Please don't assume that because a coin is old, it has to be made of silver. The only nickels that ever contained silver were the famous "war nickels" minted during WWII when nickel was a strategic metal. All other nickels are made of an alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel.
There's more information at the Related Question.
Liberty nickels were made from 1883 to 1912. Your coin is a familiar Jefferson nickel. Please see the question "What is the value of a 1939 US nickel?" for values.
The only years silver was used in US nickels was 1942-1945, the coin is face value.
Your coin is a familiar Jefferson nickel rather than a Liberty nickel, and it isn't made of silver. Liberty nickels were made from 1883 to 1912, and popular mythology to the contrary, nearly all US nickels are made of an alloy of copper and nickel, with no silver at all. The only nickels that ever contained silver were minted during WWII. Please see the Related Question.
Your nickel contains no silver. Only nickels made from 1942-1945 contain silver. See the related question below.
That's a silver war nickel, containing 35% silver, and it's worth at least $2.
Liberty nickels were made from 1883 to 1912. Your coin is a familiar Jefferson nickel. Please see the question "What is the value of a 1939 US nickel?" for values.
The only years silver was used in US nickels was 1942-1945, the coin is face value.
Your nickel contains no silver. Only nickels made from 1942-1945 contain silver. See the related question below.
Your coin is a familiar Jefferson nickel rather than a Liberty nickel, and it isn't made of silver. Liberty nickels were made from 1883 to 1912, and popular mythology to the contrary, nearly all US nickels are made of an alloy of copper and nickel, with no silver at all. The only nickels that ever contained silver were minted during WWII. Please see the Related Question.
If you found it in change your nickel is only worth face value. US nickels made from 1866 to mid-1942 and from 1946 to the present are made of a copper-nickel alloy, not silver. In fact, no circulating US coins have contained any silver since 1969.
That's a silver war nickel, containing 35% silver, and it's worth at least $2.
Check that coin again. There were no US silver dollars minted that year.
Copper-nickel, not silver. The only nickels that ever contained any silver were the famous "war nickels" made from 1942 to 1945, when silver replaced nickel metal because nickel was needed for the war effort.
The 1949 Jefferson nickel is still found in circulation, contains no silver and likely only face value.
The only US nickels to contain silver are those minted during WWII. A 1959 nickel in uncirculated condition might go for 25 cents.
That is known as a "war nickel" to save nickel for the war effort, the US government replaced some of the nickel in the nickel with silver. At the time of writing the silver content in them is around $1.70. The reason for the mintmark over the Monticello was that the idea was that people would know they contained silver.
US quarters were not made of silver in 1965, but rather of copper-nickel. The last silver quarter made for circulation in the US were produced in 1964.