US Nickels Values & Mintages

Before the nickel: the silver half dime

For most of the nation's first century, five cents meant a small silver coin called the half dime. It was authorized in the Coinage Act of 1792, struck intermittently from 1794 and made in large numbers through the Seated Liberty years. During the Civil War silver coins disappeared from circulation as people hoarded hard money. The Treasury filled the gap with paper fractional currency, including five-cent notes.

One of those notes caused a political storm. The 1864 five-cent note carried the portrait of Spencer Clark, the head of the currency bureau, rather than a national figure. Congress responded in 1866 by banning living people from appearing on US currency. That same year it authorized a copper-nickel five-cent coin to replace the notes.

Why the five-cent coin is made of nickel

The choice of copper-nickel owed a great deal to Joseph Wharton, an industrialist who owned a nickel mine in Pennsylvania and lobbied hard for nickel coinage. The metal was already in use for the small cent of 1857 to 1864 and for a three-cent coin introduced in 1865. Copper-nickel cents were often called nicks or nickels, a name that passed to the new five-cent coin and stuck. The half dime itself was abolished by the Coinage Act of 1873.

The alloy has been 75% copper and 25% nickel with a weight of 5 grams since 1866. The only break came from late 1942 through 1945, when nickel was needed for the war effort and the Mint used 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese. The coin grew slightly from 20.5 millimeters for the Shield nickel to 21.2 millimeters with the Liberty Head nickel of 1883.

Designs from Shield to Monticello

James B. Longacre's Shield nickel started the series in 1866. Charles E. Barber's Liberty Head followed in 1883 with a large Roman numeral V on the reverse. James Earle Fraser's Buffalo nickel of 1913 is often ranked among the most beautiful American coins. In 1938 Felix Schlag won an open competition for a new design showing Thomas Jefferson and his home, Monticello. Schlag's initials were added below the bust in 1966.

The Westward Journey reverses of 2004 and 2005 marked the Lewis and Clark bicentennial. The forward-facing Jefferson portrait by Jamie Franki arrived in 2006 with the return of Monticello on the reverse.

How nickels behave in the press

Copper-nickel is harder than silver or bronze, so nickel dies wear and crack sooner. Many Shield nickels show die cracks. Many Jefferson nickels of the 1950s and 1960s have weak steps on Monticello. That is why the Full Steps designation, for nickels showing five or six complete steps, matters so much to Jefferson collectors. A well-struck coin can be far scarcer than its mintage suggests.

How to start collecting nickels

A Jefferson nickel set from 1938 is the natural starting point. Most dates turn up in rolls and the series has only a few challenges, such as the 1950-D with 2,630,030 struck and the 1939-D. War nickels are easy to spot by the large mint mark above Monticello and make a fun 11-coin subset. Fill a folder in circulated grades first, then upgrade.

Buffalo nickels are the next step. Most show heavy wear because the date stood on a raised shelf that rubbed off quickly. Avoid dateless coins treated with acid to bring the date back. The process leaves a permanent etched patch and collectors treat those coins as damaged.

Where the mint mark sits on each nickel

Shield nickels have no mint mark and Liberty Head nickels carry one only on the 1912-D and 1912-S, to the left of CENTS. Buffalo nickels show it on the reverse below FIVE CENTS. Jefferson nickels from 1938 to 1964 have it on the reverse to the right of Monticello, except the war nickels, whose large P, D or S sits above the dome. That wartime P was the first time Philadelphia ever used a mint mark.

No nickels dated 1965 to 1967 carry a mint mark. From 1968 the letter moved to the obverse near the date. The P returned in 1980. When checking a Jefferson nickel, remember that a pre-1965 coin with no letter beside Monticello is a Philadelphia coin.

Frequently asked questions