Gary's 20th Century Type Set
5c JEFFERSON SILVER (1942-45)

Owner Comments:

World War 2 demanded many resources, both in terms of natural and human resources. One of the natural resources needed to fight the war was nickel, valued for its use in armor plating. Because of a nickel shortage, the US Mint removed it from the Jefferson Nickel and replaced it with a silver/copper/manganese alloy beginning on October 8, 1942. To denote the change in composition the US Mint placed a large mintmark above Monticello on the reverse of the coin. This MS-66, 1942-P Jefferson nickel represents two firsts, the first year with silver in the nickel’s composition and the first coin ever to display the mintmark “P” for Philadelphia. The Jefferson Nickel changed back to its original composition after the war in 1946. The nickel has the distinction of being the only coin minted during the 20th century to end the century with the same composition as it had when the century began. Was it not for the silver wartime issue, the nickel would have had the same metallic composition the entire century.