Two days ago I showed you two of my steel pennies, a peculiar numismatic remnant of World War II, when the U.S. mint was trying to cut down it's copper use to save it for the needs of war.
Today I have another remnant of the same period, this time a nickel from 1945. Like copper, nickep was also a critical war material, so the U.S. mint came up with a new composition for nickels that would require... no nickel 😅
After some trial and error, an alloy of 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese was chosen for these coins, that are today known as war nickels.
Here's some brief history from Wikipedia:
With the entry of the United States into World War II, nickel became a critical war material, and the Mint sought to reduce its use of the metal. On March 27, 1942, Congress authorized a nickel made of 50% copper and 50% silver, but gave the Mint the authority to vary the proportions, or add other metals, in the public interest. The Mint's greatest concern was in finding an alloy which would use no nickel, but still satisfy counterfeit detectors in vending machines. An alloy of 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese proved suitable, and this alloy began to be coined into nickels from October 1942. In the hopes of making them easy to sort out and withdraw after the war, the Mint struck all "war nickels" with a large mint mark appearing above Monticello. source
The coin in the photos above is my only, for now, war nickel in my collection. Dunno why but I have a really strong affection towards it. Maybe because of its rough looks or the history behind it. I will definitely add more to the stack when a good opportunity arises!