We are excited to release the thirty second coin in the CollecTons Keepers program, an exclusive series only offered by CollecTons. The thirty second coin we present, CollecTons Keepers #32 in Series, features the 1945-S Jefferson Silver War Nickel.
Why is the 1945-S Jefferson Silver War Nickel a Coin Worth Keeping?
Nickel is a critical wartime material and the entrance of the United States into World War II put the United States Mint and the United States War Department in direct competition for the metal. The U.S. did not have enough nickel to satisfy both needs so the Mint began experimenting with a non nickel alloy for the Jefferson Five Cent piece. This task was not as easy as it may seem. At the time, the nickel was heavily used in pay phones and vending machines. These machines used the electrical resistance of the nickel and the known weight of the nickel to detect counterfeits. It was neither feasible nor desirable to shut down these machines for the duration of the war so the Mint was tasked with creating a new alloy for the Wartime Five Cent piece that closely resembled the characteristics of the Pre-War Five Cent piece without using actual nickel in the alloy.
After some experimentation, the U.S. Mint found that a composition of 35% silver, 56% copper and 9% manganese produced the desired effect. An act of Congress on March 27, 1942 authorized the minting of the new “Wartime Silver Nickels” and they went into production in October of 1942. The mint mark was enlarged and moved from the obverse of the coin to the reverse to make it easier to sort the coins out of circulation after the war was over. A mint mark was also added to the Philadelphia coins, making it the first time a Philadelphia (P) mint mark had ever appeared on a U.S. coin.
Whether enough nickel was conserved to help the war effort is debatable, but the new Wartime Nickels served as a constant reminder of the sacrifices every American needed to make in support of the war effort. This 1945-S Silver Wartime Jefferson Nickel was the final coin issued during the war, making it an obvious choice for a CollecTons Keeper!
What makes the Collectons Keepers program special?
Here at CollecTons, we work hard researching coins that should be part of every collection. Our goal is to utilize our knowledge in the numismatic industry to select coins worthy of being in everyone's collection! Therefore, the CollecTons Keepers program will only feature those Coins Worth Keeping.
Each coin is hand selected and given to ANACS (America's Oldest Grading Service) for grading and authentication. The coins are then sealed in an ANACS certified proprietary slab holder for long-term storage, with our limited edition label marking it a CollecTons Keeper.
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