War nickel...lucky find

[REVIER]

Right next to a very large and popular picnic pavilion just laying there on top of the dirt 2" off the pad.
Had to be dropped late on the previous day, anybody could have seen this and picked it up and if I didn't find it when I did somebody would have soon after because the park was filling up with people because of the holiday.
Had to be loose change in someone's pocket that didn't know these were 35% silver.
Love clueless people.

A 33 on the F70, 31-32 is my usual nickel number.
Kinda weird because the one other war nickel I found buried and others I have and air tested came in several numbers higher due to that silver content but whatever, I now own another relatively rare piece of coin history.
I ran the coil over this and eyeballed it just before I did so a half and half find...it counts so don't fight me on this.

I always said luck has a lot to do with this hobby, sometimes.
Being in the right place at the right time I figure is lucky.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

I have only found one war nickel. It rang up as Silver on my Sovereign GT. I took some war nickels that I had from years past and every one of them rang up as nickels. Can not figure out why that one nickel sounds so different. I have a meter on my GT and it shows a reading of 180 which is where silver registers.

 

[jim tn]

War nickels are a fun find. Most that I have ever found with the Fisher machines rang up 30-32, right in the nickel range. Good half and half find. HH jim tn

 

[REVIER]

Yea,some higher, some right in the nickel range.
Strange, but this hobby is filled with strange things.
I sometimes think I am one of them.
I know mudpuppy is.

 

[Dirtdigger33]

Nice find Revier and yes it counts . I have found one war nickel in the ground in my time detecting a very nice looking 1945 S. I hope to find more some day. I found at least a handful if not 2 handfuls and other amazing coins working retail. You are right, people are clueless and I am happy they are. I love to collect coins and the war nickel is one of my favorites, because it has a great story behind it. A nice piece of history saved and a great find. Congrats.

 

[REVIER]

Thanks all.
Just went back and looked at my post about the first one I found, a 45 P, it definitely was higher into the tab section in the ground and in air testing out of the ground and this one was not very deep.
Looking at other's posts about these that find more than I do many mention that the numbers can and sometimes do vary wildly on this coin for some reason...from normal nickel to as much as 20 numbers higher.
I wonder why?
Unlike IH's which also vary but have been made different over the years I assumed the recipe for these were all the same no matter what year or what mint they came from.
Maybe the metals in it are just the right amounts to look different to our detectors depending on how they are laying in the soil.
Could be soil mineralization affects them?
Might be another scientific reason, not that it matters because as long as it comes in solid I will dig it, but I just like to know why things happen the way they do.
Gotta be some logic behind it, maybe I will find out one day.
For now I will file these coins under the same heading in my head as chains.
Both weird, stay on your game and stay alert out there to find them.

 

[jim tn]

Nickels in general seem to be one of those coins that with a little in ground depth can vary, (bouncy) id wise. The mint may have not been quite as exacting content wise back in the war years, also? The main thing is, we find them. HH jim tn

 

[mudpuppy]

Nice! Yeah, I also think a lot of them are still in circulation, I try to look at the strike and patina on nickels, if its nice and deep like yours, it bears a looking at...seems all the newer coins are poorly and shallowly struck..
Mud

 

[PSS1963]

Nice! Yeah, I also think a lot of them are still in circulation, I try to look at the strike and patina on nickels, if its nice and deep like yours, it bears a looking at...seems all the newer coins are poorly and shallowly struck..
Mud

I keep my eyes out for those dark grey war nickels in circulation too. The silver sulfide patina is usually a giveaway.

The portraits have undergone a noticeable (at least to the less clueless of us primates) redesign in recent years - the quarter and cent are particularly obvious. "Red Book" doesn't seem to say anything about it, but it is very clear in the book's photos that the relief has been lowered and the details (like hair lines) reworked to compensate. I think having less relief in the design may help the dies last longer, perhaps by allowing use of less striking pressure and forestalling die breakage and may make the coins wear better too - not sure. Unfortunately the new lower relief portraits lack the gravitas (I can't believe I'm saying this) of the originals and come off as cartoony (is that a word?). They managed to take something that was stiff and un-artful and make it even worse - amazing!

-pete