Silver War Nickels 35% Silver. During World War II, nickel was needed for armor plate, and copper was required for electrical wiring, shell cases, and radar equipment. Thus, the U.S. Mint began experimenting with substitute metals for the Jefferson five-cent piece, as well as some means to distinguish the new-composition coin from the former 'nickel' five-cent piece (actually composed of an alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel). The result was the curious 'war nickel,' the first five-cent piece with any silver content since the silver half dime was discontinued in 1873.

History

Along the way, the search for a new alloy took some unexpected twists and turns. Just weeks after Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, the February 1942 issue of Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine reported that research chemists in the United States had developed a 'nickel less nickel' that would save for defense annually almost a million pounds each of vital nickel and copper, yet still work in vending machines. Suggested was an alloy of 50% silver and 50% copper.

Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross said that with Congressional approval the Mint could quickly begin striking five-cent pieces of the new composition. To this end, experimental five-cent pieces were struck in the proposed alloy, having the same designs, weight, and diameter as the 'regular' Jefferson nickel. When more extensive testing revealed that five-cent pieces struck in the half silver, half copper alloy would not work very well in vending machines after all, Congress instead authorized the production of five-cent pieces struck in an alloy of 56% copper, 35% silver, and 9% manganese.

Because the new alloy went into use during the production run of 1942-dated five-cent pieces, some means had to be found to quickly distinguish the new coins from the old when the time came to melt them. One possible solution was the use of a reeded edge. Although experimental reeded-edge five-cent pieces were in fact struck, the concept was abandoned in favor of an oversized mintmark above Monticello's dome, including for the first time a 'P' for Philadelphia.

To meet the wartime demand for small change, all three Mints worked around the clock from 1942 to 1945, producing record numbers of coins. In 1943 alone, for example, the Philadelphia Mint turned out more than 270 million five-cent pieces! Unfortunately, with the production of Proof coins suspended from 1943 through 1949, the 1942 Type II five-cent piece is the only 'war nickel' Proof available to collectors. As such, it is highly prized, although enough were made that just about anyone can afford a nice specimen.

After the war, the nickel five-cent piece reverted to its original composition and mintmark style, ending a series of changes that caught at least one careless counterfeiter off guard. In the early 1950s, Francis Leroy Henning of Erial, N.J. (located about 15 miles from the Philadelphia Mint), made more than a half million counterfeit nickels, most of them dated 1944. However, Henning used nickel instead of the wartime alloy to make the coins. He ran into trouble when collectors began noticing slightly oversize and overweight 1944 dated nickels lacking the characteristic mintmark above the dome of Monticello.

Amid newspaper reports concerning a flood of counterfeit 'nickels' into a nearby creek and river, federal agents arrested him in Cleveland in 1955. Henning was tried, sentenced to six years in prison, and fined $5,000.

In other nickel-related news, Felix Oscar Schlag, designer of the Jefferson nickel, had found it necessary to put away his sculptor's tools and find another profession during the war. Addressing an educational forum at the 1964 ANA convention in Cleveland, Schlag said:

'The future [in 1940] seemed bright and promising. There were inspiring offers for the Governor Homer monument, one for Admiral Moffett, and an appointment with President Roosevelt was planned for the creation of a marine monument.

'Then the war came. Planned commissions and promises of others were halted. Materials were difficult to obtain. All national, state, and personal interests in art were at a low. It seemed that everything which meant life to me was crashing. I spent time and money to get other commissions. My economic situation became desperate. I was over 50 years of age, had no mechanical training, and had never worked in a factory...

'At the beginning of the war I tried to enlist in the U.S. Army. As I was still in good physical condition I expected to be accepted. I had all my belongings packed and stored. Then came the letter from the War Department commending me for my patriotism but refusing me because they said a man of my age could not stand the rigors of army life.'

Out of necessity Schlag turned to photography, opening a portrait studio in Owosso, Michigan, where he died in 1974 (although more than a decade later his name still appeared in the Owosso telephone directory, Mrs. Schlag never having changed the listing).

Earlier, in the mid-1960s, an acute shortage of nickels in the New England region was attributed to the melting of millions of 'war nickels' for their silver content, the culmination of a bizarre chain of events worthy of Robert LeRoy Ripley's 'Believe It or Not.'