Jaynh

Ok thank you guys.

2 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

Hello,

Unfortunately, your nickel is not an error.  That is very heavy post minting damage.

Thanks Mohawk.

14 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

That said, and with the caveat that I cannot examine the coin nor the magnet personally in hand, I'm guessing that there's something up with the alloy.  Too much of the copper/manganese alloy in some way.....my guess would be too much manganese, based on the chemistry and the magnetism. 

 I have no idea to be honest. But when I hit the lotto I am buying metal testing gun.

4 hours ago, JKK said:

Okay. So there's enough attractable metal in the coin that a regular magnet attracts it. This is helpful.

It is helpful.  & you guy's are a big help too thank you all

29 minutes ago, JKK said:

You didn't reply to the question about rare earth magnets. Clearly you know what they are; but if you have not actually owned one or experienced them, here's the difference. A regular magnet will attract an attractable coin; a rare earth magnet will make it fly. I use rare earth magnets to keep our bedroom curtains well closed, for example, because there is no chance I will knock them off just by brushing against the curtain at night. With coins, a normal magnet might jump to a steel or nickel coin if you put it within an inch. I took my neodymium stud finder (highly recommended) and brought it within six inches of a stack of fake Chinese 7 mace / 2 candareen pieces. Pow. The whole stack jumped across space to hit the stud finder.

That's why Bob asked. If it takes a rare earth magnet to detect the magnetism, that's one thing, as they are very powerful. If a regular magnet will detect it, then I should think there has to be a great deal of attractable metal in that coin.

Sorry no it is not a earth magnet 

The specific gravity of copper-nickel is 8.92. The s.g. of the wartime alloy is approximately 9.25,  the coin I have 8.16

9 hours ago, Mohawk said:

I don't think it's made of nickel.  It doesn't have the right look.  There has also never been a pure nickel US coin and, as far as I know, the US Mint only struck one pure nickel coinage issue and that was Canadian Dimes in 1968, so the time frame doesn't match up.  Nickel was also a prized wartime commodity in World War II, and many nations, not just the US, were trying to make substitutes for nickel coinage......Canada and Germany are just two non-US examples of this.  So, I'd say that works against the nickel hypothesis as well.  The funny thing is that your coin looks like a regular copper-silver-manganese war nickel.  But things were weird at the US Mint during World War II, that I do know.  Standards were often sloppy.  I can honestly say at this point that I have no idea why your coin is magnetic.  I'm stumped.  I'd recommend taking the coin to a dealer who can see it in person and try to figure out what's going on there.

You're more help than they are. Just from you seeing it on here your answers are smarter than there's, they just want the money, not in it for the coins. 

9 hours ago, Mohawk said:

Here's a possible explanation.  Manganese by itself is not magnetic, but it can be when combined with copper and some other metals:

https://www.livescience.com/29247-manganese.html

We know that though war nickels are 35% silver, the rest of the coin, 65% of it, is a combination of copper and manganese.  I'd say that a more plausible hypothesis is that if your coin isn't plated or otherwise altered, maybe the alloy is off and there's too much copper and manganese in it, which could potentially result in the magnetism you're seeing.  This is a much more likely scenario than the coin being made of nickel.

Good call  it is more likely . Later I'll do a gravity test

12 hours ago, Just Bob said:

A couple of questions: 

Is it magnetic all over, or just in certain spots?

Are you using a powerful rare earth magnet?

It's magnetic all over.  I have 3 war nickels  1 is magnetic. No it is not a earth magnet

33 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

That would be very odd actually.  The only US coin that should be magnetic are 1943 Steel Lincoln Cents.  Often when this happens with coins that shouldn't be magnetic, it's because they're plated with a magnetic metal or they're in a jewelry bezel, but your coin actually does not appear to be plated.  If it is magnetic, I'd recommend taking the coin to a dealer who can take a look at in person as an online photo can only tell us so much.

It is magnetic. Do you think it's made of nickel  nickel is magnetic

1 hour ago, Mohawk said:

In looking at your coin, I see nothing to indicate that this is not a completely ordinary 1942-P War Nickel.  The coin is clearly the copper-silver-manganese alloy.  If it was struck on a 1941 nickel, the coin would also be of the copper-nickel composition and would look like any other circulated nickel.

Is it odd that it's magnetic?