Liberty Nickels

The Liberty Nickel represented the second design for the new five cent piece. It followed the relatively short lived Shield Nickel series, which was the first five cent piece struck in an alloy of copper and nickel. Prior to this combination, the five cent piece took the form of the half dime, which was struck with a composition of silver and copper.

The obverse of the Liberty Nickel depicts the head of Liberty with thirteen stars around the outer edge of the coin and the date below. She wears a crown bearing the word "Liberty". The reverse features a large sized Roman Numeral "V" for "five" surrounded by an agricultural wreath. The inscriptions read "United States of America" and "E Pluribus Unum".Charles E. Barber designed the coin.

The design as originally released made no mention of the denomination of the coin other than the Roman Numeral "V". This led to the creation of so-called "Racketeer Nickels". A nickel would be gold plated and then presented for purchases face down. The recipient of the coin would see the gold color and Roman Numeral for five and assume the coin was a five dollar gold piece.  To prevent this practice, the US Mint added the word "Cents" below the "V" and the motto "E Pluribus Unum" was moved above and reduced in size.

Liberty Nickels were minted for circulation from 1883 to 1912. A small number of coins were illegally minted in 1913 and now present interesting rarities. All coins were produced at the Philadelphia Mint, except for 1912, when the Denver and San Francisco Mints produced the five cent coins. Even though not the lowest mintage issue, the 1885 Liberty Nickel is generally considered to be the key date of the series.

Coin Specifications

Dates: 1883 - 1912
Mint: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco
Composition: 75% copper, 25% nickel
Diameter: 20.5 mm
Weight: 5.0 grams

More Information: Liberty Nickel mintages