War Nickel Melt Value (1942 to 1945)

As of July 18, 2026, with silver at $56.01 per troy ounce, a war nickel has a melt value of $3.15. Each 1942 to 1945 silver nickel contains 0.0563 troy ounces of pure silver, worth 63 times its five-cent face value at the current price.

The math comes straight from the wartime specification: 5.00 grams gross weight at 35 percent silver equals 1.75 grams, or 0.0563 troy ounces, of pure metal per coin. That is the smallest silver content of any US coin, a bit over three quarters of a silver dime's, yet it still makes every war nickel worth far more than face value. Because a nickel's face value is only five cents, war nickels have the highest melt-to-face ratio of all junk silver. Compare them with every other US silver coin on the silver coin melt values table, or price a roll with the junk silver calculator.

Nickel was a critical war material, needed for armor plating and military hardware, so in March 1942 Congress authorized removing it from the five-cent coin. The Mint's replacement alloy of 56 percent copper, 35 percent silver, and 9 percent manganese was engineered to satisfy vending machines and counterfeit detectors that tested coins by weight and electrical properties. The first silver nickels were struck in October 1942, and production continued through 1945. The Mint wanted these coins easy to find and remove after the war, so it added an unmissable identifier: a large mint mark above the dome of Monticello on the reverse, including a large P for Philadelphia, the first time that mint had ever placed a mint mark on a US coin. Important detail for sorters: 1942 nickels exist in both compositions. A 1942 with no mint mark or a small mark beside Monticello is the regular copper-nickel alloy; only 1942 coins with the large mark above the dome are silver. All 1943, 1944, and 1945 nickels are the silver alloy.

Each row multiplies one war nickel's 0.0563 ounces of silver by a round spot price.

War nickels kept the size and weight of the standard Jefferson nickel so vending equipment would accept them; only the alloy changed.

Usually only slightly. War nickels are the deep-discount corner of the junk silver market: the alloy tones an unattractive gray-brown, the coins circulated hard for decades, and refiners pay less for 35 percent material than for 90 percent coins because more base metal must be processed per ounce of silver recovered. The result is the lowest premium, and sometimes a small discount to melt, of any US silver coin, which value-focused stackers treat as a feature. Collector demand exists for high-grade examples with fully struck steps on Monticello and for the 1943/2 overdate variety, which is worth a meaningful premium in any grade. Selling tip: dealers quote war nickels by the roll (40 coins, about 2.25 ounces of silver) or by the coin; weigh the quote against the live melt figure above before accepting. Note that the US Mint's melting ban on one-cent and five-cent coins applies to current copper-nickel coinage; silver war nickels are bought, sold, and refined for their silver routinely.