Different TID's on War Nickels

I found a 43s silver war nickel yesterday and it came in at 12-39 on my E-Trac. Strange as the last one was a 12-21 which I thought was weird at the time.. Got home and did air test on several I have found this year. I got 12-15, 12-16 12-21 and 12-28. Broke out the G2 and got 58, 59 and the one I got yesterday a 78. What can cause a coin to come in at so many different area's? Sure has got me puzzled.

War nickels I've been dug have been all over the place with the TID too.

Ground degeneration condition has been all over the place as well. I've had a few come out of the ground real nice, but most have at least some degree of degeneration.

War nickels are only 35% silver and most of the rest is copper with a little manganese. They changed the alloy in 1942 because nickel was needed for the war effort.

Being that it was during the war, everything was about making do with whatever you had. I wouldn't be surprised if the mint wasn't that strict about holding to exact metal percentages, which could partially explain differing IDs.

I suspect varying levels of manganese oxidation would cause different IDs too.

The dug ones I have they all read different...and they are all dug...the non dug ones I have read about the same.....

So I would think the in ground corrosion is the culprit....

try some non dug ones on your etrac and see how close they are..

Keith

The manganese in the nickel breaks down over a period of years when buried, Depending on the elements surrounding the buried war nickel all silver war nickels with manganese will break down.

The War nickel is the only coin in our history to have manganese as one of the alloys, Yeah like you 12-15 years ago noticed this too each dug silver war nickel would ID different. Did some research and found the only coin with manganese was the silver war nickel, Depending on ground conditions and the test of time the manganese breaks down. However, An un-dug silver nickel will retain the same ID the manganese doesn't break down.

Have dug a few to ID lower than a nickel and many reading way up there in Indian penny territory, A teaser for sure.

Paul (Ca)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2013 08:07AM by Old California.

Seems like ground conditions are the culprit and we all know they vary from state to state and even area to area that one hunts in their travels.
Might interject real deep ones certainly adds to the challenge as they are all over the meter and that includes nickles in general from new to real old..

When the manganese breaks down would that leave pitting or some sign of pitting? While stained none are pitted. Certainly means if you feel there is any chance of finding one at the site you have to dig all signals.

I have never used the etrac, but don't you go by tones first?? When I ran a sovereign, I dug a lot of war nickles. The numbers varied on the sunray meter, but they always had a hint of the silver tone, which is why they got dug.

Using a Sov. years ago yep that silver coin sure sounded mellow...Honestly don't care if I ever find a nickel as silver coins are what I am after but all the war nickles I ever dug hit real high. On the other hand always dig nickel signals as found several nice gold rings in the area of modern Jefferson nickles...and when you are finding modern nickles the fellow before you cherry picked the high coins and of course left any gold rings if they were there. Always a good sign for gold ring hunters....

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Using a Sov. years ago yep that silver coin sure
> sounded mellow...Honestly don't care if I ever
> find a nickel as silver coins are what I am after
> but all the war nickles I ever dug hit real high.
> On the other hand always dig nickel signals as
> found several nice gold rings in the area of
> modern Jefferson nickles...and when you are
> finding modern nickles the fellow before you
> cherry picked the high coins and of course left
> any gold rings if they were there. Always a good
> sign for gold ring hunters....

Can't agree more Dan :-)

OP

war nickels hit anywhere from around 12/14 up to 12/21 or so on my Etrac in my dirt but as Ray mentioned --- I go more by sound when coin hunting and the war nicks always seem to hit in that silver area of tone (soft, smooth and sweet sounding) even though the VID registers them in the lower 1/2 of the CO. # range...

Hi ShovelNose,

What I meant by breaking down was the manganese changes conductivity, Not in a sense of the alloy breaking down visually but by conductivity.

The lowest ID I've found in a dug silver war nickel was with the Explorer, It had a deep ID of 5 and most clad nickels with the older Explorer ID 6 so I went for it thinking it was a V-nickel or buffalo nickel, Was surprised to see it was a silver war nickel ID'ing so low was used to finding them ID higher. Most dug sliver nickels came in the high conductive range with a few in-between, Keep digging them a treat to find them when they surface.

Yes, You are right there is a chance of finding them at older dig all sites since they ID all over the screen.

Wish I still had my silver nickel finds, Sold all my silver coin finds about 2-3 years back when Silver hit around $33.00, Mom needed a new fence which paid for the fence and had plenty left over. Sold at the right time, Remember silver going down from there.

Interesting topic, Pops up now and then but each time always a treat to review again.

Paul (Ca)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2013 06:37PM by Old California.

Just about all of my park found silver nickels came in the typical nickel range on the E-trac, 13 up to 16.

Salt water beach locations produce a variety of ranges on nickels.
Corroded, worn-down V-nickels and buffalos always produce lower conductivity values, from 09 up to 12.
Silver nickels are mostly in the nickel range, but a couple were higher. The highest had a conductivity of 24, and had a reddish corrosion/stain that may have been caused by nearby deteriorating iron.

Detecting since Feb, 2010
E-trac with 18"x15" SEF, 13" Ultimate coil, Pro coil, Minelab 8" coil, 4.5"x7" SEF, Sunray target probe
CTX3030 with 17"x13" DD coil, 11" DD coil

At this site I was using TTF and the high tone had a smoother full sound. Had just moved out of the trash field to hunt the roots of a very huge old Oak. This coin does have dark staining on front side. When I hunt parks with my friends we compete on highest nickel count. Haven't found a ring in the nickel range yet. The rest all over the place. Nickels add some fun to the hunt.