Why is this Nickel reading like a quarter?? Someone please explain to me?

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

So here is a first. I’ve been detecting for about 17 years now and usally any “mystery” coins I’ve found have always resulted in an explanation until today.

I went out to an area today where they are doing some construction and dug up a lot of old concrete. I was using my ATP and got a good solid 85. I was hoping it for a silver dime when out popped this. It looked like a nickel but I waved it over my coil and the same 85. It was covered at first and I assumed it was a token until I got home. I started cleaning it up figuring it would be a random token then I started seeing the Jefferson bust and the Monticello on the back.

Then I thought. Maybe it’s a silver nickle ( which still already a reads like a nickel on all my machines)

I just took it back and waved it over my Etrac and it’s a solid 12-44.

What the hell is this thing made of? I don’t see a mint mark above the Monticello so I’m completly confused what’s going on.

Any help would be great. This is a first for me with a coin reading so far off of what it is

 

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[diamonddave]

So here is a first. I’ve been detecting for about 17 years now and usally any “mystery” coins I’ve found have always resulted in an explanation until today.

I went out to an area today where they are doing some construction and dug up a lot of old concrete. I was using my ATP and got a good solid 85. I was hoping it for a silver dime when out popped this. It looked like a nickel but I waved it over my coil and the same 85. It was covered at first and I assumed it was a token until I got home. I started cleaning it up figuring it would be a random token then I started seeing the Jefferson bust and the Monticello on the back.

Then I thought. Maybe it’s a silver nickle ( which still already a reads like a nickel on all my machines)

I just took it back and waved it over my Etrac and it’s a solid 12-44.

What the hell is this thing made of? I don’t see a mint mark above the Monticello so I’m completly confused what’s going on.

Any help would be great. This is a first for me with a coin reading so far off of what it is



View attachment 2096406

May be a war nickel with an unusually high silver content.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

May be a war nickel with an unusually high silver content.

I’ve just never seen that before. My wife and I went thru about 30 silver nickels in the last hour and they are dead in 12-13’s but this is a solid 12-44. It reads like the same as a rosie I checked against it. And it’s missing the mint mark in the back. I’m going to try and soak it to see if I can get a date to at least reference a time period. It even weighs right at 5grams. It’s almost reading like it’s solid copper but I don’t think that was ever a thing either.

Usually my mystery coins are just smooth coins with marks that end up being illusions 🤣

 

[UnderMiner]

Clean the area above Monticello, if you see an S or a P that means the nickle is 35% silver so will conduct better than normal nickle. Could also be a counterfeit nickle, there was a guy making them by the thosands back in the 1950's if I remember correctly.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Clean the area above Monticello, if you see an S or a P that means the nickle is 35% silver so will conduct better than normal nickle. Could also be a counterfeit nickle, there was a guy making them by the thosands back in the 1950's if I remember correctly.

Yea. I’ve found quite a few war nicks and sometimes they would read like a 12-14 or 12-15. But not like this one.

I did finally see a date and it IS a 1943 which puts it in that category . It just doesn’t have a mint mark. I looked up the Henning nickels and from what I’ve see is they weigh more. Like 5.4 or so.

I’m soaking it in PB now to see if maybe the mint mark is worn almost to nothing. I’ve just never found one that was so high in a reading. Even after the handful we just tested that I have.

I was just trying to see if anyone had one read super high like that.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

May be a war nickel with an unusually high silver content.

That could be it. I did get a date of 1943 but no mint mark on the back. I even checked into the Henning Nickels but those weigh a lot more and this is obvious made of silver. Just bizarre to me. I could see it reading high like between a penny and nickle but wouldn’t think it would reach quarter numbers.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

It’s for sure a War Nickel. I’ve just never had one do this or even seen a post where it did it. I thought all the crud on it was making it read weird but it forever reads like a quarter.

 

[diamonddave]

Here is a response I got when asking the same. I had very distinct tone differences on the Vanquish with different War Nickels too.

Vanquish 540 - War Nickel Tones and VDI

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...

www.treasurenet.com

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Here is a response I got when asking the same. I had very distinct tone differences on the Vanquish with different War Nickels too.

Vanquish 540 - War Nickel Tones and VDI

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...

www.treasurenet.com

Oh wow! That’s good to know. It’s wild how out of all the ones I’ve found I’ve never came across this. But hell I’ve found Indian heads that wouldn’t barely even read in my machine before so I guess it happens. Thanks for this! I can finally get some sleep now 🤣🤣

 

[CTXAgGetter]

So here is a first. I’ve been detecting for about 17 years now and usally any “mystery” coins I’ve found have always resulted in an explanation until today.

I went out to an area today where they are doing some construction and dug up a lot of old concrete. I was using my ATP and got a good solid 85. I was hoping it for a silver dime when out popped this. It looked like a nickel but I waved it over my coil and the same 85. It was covered at first and I assumed it was a token until I got home. I started cleaning it up figuring it would be a random token then I started seeing the Jefferson bust and the Monticello on the back.

Then I thought. Maybe it’s a silver nickle ( which still already a reads like a nickel on all my machines)

I just took it back and waved it over my Etrac and it’s a solid 12-44.

What the hell is this thing made of? I don’t see a mint mark above the Monticello so I’m completly confused what’s going on.

Any help would be great. This is a first for me with a coin reading so far off of what it is



View attachment 2096406

I've had it happen a number of times. The soil in my area is notorious for making war nickels crusty (especially in low-lying areas that stay wet for long periods). It's likely the black encrustation causing it to read high.
If you soak it in a little lemon juice and rub the black off and then try again with the detector, I'll bet that it reads much closer to a nickel tone.
Can't explain it... just know it from experience with crusty war nickels.

 

[sgoss66]

While MOST "war" nickels will read close to, or slightly above, a standard nickel, there are a small percentage of them that read higher; sometimes MUCH higher (on occasion, up into the penny range). I've done some research into this, and even had some unusually high-reading ones tested at a university via XRF.

Bottom line, there was large variance in some war nickels, in terms of both the types of metals used, AND the amounts of each metal, in these nickels. There's little if any documentation from the U.S. Mint about this, so it really is an interesting little mystery. There's a whole thread that I started on another detecting forum, several years back, with alot of discussion. If you are interested, let me know and I'll dig up the old thread and post a link...

Steve