The new Jefferson type debuted in 1938, but war came to the United States in 1941. Nickel was a metal needed for tool steel and other critical wartime applications. The metal was in short supply, and as in other countries, an ersatz alloy was substituted for the 5-cent coin’s traditional copper-nickel.
The problem, however, was the coin’s widespread use in vending machines, in jukeboxes, and in pay telephones. A nickel-free composition that weighed 5 grams and delivered an electro-magnetic signature similar to the copper-nickel coin was required, otherwise many, many thousands of coin-operated machines—and pay telephones in particular--would need to be altered.
The solution was an odd combination of three metals (.560 copper, .350 silver, .090 manganese) that provided the proper weight, electro-magnetic signature, and satisfactory color. It was intended that the “silver nickels,” which were coined 1942-1945, would be retrieved from circulation after the war. These “warnickels,” therefore, were furnished with distinctive mintmarks—very much larger than usual—and in a different location. Instead of the usual position to the right of Monticello, the “silver nickels” of 1942-1945 displayed their giant mintmarks above Monticello.
There is something else odd about the mintmark displayed by the 1944P warnickel illustrated here. In addition to the D for Denver and S for San Francisco mintmarks visible on U.S. coinage, for the first time ever there is a P for Philadelphia.
After the war the government made some half-hearted attempts to withdraw the “warnickels,” but the coins continued to circulate for decades. There was a twist with their color, however. Silver nickels came from the mint somewhat whiter than the usual 5-cent nickel, but eventually weathered to a darker color than the copper-nickel version.
After a few years the big mintmark wasn’t necessary in order to distinguish them. Their darker, slightly greenish color betrayed them instead.
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