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What Vdi Are Your Buffs & V Nics Coming In At?


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12-13 depending on depth, GB, and soil saturation.

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I have no “War (nickel) Stories” but do have a beach story. A few weeks ago I went to San Diego.  I buried an ordinary nickel in the heavily black striped sand at Silver Sands beach in Coronado and tested it with my Nox 600.  On the surface the nickel was a solid 13.  The maximum depth at which I could get a decent response was 7-8”. The VDI was 3. A good example of the normal operation of discrimination in the presence of large quantities of black sand.

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Interesting that this thread was at the top of my feed this morning. After re-reading it, I thought to myself “I haven’t found a war nickel with my Nox is 600 yet, I wonder what Vdi they ring up in my local conditions.” My buffs and Jefferson’s have been coming in at 11-12-13 with new Jefferson’s sometimes throwing in a 14.

Well, I had a chance to get out for a quick search at a nearby park today, and guess what? I came home with a high Vdi war nickel! It rang up at 23-24-25, at about 5 inches. Given the site I was searching, I thought “copper penny, maybe a wheat cent.” Nope - a ‘43 S nickel. Nice surprise. 

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44 minutes ago, SnohomishDigger said:

I came home with a high Vdi war nickel!

In which US state did you find this?  Steveg reports these from Oklahoma.  I'm curious as to whether or not this could be a regional issue.  That is, could an off-metal series of blanks be to blame, all of which were shipped to the same location?

Also, is this in 'as found' condition or did you clean it up?  90% silver coins typically (depending upon the ground they were removed from, of course) come out looking like the day they were dropped.  Cu-Ni 'nickels' are either dark grey or orange in my soil.  Warnicks I've found (just a few) are in-between, that is whiter than typical nickels but not close to 90% silver coins.

 

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7 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

In which US state did you find this?  Steveg reports these from Oklahoma.  I'm curious as to whether or not this could be a regional issue.  That is, could an off-metal series of blanks be to blame, all of which were shipped to the same location?

Also, is this in 'as found' condition or did you clean it up?  90% silver coins typically (depending upon the ground they were removed from, of course) come out looking like the day they were dropped.  Cu-Ni 'nickels' are either dark grey or orange in my soil.  Warnicks I've found (just a few) are in-between, that is whiter than typical nickels but not close to 90% silver coins.

 

GB - this one was found in western Washington, about 30 miles north of Seattle. The photos are after washing with dish soap and water to remove some clingy soil and mild staining. It came out of the ground looking very much like this - quite bright compared to the Jeffersons and buffs I’ve found around here. Other nickels I find will range from dull grey to red/orange.

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On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 3:14 PM, SnohomishDigger said:

GB - this one was found in western Washington, about 30 miles north of Seattle. The photos are after washing with dish soap and water to remove some clingy soil and mild staining. It came out of the ground looking very much like this - quite bright compared to the Jeffersons and buffs I’ve found around here. Other nickels I find will range from dull grey to red/orange.

Found a 1945 War Nick today in SW Washington... came in at a solid 16 at about 7".  My Equinox seems to love war nickels (or maybe I love digging them) I think I have pocketed 6 or 7 this year with the Equinox... ranging from 12 to 18 on the ID scale.  Tim.

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If anyone is interested in the "war nickel" thing, we have an ongoing thread over at Findmall, discussing this very thing, and some research I've done into the issue.  Yes, Snohomish; what you dug and what it ID'd at is unusual, but NOT unprecedented...

Link deleted since Findmall Forum update broke all old links

Steve

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  • 1 month later...
On 11/30/2018 at 10:11 PM, steveg said:

If anyone is interested in the "war nickel" thing,...

Sorry for the 6 week delay in response.  I just found this thread.  (Wonder how much other good stuff I've missed....)

Absolutely I'm interested and applaud your dogged effort.  I have four rolls of Warnicks which I collected over the years (not from the ground) which I'm going to VID today with the Equinox 800.  I'll let you know what I find.

Besides the hyphotheses I've mentioned before (and not unique since I see some of the findmall posters coming up with the same speculation) is 'evolution' of composition while in the ground, and regional distribution (since you guys in OKC area are finding multiples).

Regarding the numismatic community being interested, there is no doubt in my mind they are.  They get excited about less likely/unusual anomolies than that.  Off metal strikes are not super rare.  I think they typically occur on a few coin basis (relatively speaking, I don't literally mean 'few'), though, rather than a moderately consistent fraction such as you have seen.  And as you note, it's something that doesn't get a lot of attention, probably because until recently it was difficult to determine.  As far as getting resistance when you first brought up the subject, this is natural.  For example, suppose some new person showed up here with such an idea.  They wouldn't immediately be congratulated -- readers would want more evidence.  And we know how metal detectors work, just from experience alone.  (Oh, wait, maybe we're experiencing deja vu. ?)

I wish I still worked with X-ray equipment.  I would have snuck a few of your specimens into lab.  (Shush.  Don't tell the gov'ment.)

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I was fortunate enough to dig an 1897 V Nickel at an old park yesterday.  In the ground (about 9") it was a solid and repeatable 11 TID.  I air tested it after cleaning and it read 12-13, just as a nickel should.  I credit depth and soil conditions to the lower reading in the ground. ~Tim

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