Silver War Nickels, holy cow!

AlaskaAng

Sr. Member
Dec 23, 2004
300
9
SW Wisconsin
Detector(s) used
White's XLT, MXT Pro, Garrett AT Pro Max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
OK all, here's something I never really thought about. I was at an auction on Friday night and there was a bag of 40 war nickels being auctioned off...well, I don't have a big interest in old Jefferson nickels but was aware that the war nickels contained 35% silver. Anyway I bid on the nickels and won them for $17, not bad but now what do I do with them? The very next day I visited the local coin dealer to see if he'd be interested...nope! OK, now what do I do with these ugly nickels...EBAY? So I put them on EBAY for $50 "buy it now"...not knowing if I'd sell them...well, in less than 3 hrs, I sold them! Wow! You might say that I'll be on the lookout for more ugly war nickels in the future!

Happy Hunting!!
Ang
 

liftloop

Silver Member
May 7, 2008
3,140
390
lakelinden mi
Detector(s) used
MXTdeepscan 8by14dd, bulls eye 2, 5900diprosl Maxima1500, Master Hunter cx plus Treasure Hound, surf
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
.........How dare you call somethen ugly..... after it turned you a profit.........................................................It should be those beauty war nickles
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
I think you broke even with what they're worth, at the current price of silver. War nickels contain .0563 oz. each of silver. Do the math, and you come up with about 2.25 oz, once refined/smelted, for 40 nickels. Assuming about $28 p/oz, you arrive at $63. Now take out the refiner's "cut", which varies from 5% to 50% (depending on if you use a mail-order place, or a walk-in-store type pawn shop). If you use a mail-order place, you've got to pay postage. So all-in-all, I'd say you made very little profit, but maybe a little, depending on how much time you want to put into turning it around.
 

NHBandit

Silver Member
Feb 21, 2010
3,470
3,279
Formerly NH now East Tennessee
Detector(s) used
Garrett GtaX1250
Tom_in_CA said:
I think you broke even with what they're worth, at the current price of silver. War nickels contain .0563 oz. each of silver. Do the math, and you come up with about 2.25 oz, once refined/smelted, for 40 nickels. Assuming about $28 p/oz, you arrive at $63. Now take out the refiner's "cut", which varies from 5% to 50% (depending on if you use a mail-order place, or a walk-in-store type pawn shop). If you use a mail-order place, you've got to pay postage. So all-in-all, I'd say you made very little profit, but maybe a little, depending on how much time you want to put into turning it around.
I think by "doing the math" you missed the meat of the post. Here's my take. Bought for 17 bucks.. sold on Ebay for 50 bucks (buyer pays postage) Could you please explain the comment that he "made very little profit"... By my math he made $37 profit minus the small cut Ebay takes.
 

alpha105

Hero Member
May 19, 2007
853
7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Not to forget, not all war nickles are silver as i recall, just certain years of em.
 

thrillathahunt

Silver Member
Jul 24, 2006
4,591
952
TEXAS
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'll buy a 40 coin roll of silver war nickels all day long for $17.

You done good!
 

ivan salis

Gold Member
Feb 5, 2007
16,794
3,809
callahan,fl
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
delta 4000 / ace 250 - used BH and many others too
according to coin flation -- at todays silver prices --each "war" nickle 1942 -1945 35% silver big mint mark on rear --is worth $1.66 cents --so just 10 coins would be worth 16.60 ( so 11 coins would be worth $ 17. 46) so thats like buying 11 coins at scrap silver price and getting 29 coins for free --- sell say 20 for 1.50 each (they pay actual postage) -- you get $30--- pocket $13 bucks profiet and keep the other 20

lifes good
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
NH-bandit, hmmmm, I must've mis-read the post. Thanx for setting me straight. I thought he bought for $40, for some reason, and I failed to see that the ebay was sold already. thanx
 

OP
OP
AlaskaAng

AlaskaAng

Sr. Member
Dec 23, 2004
300
9
SW Wisconsin
Detector(s) used
White's XLT, MXT Pro, Garrett AT Pro Max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
liftloop said:
.........How dare you call somethen ugly..... after it turned you a profit.........................................................It should be those beauty war nickles

You're right; I should call them my pretty RMO!! Still, the old circulated war nickels are not that pretty, especially when you compare it to a beautiful Morgan dollar :icon_thumleft:
 

OP
OP
AlaskaAng

AlaskaAng

Sr. Member
Dec 23, 2004
300
9
SW Wisconsin
Detector(s) used
White's XLT, MXT Pro, Garrett AT Pro Max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
thrillathahunt said:
I'll buy a 40 coin roll of silver war nickels all day long for $17.

You done good!

Thanks, I feel good about the $37 dollar profit, now i can go out and buy a pretty silver Morgan dollar :hello2:
 

OP
OP
AlaskaAng

AlaskaAng

Sr. Member
Dec 23, 2004
300
9
SW Wisconsin
Detector(s) used
White's XLT, MXT Pro, Garrett AT Pro Max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Woodland Detectors 4-H said:
AlaskaAng said:
thrillathahunt said:
I'll buy a 40 coin roll of silver war nickels all day long for $17.

You done good!

Thanks, I feel good about the $37 dollar profit, now i can go out and buy a pretty silver Morgan dollar :hello2:
There ya go!

You did good friend

Thanks! There's nothing like 90% silver ;-)
 

NHBandit

Silver Member
Feb 21, 2010
3,470
3,279
Formerly NH now East Tennessee
Detector(s) used
Garrett GtaX1250
Tom_in_CA said:
NH-bandit, hmmmm, I must've mis-read the post. Thanx for setting me straight. I thought he bought for $40, for some reason, and I failed to see that the ebay was sold already. thanx
Tom not a problem. It happens. For the guys not sure what years were silver they are easy to identify. Besides "looking" different in color, the silver nickles will all have a large P, D or S on the reverse directly about the Jefferson memorial. The regular ones will have the mint mark in the normal place.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top