Big Boys Hobbies

War nickels, Dig all the numbers if you want them!!

JackalopeZL1

JackalopeZL1

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If you are bored here is a quick Read :) Some may know already but I know a bunch don't.

I have dug a lot of war nickels and I noticed they have been all over the board for me. I have brought it up in the past and folks always say that is weird and even went as far as to say something could be wrong with the machine. We all know they are 35% silver. So anyways I figured I would make a quick couple of videos showing how a few I have dug ring up on my 1 month old CTX and my near new Deus. And just a note. I got consistent readings with all my other silver coins in the pile, Dimes, Quarters, halves and buffalos were consistent as well. Could it be a "S" mint mark thing? Get yours out and check, I am curious if the other mintmarks are wonky like mine..

Anyways the moral of the story is if you want war nickels you need to dig all signals and tones:icon_thumright: Makes me wonder how many I have passed up during the years:icon_scratch: Enjoy

CTX video with war nickels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN3s66vilE8

Deus video with war nickels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv0sdrmSXb0
 
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War Nickels have always been consistent for me. But, the thing that makes War Nickels unique is that they are the only US coin minted containing Manganese. It may be something in your soil that reacts with the Manganese. I have noticed that war nickels have the tendency to bubble, and when they do, the VDI can change - even more so if the bubble breaks.
 
BottleCapKing said:
War Nickels have always been consistent for me. But, the thing that makes War Nickels unique is that they are the only US coin minted containing Manganese. It may be something in your soil that reacts with the Manganese. I have noticed that war nickels have the tendency to bubble, and when they do, the VDI can change - even more so if the bubble breaks.
Click to expand...

What mint mark ones do you have? Someone else noticed they only saw the difference in the S mintmark ones. I am thinking it is more of a Mix of the amount metals in the coins? Since I have dug some in sand, dirt, clay and they have always been inconsistent. And a few of those in the air test were really clean and still are ringing up very different, obviously not in the ground in the video either. Then to think how many folks pass those middle signals.. and would never know if their war nickels are consistent or not. But either way I have had lots of folks like you say they always ring up like a normal nickel or a tiny bit high.. Hopefully someone can get something out of these videos.
 
Great read! In my experiences they have been different signals and I never got a minute thought it was a war nickel before I dug it. Better reason to dig it all! HH!
 
JackalopeZL1 said:
What mint mark ones do you have? Someone else noticed they only saw the difference in the S mintmark ones. I am thinking it is more of a Mix of the amount in the coins, Since I have dug some in sand, dirt, clay and they have always been inconsistent. And a few of those in the air test were really clean and still are ringing up very different, obviously not in the ground in the video either. Then to think how many folks pass those middle signals.. and would never know if their war nickels are consistent or not. But either way I have had lots of folks like you say they always ring up like a normal nickel or a tiny bit high.. Hopefully someone can get something out of these videos.
Click to expand...

Air testing will tell you nothing. The inconsistencies in the VDIs will come from the halo which will most likely be some flavor on manganese. Still leaning towards there being something in your soil that leaches out the manganese.

I have found all three mint marks. All of them have rung up 19-20. Perhaps there was a bad batch at the SF mint. The alloy was pretty consistent (56% Cu, 35% Ag, 9% Mn). There do exist, though, very rare, War Nickles that have been struck on the normal CuNi25 alloy as well as on the Zinc coated stainless steet that the 1943 pennies were struck from. The zinc coated ones are I think 1944P.
 
BottleCapKing said:
Air testing will tell you nothing. The inconsistencies in the VDIs will come from the halo
.
Click to expand...


I don't agree, did you even watch the videos that are air tests with no HALO??, Also they read the same in the ground when I dug them as well it is a apples to apples test essentially( again in different soil types) Hard to forget a nickel that reads like a dime or quarter :), And again, The point of this video is for the folks that think they all read close to the same. They do not and some can be very different, Doesn't matter what metal it is, could be unatanium for that matter or it could be 100 different reasons as to why they ring up different.. the fact pointed out in this video is that some war nickles read differently that what a lot of folks think, My soil I detect in is no more unique than many many other areas around the globe :) You can be missing them if you are not digging them all.
 
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JackalopeZL1 said:
Well that makes sense as to why your comments were so completely inaccurate after proof was just posted.
Click to expand...

Originally, the war nickels were supposed to be 50% Cu, 50% Ag. This alloy was found to be incompatible with vending machines due to dissimilar electrical characteristics. The alloy they finally settled on was CuAg35Mn9 because it was both durable, and at the same dimensions as the standard Jefferson nickel, displayed the same electrical characteristics as the standard CuNi25 alloy, allowing it to be used in vending machines.

So, the dimensions of the coin are the same. The conductivity of the coins are approximately the same. They should ring up approximately the same as non-war nickels. If the Manganese is leached out of the nickel, it should cause an increase in the conductivity of the alloy. It is that leaching of metal into the ground that causes the halo. Variations of Manganese depletion will increase the VDI of the War Nickel. Leach out enough and it will air-test near dime/quarter.

So, we can agree to disagree on this one, but, I am sticking to the Manganese oxidation theory. (Manganese has a conductivity that is 2 magnitudes lower than that of Silver and Copper, just so you have a frame of reference as to how Mn drags down the conductivity of a a CuAg alloy.).
 
