Living Piece of World War II History

The Complete Wartime Silver Nickel Collection

With a BONUS WWII Lincoln Steel Cent!

World War II was a massive global event that literally changed the face of the world as we know it -- but something many collectors have forgotten is that for a short period of time it also changed the face of American coinage.

Wartime Shortages and Coinage Changes

Every nation was faced with a shortage of wartime materials during WWII, and the United States of America was no exception. The two largest shortages we faced were of copper and nickel, two materials integral to the production of our one-cent and five-cent coinage denominations.

In response to this, the United States Mint decided to change the metal composition of the coins for the duration of the War. The original copper cents would become the well known, single-year-of-issue, 1943 Steel Cents, and the Nickel would turn into something truly beloved by collectors -- the Silver Wartime Nickels.

But their metal content was not all these special nickels had -- they were also the first coins in U.S. Mint history to feature a Philadelphia mint mark!

A True Collecting Secret: The Wartime Silver Nickels

Produced from 1942 to 1945, a total of 11 Silver Nickels were produced at all three major United States Mints: Philadelphia, Denver, and the Old Granite Lady in San Francisco. To help tell the Silver Nickels and their regular counterparts apart, the Mint altered the design slightly. They moved the placement of the mint mark from below the coin's year to above the dome of Monticello.

This was also the first time ever that the letter “P” was used to designate the Philadelphia Mint as the location of the coin's origin.

Once the war ended, they switched back to their initial nickel based composition and retired the Silver Nickels and their special mint mark locations... making these 11 coins the only ones of their kind in the history of the United States Mint!

Silver Spikes, A Massive Melting, and A Find of WWII Relics

Over the past four decades we have seen three major runs on silver. There was one in the early 1980s when silver hit $50 an ounce for the first time, then another short run in the 1990s, and finally we reached another high point in 2011 when silver hit $50 an ounce. Due to all these surges in silver melting, very few of these special Silver Nickels still remain... and those that do still exist rarely leave a collection.

Lucky for us, and for you, we have been purchasing every single roll of Silver War Nickels we came across for the last several years and can finally offer the complete set again for a value that is simply unbeatable.