1944 (S) Jefferson Nickel - Wartime Silver Alloy - RRDC-5c-1944S-02R Bisecting Rim to Rim Die Crack

Description

Spanning the full diameter of the reverse die, this second bisecting rim-to-rim die crack for the 1944-S wartime Jefferson Nickel traces a fracture path from one edge of the die face to the opposite edge, producing a continuous raised line across struck coins. The 1944-S nickel was struck in the wartime 56% copper, 35% silver, 9% manganese alloy, with the large S mintmark placed above Monticello's dome to distinguish the emergency composition from standard copper-nickel issues. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins on September 21, 2019, with no known cross-references, this variety documents die fatigue in a production environment where the altered alloy's physical properties affected both planchet behavior and die wear patterns. Two reverse RRDCs for the 1944-S date indicate recurring die fracture events during San Francisco's wartime nickel production, where approximately 21.6 million pieces were struck. Bisecting cracks differ from partial die cracks in that they run all the way from rim to rim; such a crack usually shows only lateral spread, and a step where one whole side has sunk or shifted makes the error a retained cud. The wartime silver nickels of 1942-1945 are actively collected both as a short-run composition variety and as a source of interesting die failures that may relate to the unfamiliar alloy's metallurgical characteristics.

Cross References

• Cross reference: none.  09/21/2019.

External References