I don't think you are getting it, the reason why they ring up differently could be because my uncles dog has hemeroids!! Or because spiders have eight legs, or because jesus Christ is on a bus here from Las Vegas for his second coming. The fact is in the ground or the air some war nickels ring up much higher than the normal nickel. So again folks dig them all. War nickels can have very different VDI's and tones period as the video shows as well and the experience of many who have dug them and seen this like myself and Callrdwellr above.
 
BottleCapKing said:
War Nickels have always been consistent for me. But, the thing that makes War Nickels unique is that they are the only US coin minted containing Manganese. It may be something in your soil that reacts with the Manganese. I have noticed that war nickels have the tendency to bubble, and when they do, the VDI can change - even more so if the bubble breaks.
Click to expand...

If you had watched the video you are commenting on you would see there is no Halo in the air, With that said they rang up the same way in the ground as they did in the air, there are no bubbles and they are in good shape as the video shows

BottleCapKing said:
Air testing will tell you nothing. The inconsistencies in the VDIs will come from the halo which will most likely be some flavor on manganese. Still leaning towards there being something in your soil that leaches out the manganese.

I have found all three mint marks. All of them have rung up 19-20. Perhaps there was a bad batch at the SF mint. .
Click to expand...
An the video would be perfect for you to watch you may learn your thought on how they all ring the same is incorrect. the comment about the SF mint having a inconsistency is what I asked and hoped folks may do some testing of there own vs other mints.

BottleCapKing said:
Originally, the war nickels were supposed to be 50% Cu, 50% Ag. This alloy was found to be incompatible with vending machines due to dissimilar electrical characteristics. The alloy they finally settled on was CuAg35Mn9 because it was both durable, and at the same dimensions as the standard Jefferson nickel, displayed the same electrical characteristics as the standard CuNi25 alloy, allowing it to be used in vending machines.

So, the dimensions of the coin are the same. The conductivity of the coins are approximately the same. They should ring up approximately the same as non-war nickels. If the Manganese is leached out of the nickel, it should cause an increase in the conductivity of the alloy. It is that leaching of metal into the ground that causes the halo. Variations of Manganese depletion will increase the VDI of the War Nickel. Leach out enough and it will air-test near dime/quarter. These last 2 sentences contradict them selves, is it the halo causing the high reading or the conductivity of the metal after this leach theory? if you comment on Halo(halo causes High readings as we all know) You can't have your cake and it eat it too. If this was the case they would ring up differently air to ground

So, we can agree to disagree on this one, but, I am sticking to the Manganese oxidation theory. (Manganese has a conductivity that is 2 magnitudes lower than that of Silver and Copper, just so you have a frame of reference as to how Mn drags down the conductivity of a a CuAg alloy.).
Click to expand...

Your science as to why could be accurate, who knows, or it could be inconsistencies in the mixing of the metal at the mint, it makes no difference though because it has nothing to do with the premise of this thread I started about war nickels in the ground or air can ring up much higher than the normal nickel SO DIG THEM ALL!!:grin::grin:
 
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I have only found one P war nickel. The danged thing rang up as silver on my GT. I was surprised when it came out of the dirt. I later air tested it and got a much lower tone and numbers. Air tested a bunch of them that I have had since the early 60's and every one of them rang up in the nickel range.
 
BottleCapKing said:
Originally, the war nickels were supposed to be 50% Cu, 50% Ag. This alloy was found to be incompatible with vending machines due to dissimilar electrical characteristics. The alloy they finally settled on was CuAg35Mn9 because it was both durable, and at the same dimensions as the standard Jefferson nickel, displayed the same electrical characteristics as the standard CuNi25 alloy, allowing it to be used in vending machines.
Click to expand...

Just curious, what type of vending machines were in use in 1945? I can only remember in the 60's most of the vending machines were mechanical in nature and electrical characteristics would have nothing to do with coin use in vending machines.
 
Watching you guys argue over this is funny . The evidence is in the vidios , great post and no in the 40s if there were vending machines they were mechanical . My theory is there is an inconsistent amour of silver. In them .
Pretty obvious that if you want to find more war nickels your going to need to dig solid repeatable signals . They guy who can listen close and can tell the difference in size of target may have a better chance but unless that nickel is deeper it should give you a solid tone . , no double beep or feedback . I love the numbers on my minelab but I cut my teath with a Tesoro Vaquero , I'd say 95 % of my hunt is by sound . Get. Good set of headphones and learn to use them. There is one thing I'd like to try in un disturbed dirt. Pull tabs did not exist back then and in theory they would not sink as deep as a nickel as fast. I would say I need to start digging the deeper nickel targets at least solid signals . Who knows , maybe a few gold rings would come my way more often . Can't hurt .
Again great post. , Dew
 
Hunting in trashy parks (can slaw, etc.), for a while I didn't dig nickel range signals. Now I do, and have dug about eight war nickels. I agree that some give a typical nickel sound and numbers, but at least two were more like a silver signal. I assume that there is variation in the metal content, but who knows?
 
I think the "bubbled" theory is valid...if the manganese was leaching through the bubbles that would certainly throw the numbers off...I've dug them when they've read other than a nickel and most times those are the crusty ones...the ones in good shape seem to stay in the nickel range.
 
As the video shows all of mine are in good shape.. some rING up way high. But either way no matter the reason again if you are not digoing all signals you are missing war nickels.
 
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