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I have been buying some war nickels. I have five that are very shiny and look new. Actually they don't even look new, the new ones have a different type of shine to them. Hard to explain. Three of these nickels are 43s and two are 45s. The 45s do not have the same mints, two of the 43s have the same mints. They look incredibly similar. I don't have a scale but I guess that is the deciding factor.

I will try to post pics later. Anybody know if there are fakes floating around? These came from ebay, but not all from the same seller. I think 4 did though.

I would be surprised to see fake war nicks. Not really worth the effort I would think. But you never know. Maybe they are just cleaned/polished? They would look different than a new nickel because of the different composition. Interested in the weight if you get it.

My guess that they were cleaned.

any pics

I've seen a few painted, maybe you got some of these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_%28 ... me_nickels No way it could be this i suppose because the mint mark isn't missing, but check this out

An unofficial variety of the wartime coin dated 1944 was made in 1954 when counterfeit nickels were produced by Francis LeRoy Henning of Erial, New Jersey. He had previously been arrested for counterfeiting $5 bills. The 1944 nickels were quickly spotted since Henning neglected to add the large mintmark.[4] He also made counterfeit nickels dated 1939, 1946, 1947, and possibly 1953 as well as one other unidentified date.[5] It is estimated that more than 100,000 of Henning's nickels reached circulation. These can still be found in pocket change, and there is a thriving collectors' market for them, although owning a counterfeit is technically illegal. Henning dumped another 200,000 nickels in Copper Creek, New Jersey, of which only 14,000 were recovered. Another 200,000 are thought to have been dumped in the Schuylkill River. When caught, Henning was sentenced to 3 years in jail, and was required to pay a $5,000 fine.

I have many that are nice and shiny...a many more that are black and ugly. ?

I have one that looks like it was chrome plated it is so shiny.

I have some of those, and I always assumed they were "replated" for some theme set, like the "reprocessed" 1943 Steel cents.

I have one like that. it was the first silver nickel I got. It was cleaned and polished but it's still real.