It was anticipated that these replacement coins would be withdrawn by the Treasury after the war, so a large distinguishing mark was needed for the ease of clerks. This took the form of an oversize mintmark that was placed directly above the dome of Monticello. For the first time on a United States coin the Philadelphia Mint marked its product with the letter P.
The novelty of these coins led to the hoarding of many rolls, and 1942 P nickels are thus common in Mint State. This issue was quite well made overall, benefiting from the softer and more lustrous nature of the wartime alloy. Sharply struck examples are common, with a commensurate increase in the percentage of full steps coins.
Re-punched mintmark varieties are numerous for this issue, but most are extremely minor in nature. It's likely that the large size of the mintmark punch made it difficult to impress fully in a single blow.
Silver nickels are distinguished by a slightly different coloration than ordinary nickels and by the appearance of a large mintmark above Monticello's dome on the reverse side of the coin. The marks are "S" for the San Francisco mint, "D" for the Denver mint and "P' to indicate production at the Philadelphia mint.
Mintage:
| Philadelphia | Denver | Silver P | Silver S |
| 49,818,600 | 13,938,000 | 57,900,600 | 32,900,000 |
Cents
