Vanquish 540 - War Nickel Tones and VDI

[diamonddave]

I dug four war nickels with my 540 this year. Was air testing my finds under the same machine in Coin Mode this evening and recording VDI numbers for reference and found two of the war nickels produced a mid-tone /13 VDI. The other two produced a high-tone /23 VDI. I don't recall any nickels registering this high in tone or VDI when dug. I'm thinking the highest number war nickel I dug was a 17. I'm guessing there is a distinct difference in the amount of silver in these coins but would there be enough to raise the VDI by 10?

Has anybody experienced anything similar with war nickels?

DD

 

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[67GTA]

I've experienced this also. From what I've read, the US mint was experimenting with the percentages of alloys to use due to the nickel shortage. I've seen estimates from 50% to 35% silver. The later years are probably more consistent but I haven't tested that.