrate that the copper-nickel combination would preserve the look of the silver coinage without too obvious a copper looking coin. US Mint was not as concerned and wanted to reduce costs.

Are there any records on the US Mint's evaluation of the Inco coins?

Interestingly, Canada went with the essentially pure nickel composition which made their coin magnetic which was a no-go for the vending machines in the USA.

I wonder how much of that was due to Inco being a Canadian company?

The US Mint was very private about evaluating test pieces for possible clad coinage as they were very anti-coin collector and did not want to alert the coin collecting public to encourage even more hoarding of silver coinage. I am not the researcher that RB is with US Mint records. He is fabulous.

I was under the impression that INCO was a New York headquartered Corporation. They did have extensive Canada nickel mine holdings.

oreville · January 23, 2023 1:16AM

I also wanted to preserve the original Henderson collection and not lose the history by slabbing them with PCGS.

However, i have many ANACS slabbed pieces that I could shift to PCGS.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 1:21AM

@oreville said:

@Zoins said:

@oreville said:
Inco was trying to demonstrate that the copper-nickel combination would preserve the look of the silver coinage without too obvious a copper looking coin. US Mint was not as concerned and wanted to reduce costs.

Are there any records on the US Mint's evaluation of the Inco coins?

Interestingly, Canada went with the essentially pure nickel composition which made their coin magnetic which was a no-go for the vending machines in the USA.

I wonder how much of that was due to Inco being a Canadian company?

The US Mint was very private about evaluating test pieces for possible clad coinage as they were very anti-coin collector and did not want to alert the coin collecting public to encourage even more hoarding of silver coinage. I am not the researcher that RB is with US Mint records. He is fabulous.

I was under the impression that INCO was a New York headquartered Corporation. They did have extensive Canada nickel mine holdings.

According to the following, the company did have headquarters in New York until 1998, but it also looks like they were acquired by their Canadian subsidiary in 1928:

https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/International_Nickel_Company

The International Nickel Company was founded on March 29, 1902 in New Jersey as a result of a merger between the Carnegie Steel Company, Canadian Copper Company and Orford Copper Company. Its industry is metals and its headquarters were in New York City, New York (1902-1998) and Paramus, New Jersey (1998-present). It was acquired by its Canadian subsidiary, the International Nickel Company of Canada, Ltd. in 1928.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 1:24AM

@oreville said:
I also wanted to preserve the original Henderson collection and not lose the history by slabbing them with PCGS.

However, i have many ANACS slabbed pieces that I could shift to PCGS.

By losing history, do you mean separating them from their binder pages where they are stored in relationship to each other?

oreville · January 23, 2023 1:24AM

Interesting….a Canadian corporation headquartered in New York City. That was back in the day that to be legit you had to be in New York. No more.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 1:37AM

@oreville said:
Interesting….a Canadian corporation headquartered in New York City. That was back in the day that to be legit you had to be in New York. No more.

Also confirming this is the Wikipedia entry for Paul Dyer Merica, on the obverse of your pieces, which say he was president of the Canadian company:

Wikipedia said:
Paul Dyer Merica (March 17, 1889 – October 20, 1957) was an American metallurgist, president of the International Nickel Company of Canada Ltd., now Vale Limited,[1] inventor,[2] and recipient of the 1938 John Fritz Medal.[3]

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dyer_Merica

oreville · January 23, 2023 6:28AM

@Zoins said:

@oreville said:
Interesting….a Canadian corporation headquartered in New York City. That was back in the day that to be legit you had to be in New York. No more.

Also confirming this is the Wikipedia entry for Paul Dyer Merica, on the obverse of your pieces, which say he was president of the Canadian company:

Wikipedia said:
Paul Dyer Merica (March 17, 1889 – October 20, 1957) was an American metallurgist, president of the International Nickel Company of Canada Ltd., now Vale Limited,[1] inventor,[2] and recipient of the 1938 John Fritz Medal.[3]

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dyer_Merica

Wow I never realized that about international Nickel Company Inc being a Canadian Corporation.

Thanks Zoins for teaching me something new.

CaptHenway · January 23, 2023 6:55AM

Does everybody here have Roger Burdette's book on the subject? I think I reviewed the galleys on that three times before it was published.

CaptHenway · January 23, 2023 3:07PM

@Zoins said:
@oreville said:
I never took the photos but I assure you that they exist. Same concept as the earlier DuPont dynamic bricks. The description of the Heritage auction lot in the thread describes the content of the clad 25 cent pieces.

1964 Inco 25 Cent Test Pieces - Large Head
Pollock-5340. 95% nickel, 5% silicon on 2% "Permalloy" Core. Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Pure nickel (Ni engraved in right obverse field). Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Blank Planchet for above. Pure nickel. Type 2. Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5351. 45/55 nickel/copper (45 engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5353a. 75/25 copper/nickel (CuNi engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365a. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 8 pieces.
-- Blank planchet for above. Type 2. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365b. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365c. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 1 piece.
Cool

It would be great to have EdgeView TrueViews for these, like this one:

It's great to see PCGS slabbing these privately-minted pieces with Pollock numbers now.

I picked up a number of the INCO planchets. They are in NGC slabs but it's probably worth cracking them out to examine them. Also, they don't have the Burdette-Leidman pedigree on them so that could be added as well

I respectfully submit that any Inco, Gould or related pieces should be slabbed using Burdette #’s as they are far more recent and much more accurate.

Zoins · January 23, 2023 7:31PM

@CaptHenway said:
@Zoins said:
@oreville said:
I never took the photos but I assure you that they exist. Same concept as the earlier DuPont dynamic bricks. The description of the Heritage auction lot in the thread describes the content of the clad 25 cent pieces.

1964 Inco 25 Cent Test Pieces - Large Head
Pollock-5340. 95% nickel, 5% silicon on 2% "Permalloy" Core. Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Pure nickel (Ni engraved in right obverse field). Plain Edge. 2 pieces.
Pollock-5350. Blank Planchet for above. Pure nickel. Type 2. Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5351. 45/55 nickel/copper (45 engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5353a. 75/25 copper/nickel (CuNi engraved in right obverse field). Plain edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365a. 75/25 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 8 pieces.
-- Blank planchet for above. Type 2. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365b. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Reeded edge. 1 piece.
Pollock-5365c. 70/30 copper/nickel on 60% copper core. No engraving in field. Plain edge. 1 piece.
Cool

It would be great to have EdgeView TrueViews for these, like this one:

It's great to see PCGS slabbing these privately-minted pieces with Pollock numbers now.

I picked up a number of the INCO planchets. They are in NGC slabs but it's probably worth cracking them out to examine them. Also, they don't have the Burdette-Leidman pedigree on them so that could be added as well
I respectfully submit that any Inco, Gould or related pieces should be slabbed using Burdette #’s as they are far more recent and much more accurate.

Roger's numbers sound good and he's done a lot of great research, but I think his numbers should be used on USPatterns.com or another online reference first.

Do you know if Roger can work with Saul and/or Andy to get his numbers posted to USPatterns.com?

oreville · September 10, 2026 6:54AM

Ttt to save it from archives.

CaptHenway · September 10, 2026 7:28AM

@CaptHenway said:
Does everybody here have Roger Burdette's book on the subject? I think I reviewed the galleys on that three times before it was published.

Bump.

1964-1965 International Nickel 25 cent test pieces from the Estate of Inco Officer Kenn Henderson

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