Shield Nickel

The Shield Nickel, minted from 1866 to 1883, was America's first American five-cent coin that did not contain precious metals.

Specifications

 * Designer: James B. Longacre
 * Obverse Design:
 * Reverse Design:
 * Edge: Plain
 * Weight: 5 grams
 * Diameter: 20.5 millimeters
 * Composition: Copper (75%), Nickel (25%)
 * Dates Minted: 1866 - 1883

Background
United States coinage in the 1800’s could be quite a peculiar animal. The introduction of the Shield nickel is an example. Here, you had a case somewhat like that long-running joke on the popular TV sitcom, Newhart. Nearly every week on the show, three woodsmen would walk into Bob Newhart’s hotel lobby, where one of them would announce, “Hi, I’m Larry. This is my brother, Daryl… and this is my other brother, Daryl.”

In a sense, that’s what the United States Mint was doing with the five-cent coin. What the Mint did in 1866, was to basically tell the public, “Here’s your five-cent coin (the Seated Liberty half dime). and here’s your OTHER five-cent coin (the Shield nickel). So now the U.S. public had TWO five-cent coins – one, a tiny silver coin, the other, a larger and thicker coin made of nickel. Even stranger, this situation continued from 1866 through 1873, when the Seated Liberty half dime was finally retired. Actually, such a bizarre situation wasn’t unique— from 1865 through 1873 the U.S. Mint was striking two different types of 3-cent coins! But that’s another story.

History
This strange beginning aside, the Shield nickel ushered in a new era when it first appeared in 1866. The Shield nickel is our nation’s first nickel. But we have to clarify that term, “nickel.” Because the Shield nickel is not our nation’s first nickel coin—that distinction goes to the Flying Eagle cent of 1856-58 (which were actually copper-nickel pieces). We also had a 3-cent nickel coin beginning in 1865. Technically, both those coin types were “nickels.” But today, when someone refers to “nickels,” they are talking about five-cent coins. And the Shield nickel is the first of the nickel five-cent coins.

So just why was the Shield nickel introduced during the Seated Liberty half dime era? The answer goes back to the Civil War, when a goodly portion of silver and gold coins had been driven out of circulation. Logic dictated that a non-silver five-cent coin was needed. In addition, fractional currency notes valued at ten cents or less were causing headaches. Congress wanted to drive them out of the economy, and a good way to do that was to produce a five-cent coin that would circulate as opposed to being hoarded. So a five-cent coin made of nickel was produced and released into circulation. Why then were Seated Liberty half dimes still being struck? Perhaps Mint officials were unsure as to whether the new nickel five-cent coin would be accepted—if not, then perhaps they would have to focus again on silver half dime coins. So the silver half dime continued to be struck, but in much smaller numbers than, say, a decade before. For example, in 1866, almost 15 million Shield nickels were struck, compared to a combined total of about 130,000 Seated half dimes at the Philadelphia and San Francisco mints.

Though the Shield nickel deserves a hallowed place in the pantheon of U.S. coinage history as our nation’s first “nickel,” it is also considered by many collectors to have one of the least inspiring designs. The design very closely mimics the design of the U.S. Two-Cent coin that was introduced in 1864. This is no coincidence, since one John B. Longacre designed both the Two-Cent coin AND the Shield nickel. On the obverse of the Shield nickel is a United States shield with wreath leaves drooping down about the sides of the shield. The reverse design is basically a big “5” surrounded by stars.

Sub-Types
Speaking of the Shield nickel reverse, a major design modification splits this series into two distinct types. The first reverse type, struck only in 1866 and 1867, features rays in between the stars that encircle the “5”. Midway through 1867, the rays were removed, and that reverse type held fast through the duration of the Shield nickel’s run. Many collectors feel the stars and rays reverse of 1866-67 had a pretty nice eye-appeal factor, but as one story goes, the U.S. public at the time thought the rays with stars design was too cluttered and ugly-looking. Another story has it that this first reverse type caused dies to break in too short a time. Whatever the case, the rays were removed some time in 1867.

