How do I spot the wartime mint mark?

Above Monticello, a large P, D, or S. Philadelphia used a P on these silver coins. On a regular Jefferson the mint mark sits beside the building, and many Philadelphia coins have none.

What metal is a War nickel?

Numista type page N#45 prints 56 percent copper, 35 percent silver, and 9 percent manganese. That is not the usual 75 percent copper, 25 percent nickel five-cent alloy.

Is every 1942 nickel a War nickel?

No. 1942-D stayed cupronickel and is not a row on the wartime series page. Early 1942 Philadelphia coins without the large P over the dome are the cupronickel type too.

Does silver in the alloy make it a higher grade?

No. The alloy is composition. Full Steps is a strike call on Monticello, and it is a different question from whether the coin is the wartime mix.

War nickels are the silver Jeffersons from the 1940s

Wartime Jefferson nickels, 1942 through 1945, are 35 percent silver with a large mint mark over Monticello. A regular Jefferson, including 1942-D, is a different page.

A War nickel is still Jefferson and Monticello. Felix Schlag's portrait did not change. What changed is the metal, and the Mint marked the silver ones so they could be pulled out later. Look above the dome. A large P, D, or S over Monticello means the wartime alloy, 1942 through 1945. That run has its own chart on the wartime nickel page.

A Jefferson with the mint mark beside the building, or with no mint mark at all, is the cupronickel coin. Those years belong on the Jefferson nickel page. Do not file them under the silver series because the portrait matches.

The mix is the point

Numista N#45 prints the wartime alloy as 56 percent copper, 35 percent silver, and 9 percent manganese, at the same 5 gram weight as a normal nickel. NGC's Jefferson explorer lists the whole design, silver years included. The U.S. Mint nickel page is the circulating five-cent size, not a receipt for the silver.

1942 is the messy year. Philadelphia struck cupronickel coins first, then silver coins with the large P. The pamphlet total mixes them. 1942-D never got the silver alloy, so it stays off the wartime chart. 1942-S is silver. If you are sorting a roll, the letter over the building is the test. Color is a weak test. Tone and an old cleaning can make either alloy look odd.

Melt is not the grade

Thirty-five percent silver is why people pull these out of jars. The melt calculator can turn that fine-silver figure into a spot-price number. Read the disclaimer on that page. A worn 1943 and a sharp one can share the silver and not the price, and a wiped coin is still wiped.

Full Steps means the steps on Monticello are fully split. It does not tell you the alloy. The large mint mark does.

When the roll is mixed with Buffalo nickels, those are the earlier five-cent design and they are not silver. Take the wartime pieces to the dealer directory if you want a person to separate melt coins from the ones worth grading.