During WWII nickel was scarce so they took the nickel out of the nickel:
From mid 1942 to 1945, so-called "Wartime" composition nickels were created. These coins are 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese. The only other US coin to use manganese is the Sacagawea dollar. These coins are usually a bit darker than regular nickels, due to their manganese content (as was true of many British coins minted from 1920 through 1947), and feature the largest mint mark ever to grace a United States coin, located above Monticello's dome on the reverse. Nickels of this series minted in Philadelphia have the unique distinction of being the only US coins minted prior to 1979 to bear a "P" mint mark.
I remember reading as a kid some sort of Scholastic-type This Is Your Secret Service book that told the story of a counterfeiter who made phony 1944 nickels, but who didn't put the "P" mint mark on them and thus got caught. Even then I thought, "What kind of idiot would counterfeit nickels?". But I resolved then and there that if I ever counterfeited nickels, I wouldn't make the same mistake.
Thanks for the 'mug shot' !
Posted by: chris Muir | 04/24/2005 at 08:09 PM