searching war nickels

[saturn19]

Hi guys, I'm new to roll hunting. can silver war nickels be picked out of a roll by scanning the rims or do you need to read each date?
If anyone has a pic of what a war nickel looks like in a roll that would be helpful.

 

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[Stang1968]

You need to read each date to be sure. I've seen some that are bright and shiny like a regular nickel, some that are dark like tarnished silver, and some that are yellowed on the rims from old paper rolls.
Another advantage to date searching is finding V's, buffalos, and 1938 D or S mint nickels as well as 1950 Ds.

 

[treeslayer]

dump them out on a table , and look for the older dark color ones. once tou find one you will be able to find them just by the way they look. I did a 200 dollar bag today in fifteen minutes. Results were 1 war, 1v nickel and 40 pre 1960. HH

 

[mountainman 2]

They usually have a grayish color to them, but not always. The top row are all war nickels. The nickel under them is not a war nickel for comparison.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

You really cannot tell at all by rim because it looks the same as a regular non-war nickel. If you're just looking for war nickels, look above the monticello dome on the back for a mintmark. There will be a "P" "D" or "S" on top of the dome, here are some examples:

http://warnickels.com/

Also... war nickels range from 1942-1945, but not all 1942 nickels contain silver, therefore some are not war nickels. If the 1942 nickel is a war nickel(has silver), there will be a mint mark above the monticello on the reverse.

This will give you a good idea on why some nickels minted in 1942 were not war nickels:
http://warnickels.com/1942.html

Hope this helps you out!

-BuffaloBoy

 

[saturn19]

the eye strain isn't worth it. (when silvers @ $100 I'll reconsider )

 

[cuttybce]

Most (but not all) War nicks are discolored and are therefore darker than later nickels. But some have fooled me....the War nicks that are in nice shape can be just as shiny as modern-day nickels.

 

[coinfinder]

I would say reading the dates is the best way to go. I have found a couple of war nickels where the mint mark was hard to see.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

What I do is flip them all to the heads side, pick them up in order so that the dates can be seen when dropping them into the box of nickels which is empty of all rolls. This is quick and easy.

You can also look for older patina on the nickels, though my last box had a 1939p nickel that looked like it was minted yesterday. Fooled me since I thought it was a 1959, since the 3's and 5's on the nickels seem to look like 5's after a while. (I always double check my dates on the 1959 and 1958 nickels incase I mistakenly put a 1939 or 1938 nickel in that pile.

Hope this helps again,
-BuffaloBoy

 

[FingerGrime]

how the heck do you do a nickle box in 15 minutes thats extemely impressive.Ive gone super fast an did it in 1 hour that was going like a bat out of hel@!!!!

He said that he did a bag in 15 minutes!
4000 coins
That is quite fast.