A well-worn buffalo nickel, with the date partially or wholly rubbed out, is worth anywhere from 15 cents to 25 cents. Only 25% of the coin was made from nickel, with the other 75% being copper. However, in 1942, with World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, Nickel became a critical war material. Jefferson Nickels were first minted in 1938 and made of 75 Copper and 25 Nickel.
In effect, if we dropped the nickel too, we would simply be treating the last digit of every price as zero. For years people have been proposing that the United States save money and enhance convenience by abolishing the penny. The idea of deep-sixing the penny is not new. Back in 1940, and even much after that, we got along just fine without coins that bought as little as pennies and nickels do today. mint has minted nearly 92 billion pennies 15 billion nickels since Y2K, the nation’s $1 billion loss making these coins is not, like the coins themselves, chump change. A penny costs nearly 2 cents to make, a nickel nearly 8 cents.
Worse still, pennies and nickels cost more to make than they are worth. The element nickel was discovered in 1751.
We simply had no coins then that bought as little as a penny or a nickel does today. Answer (1 of 14): QUESTION What is the value of a 1803 nickel ANSWER Well, uh, nothing because we don’t believe you have one. If one adjusts for both inflation and economic growth, a penny in 1940 was as important relative to our income as 66 cents does today. Back in 1940 a penny bought as much as 17 cents does today, adjusted for inflation. Life would be simpler without this monetary detritus.
US COINS NICKEL FULL
Any gold coin issued under section 5112 of this title shall contain the full weight of gold. I haven’t yet brought myself to do that with nickels, but in truth, they weigh a lot and buy little-not like when I was a kid and could buy a Milky Way or a single-scoop ice-cream cone for five cents. The weight of the one-cent coin may vary not more than 0.13 gram. Perhaps you are already doing what I am doing, and telling storekeepers “no pennies please” when there isn’t a “penny pot” on the counter that I can dip into. They are a pain in the neck-or rather in the pocket. When your pockets fill with pennies, don’t you wish they would go away? I do.