In his business newsletter Making the Grade #25, Dave Wunck of Dave Wnuck Numismatics LLC, muses about the paltry numbers of U.S. coins that have survived to the present. He wonders where they went - especially coins made from non-precious metals. He continues:

Although it's not obvious, there actually was one place that melted large quantities of shield nickels - the U.S. Mint. One of thefunctions of the mints was to remove worn, damaged and mutilated coins from circulation. These came to the mints in bags and barrels from banks,sub-Treasuries and later, Federal Reserve Banks. Almost anything that resembled a U.S. coin but was not acceptable in circulation found its way tothe mints and from there to the melting crucibles.

Over time, as new coins replaced old, and old coins became badly worn, the remains were melted by the ton. This recovered metal was used in the next generation of Liberty, or Buffalo or Jefferson nickels. (The same applied to all coin denominations.)

So, next time you come across a dateless Buffalo nickel remember that its metal might once have been part of a shiny new shield nickel, anxious to delight a child's sweet tooth.

Roger adds:

To read the complete discussion, see:
Dave Wnuck muses about the survival of U.S. coins. (http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9129294#Post9129294)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
WHERE HAVE ALL THE SHIELD NICKELS GONE? (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n05a17.html)