The 1943-45 Canadian five cent coin, known as the “Victory Nickel,” is unusual in that it contains Morse Code. Most Canadians were unaware that they were carrying a Morse message in their pocket, since the code is discernible only upon close examination with a magnifying glass. It is partially visible on the image shown here. It’s on the reverse of the coin, and runs clockwise along the edge. It begins just to the left of the letter “N” in the word “CENTS”.

The beaver design currently appearing on the coin first appeared in 1937, but the coin was redesigned during the war. The reverse featured the letter V, with a dual significance. In addition to being the Roman Numeral for five (which was used on the U.S. Liberty nickel from 1883-1912), it was also the symbol of victory.

And with little fanfare, it also included the message, in Morse Code, “WE WIN WHEN WE WORK WILLINGLY.”

The Canadian Mint re-issued the design in 2005, dated 1945-2005, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the war. However, the 2005 design did not include the Morse Code inscription.

Specimens of the coin in which the full message is legible are fairly uncommon. Most were made of steel, plated with nickel. The sheets were plated before the blanks were cut out, resulting in the edges being unplated. This has caused most of them to rust around the edges, making the Morse Code illegible. In the example shown above, the words “WE WHEN WHEN WE” are very legible, but most of the rest of the message is impossible to make out.

The 1943 coin was made of tombac (a brass alloy), and the message is more likely to be legible on specimens from that year.

References

Canadian Mint, Five Cents.

QST, January 1945, page 48.





