Everything about The Shield Nickel totally explained
The
Shield nickel, minted from
1866 to
1883, was
America's first
nickel five-cent piece.
Origin
During the
Civil War,
gold and
silver coinage was hoarded in large quantities. Since all coinage of that era except the
cent contained precious metals, this resulted in a shortage of small change, which in turn led to the creation of
fractional currency. These low-value paper notes ("shinplasters") were widely disliked, since some merchants refused to accept them and they wore out extremely quickly. Consequently, in 1865, Mint Director James Pollock officially endorsed the creation of a nickel five-cent piece to replace the hated fractional notes. The Mint's chief engraver,
James B. Longacre, created a design based on his previous
two-cent piece, with a shield as the main
obverse motif. On
May 16,
1866, legislation enabling the new coin was enacted, and Shield nickels began to be struck that year.
Early history
Since nickel is an extremely hard and brittle metal, it was difficult for the Mint to strike, even in the 25% nickel, 75% copper alloy used for this coin. In fact, it had recently been abandoned for use in the cent for that reason, where it was replaced with a
bronze alloy much easier to work with. Its use in coinage was chiefly due to the political influence of nickel magnate
Joseph Wharton. The coin's original reverse design had a circle of 13 stars, with rays between each pair of stars. These were removed one year later. Apparently, some individuals complained that the reverse design too closely resembled that of the
Confederate flag. Moreover, the high-relief rays exacerbated the coin's inherent striking difficulties. Even when the rays were removed, however, the coins continued to be weakly struck, and the striking dies broke repeatedly.
Replacement
The Shield nickel was quite effective in replacing the
half dime, as its base metal composition discouraged hoarding and caused it to circulate very widely. The half dime was thus discontinued in
1873. When
Charles E. Barber became the new Chief Engraver, he set about placing his own designs on U.S. coinage, and the Shield nickel was replaced with Barber's
Liberty Head nickel in 1883.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Shield Nickel'.
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