Apmex was selling, as of late last week, rolls of 20 “war nickels” for just a tad under spot price of silver. Each roll of 20 Jefferson war nickels has 1.125 oz pure silver. The coins are 35% silver, the remainder nickel. Cheapest US Mint silver I’ve seen anywhere. If (when) TSHTF, these would make great silver denominated coins for small purchases/barters. 0.0563 Oz silver per coin.
You’re right, the Ag content of war nickels is the highest multiple over face of any US coin: about 15x face vs 10x face for dimes, Q’s, H’s. But; I’d suggest they won’t be highly desirable as silver “fractions” because the fraction of silver is so low and the sheer logistics of any quantity of these things. (I’m not using the word “never”!) Which is reflected now and will be reflected “then” in the market price. Just my opinion. After all...imagine if I had a 17.3 lb block of steel which had 1 oz of pure Ag within it, totally assayed. How many of those would you want to drag around/store? Semi-ridiculous example, I admit. Point being: There is a good reason why the premiums are low on less desirable forms. Just a thinking point.
This is also illustrated by the dynamics of the sterling silver I’ve gathered over the years. Sterling, nominally 92.5% Ag, is really taken as 91% by refiners, you have to ship it to them, a cost that rises and rises over time and you had better insure it...last shipment I made was $9 freight and $16 insurance...they will give you (typ) 88% of the recovered metal vs 90% on junk silver even though the tare weight Ag content is higher on .925; they will extract 1-2% for “the pot”; they will decide which of the seven days they held your goods for processing will be the day your price is established, and golly gee, that will be the lowest 30-minute price established in the spot market that week.
http://www.midwestrefineries.com/
Note also; that as the price of Ag rises, since the various processing fees are “percentages of spot”...the higher the proc costs are. It’s a weird game. I don’t underestimate for one minute the hassles of maintaining and fueling a 2000+ degree furnace and an assay lab and dealing with fumes and fire regs and I’ll certainly not have same in my garage or back yard. But sterling silver only yields 80% of its actual weight.