Jefferson Wartime Nickel KM# 192a

Q: When is a nickel not made of nickel?
A: During a war.

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During 1938, Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was honored by having his portrait placed on a new design of the five-cent coin. This coin, as was its predecessor the Buffalo Nickel, was minted on a planchette made from an alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel.

At that time, there was global unrest in many parts of the world — a civil war had been raging in Spain, Japan was warring with China, Italy was invading Ethiopia, and one year later would see Hitler invading Poland and triggering World War II. Two years thereafter, the US was dragged into war by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Of the metals used during wartime, nickel was one of the most important.

The US Congress authorized five-cent pieces to be minted from other materials to reserve nickel for the war effort. An alloy of 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese was chosen, and was used from October 1942 for three years until the war ended in 1945. Normally, absence of any mint mark indicates that the coin was minted in Philadelphia. However, during World War II, the Jefferson Nickel was marked with a "P" in Philadelphia to signify the change in metallic composition. Once World War II ended, the five-cent coin was once again struck from the former copper-nickel alloy and the "P" mint mark for coins minted in Philadelphia was suspended.


The obverse (front) of the coin looks the same regardless of the metallic composition. The portrait of Thomas Jefferson is flanked by "IN GOD WE TRUST" on the left and "LIBERTY" on the right, followed by the year of mintage.


The reverse (back) of the coin features a depiction of Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. The only element that differs between the two alloy-versions of the coin are a large mint mark above Monticello only on the coins minted during part of World War II.

Besides the historical significance of these coins, they aren't especially valuable, as the silver content was only 35%, which equates to USD $0.89 at the current price of silver. A coin in the condition of this one could bring as much as USD $2 on the collector market, while a coin in better condition could command more. The only wartime nickels that are quite valuable are those that were accidentally struck twice by the minting die, giving the appearance of a second, "ghost" eye slightly offset from the one shown on most coins.

This coin was found on the back of a shelf in my parent's house. My mother had wrapped a piece of cellophane tape around it and wrote "KEEP THIS" across it. She probably did that just because of its age, although she might have known about the silver content. I was not aware that wartime nickels were made with silver, so finding it and researching it was an educational moment for me!