On one hand, the “rays reverse” Shield nickels have a certain collector demand, because
 * 1) it’s a more interesting-looking design and
 * 2) this design only lasted two years, and
 * 3) the “rays reverse” nickels represent the earliest years of the Shield nickel.

On the other hand, values aren’t all THAT high for a ‘rays reverse’ Shield nickel, especially for an 1866 date, because
 * 1) a healthy number (14.7 million) were struck and
 * 2) with 1866 being the first year of issue, many were saved, as is OFTEN the case when a new U.S. coin type appears on the scene.

The 1867 with-rays Shield nickel is much scarcer than the 1866, as only a little over 2 million were struck. Still, values for the 1867 with-rays aren’t too unreasonable: $37 in Good, $67.50 in Fine.

Collecting
Production REALLY soared for the Shield nickel, starting with the 1867 no-rays reverse type. In 1867 and 1868, mintages were at 28.8 million for each year. In 1869 that number dropped, but the numbers still stood at a healthy 16.4 million. From 1870 through 1876, the mintage numbers gradually dropped to lows of around 2 million to a high of about 6 million. There is one truly scarce date in that time span, that being 1871 when just 561,000 were struck. For the years of 1877 through 1881, Shield nickels are downright scarce to rare. In 1877 and 1878, only a small number of Proof issues were struck (900 in 1877, 2,000 in 1878). Circulation strikes resumed in 1879, but only 29,100 were struck that year, followed by 19,995 in 1880 and 72, 375 in 1881. Production of the Shield nickel rebounded in a big way in 1882 with 11.4 million struck, but then dropped back to just 1.4 million in 1883.

As you might guess from the above mintage figures, any Shield nickel dated 1877 through 1881 will be expensive and hard to find. The date of 1871 is also fairly scarce and costly, retailing $65 in Good, $120 in Fine. I believe it is that span of years (1877-91) that discourages many nickel collectors from trying to collect the Shield nickel by date, despite the fact that it’s a short series. A span of dates can be obtained at reasonable prices (1866-76, also 1882-83), but those dates in the 1870’s and early 1880’s can stop your date-set in its tracks.

A common date Shield nickel, however, is still very attractively priced. For instance, an 1867 no-rays nickel only retails $32.50 in Very Fine condition, and just $50 in Extra Fine! Considering its age of 140 years, that’s an awful nicely preserved old U.S. coin!

The 1866 with-rays nickel is only $75 in Very Fine condition, a great value for a two-year type coin from the 1860’s, struck just after the smoke was clearing from the Civil War battlefields! Also bear this in mind—if you should ever come across an 1883 Shield nickel (and they’re not expensive at just $18 in Good), look closely at the date. If the last digit looks blurry, it might be an 1883/2 overdate. Those retail $190 in Very Good and go up from there!

Being a non-silver U.S. coin, the Shield nickel was struck at the Philadelphia mint only. It would not be until 1912 that a U.S. nickel would bear a mintmark (1912-S and 1912-D)—and that was many years after the demise of the Shield nickel. So there is no need to look for a mintmark on Shield nickels. What DOES appear on the Shield nickel, unlike the subsequent Liberty Head nickels and Buffalo nickels, is the motto, “In God We Trust”. That motto would return again to our nickel five-cent coin in 1938, with the introduction of the Jefferson nickel.

Despite being our nation’s first nickel five-cent coin – the forerunner of the Liberty, Buffalo and Jefferson nickel – the Shield nickel does not seem to have a large devoted following. Consequently, prices for this series have moved upwards very slowly or not at all in the past 25 years. One, I think it has to do with its not-too-appealing design that few collectors are enamored with. Secondly, it’s hard to complete a full set given those tough 1877-81 years. Most buyers of Shield nickels mainly need one to complete a type set of U.S. coins. There is yet another problem with Shield nickels. The dates were struck very small and in low relief. As a result, the worn ones often have dates missing, or too smudged to make out. This is another strike against the popularity of this series.

But make no mistake, given the history of this coin and the current attractive prices for most dates in the series, this is a coin worth owning!

Mints

 * Philadelphia Mint (no mintmark)