More than ONE BILLION 1981 nickels were issued for circulation. None plated with copper by the Mint. It's a novelty coin of some kind that has no numismatic collectible value. It's just a nickel.
A coin of this nature must be seen to determine why it appears to be made of copper instead of the copper/nickel other nickels are made of. I suggest you take it to a coin shop and have it appraised.
It really depends on which country you are talking about and what years. For the US, from the time the 5 cent nickel was introduced in the late 1800s to present it is 75% copper and 25% nickel with a brief interruption from 1942-1945 which changed the composition to one including silver and removed all nickel from it because it was needed for the war effort. If you are talking about Canada, 1922-1942 it was made with pure nickel, 1942-1943 it was made of "Tombac" a mixture of mostly copper with a bit of zinc. 1944-1945 it was made of chrome plated steel. From 1946-1951 it was again pure nickel. From 1951-1954 it was again chrome plated steel. The coin was pure nickel again from 1955-1981. From 1982-1999 (with some of the production still being in this alloy up until 2006) Canada adopted the US alloy of 25% nickel and 75% copper. From 2000-present the Canadian nickel has been nickel plated steel.
It's considered to be an altered coin with no collector value. The coin itself is copper-nickel, not silver, so it's only worth 50 cents I'm afraid.
First you must make sure it's not just copper plated -- which is worthless. If you truly have an unfinished planchet error, these have been selling in the $20 to $50 range.
No. For most of the years 1922-1981, they were pure nickel. During WWII, they were made of tombac, which is a type of brass. In late WWII and again for Korea, they were chrome-plated steel. In 1982 it switched to a copper/nickel blend. Then starting in 2000, it's been nickel-plated steel. However, before 1922, Canada had a small silver 5-cent piece, half the size of the 10-cent piece. Being that it didn't contain any nickel, the coin wasn't called a nickel.
A 1981 U.S. quarter is worth 25 cents. You should have no trouble finding this date and others back to 1965 in common circulation. All are made of copper-nickel clad metal, and none are worth anything special.
10 cents
Five cents. Common coin.
It's worth 2 cents for the copper.
Old pennies in the United States were made of different materials over the years. Prior to 1982, pennies were made of 95% copper and 5% zinc. From 1982 to 2008, they were made of 97.5% zinc and plated with a thin layer of copper. Penny composition changed again in 2010 to 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.
1922, 1942, 1951, 1981. "The nickel's composition has changed several times, most notably during World War II and the Korean War when nickel was redirected to the war effort. In 1942 and 1943, the coins were minted in tombac, a copper-zinc alloy; in 1944 and 1945, and again from 1951 to 1954, coins were made of steel which was plated twice, first with nickel and then chromium. The plating was applied before the blanks were struck, so the edges of these coins are dull or even rusted. The composition was returned to pure nickel after both wars. More recently, in 1981, the same copper-nickel alloy used in the American coin was adopted in the Canadian coin, with the ironic result that the nickel then contained less nickel than any other circulating Canadian coin except the cent. In 2000, along with all other circulating Canadian coins, the composition was further debased to nickel-plated steel; this plating does cover the coin's edge." Ref Wikipedia