Plug Martian
Elite Member
Just to throw my 2 cents in here. First of all, there were LOTS of vending machines in the 1940s and BottleCapKing is correct in his information regarding the alloy composition and its reasoning.
As to how War Nickels ring up on the E-Track or CTX 3030, I have the same problem in my experience. Most of them ring up like regular Nickels. This includes some that are badly pitted, blackened or bubbled and some that look like they just came out of circulation. There are one or two that ring up a little lower (12-09 or so) than Nickels. I have several that rang up in the pull tab range. I also have one (I think it's a D mintmark) that rang up as a zinc penny. The unusual ones give me the same numbers in air tests as they did in the ground. Believe me, I remember. Can't say I have ever had one ring up as a Dime or Quarter, that's pretty crazy.
I personally think the reason for the variability is twofold. One is the interaction of the alloy with ground conditions. Sometimes the ground doesn't do much too them. A site that is kind to Coppers also seems to be kind to War Nickels. A site that has acidic or very damp soil or one that gets a lot of fertilizer/pesticide/lime treatments seems to produce strange number results. Nickel and Silver don't care much about the soil they are in but Manganese seems to be picky. A lot like Zinc. We all know what happens to Zinc cents in the ground. I think the same thing is happening, but to a lesser extent, with the War Nickels. As the Manganese is oxidizing or rotting away or whatever, it is changing the electromagnetic properties of the coin.
The other thing I believe is that the alloy was not as carefully controlled as other U.S. coins. I know I'm a heretic for thinking it but I do. A one or two percent difference in one or another part of the alloy could change the VDI. If you had a planchet run that was 1% less Silver .5% less Nickel and 1.5% more Manganese, I'm sure that would ring up different. Or .5% more silver .5% more Nickel and 1% less Manganese with 60 years in acidic soil..... I'm sure that would ring up higher then a regular Nickel.
Hunt Happy!
Plug Martian
As to how War Nickels ring up on the E-Track or CTX 3030, I have the same problem in my experience. Most of them ring up like regular Nickels. This includes some that are badly pitted, blackened or bubbled and some that look like they just came out of circulation. There are one or two that ring up a little lower (12-09 or so) than Nickels. I have several that rang up in the pull tab range. I also have one (I think it's a D mintmark) that rang up as a zinc penny. The unusual ones give me the same numbers in air tests as they did in the ground. Believe me, I remember. Can't say I have ever had one ring up as a Dime or Quarter, that's pretty crazy.
I personally think the reason for the variability is twofold. One is the interaction of the alloy with ground conditions. Sometimes the ground doesn't do much too them. A site that is kind to Coppers also seems to be kind to War Nickels. A site that has acidic or very damp soil or one that gets a lot of fertilizer/pesticide/lime treatments seems to produce strange number results. Nickel and Silver don't care much about the soil they are in but Manganese seems to be picky. A lot like Zinc. We all know what happens to Zinc cents in the ground. I think the same thing is happening, but to a lesser extent, with the War Nickels. As the Manganese is oxidizing or rotting away or whatever, it is changing the electromagnetic properties of the coin.
The other thing I believe is that the alloy was not as carefully controlled as other U.S. coins. I know I'm a heretic for thinking it but I do. A one or two percent difference in one or another part of the alloy could change the VDI. If you had a planchet run that was 1% less Silver .5% less Nickel and 1.5% more Manganese, I'm sure that would ring up different. Or .5% more silver .5% more Nickel and 1% less Manganese with 60 years in acidic soil..... I'm sure that would ring up higher then a regular Nickel.
Hunt Happy!
Plug Martian
