Getting U.S. Nickel Designs Right

The first U.S. copper-nickel 5-cent coin was minted in 1866. It wasn’t until the Jefferson nickel debuted in 1938 that the initial design of a U.S. nickel was used for longer than a year.

The initial Shield nickel was authorized in legislation passed by Congress on May 16, 1866 (it passed out of the House committee and was approved by both chambers on this date). On the original reverse design, there were rays between each of the stars. It wasn’t long before designer James B. Longacre was accused of being a Confederate sympathizer by creating a reverse design with some similarities to the Confederate “Stars and Bars” flag.

That wasn’t the only difficulty with the reverse design. The 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel alloy of the coin inflicted more wear and tear on dies that did copper, silver or gold coins. The increased complexity of the reverse design with the rays made this a greater problem. As a consequence, the majority of Shield nickels struck exhibit one or more die cracks.

On Jan. 21, 1867, Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch ordered that the Shield nickel be redesigned to omit the rays from the reverse.

Jump forward to 1883. Mint Engraver Charles Barber created a new design for nickels now referred to as Liberty nickels. Unfortunately, while there was a “V” on the reverse to signify the denomination of 5, nowhere on the coin did it include the word “cents.” Almost immediately upon going into circulation, the public noticed the “mistake” of the missing word. These 1883 No Cents Liberty nickels ended up being widely saved by the public, with the result that specimens in Extremely Fine, About Uncirculated, and Mint State grades are easy to find today.

Another problem soon arose with these coins. Liberty depicted on the obverse faced to the left, as did Liberty on the $5 gold half eagle of the era. The nickel’s 21.2mm diameter was also similar to the 21.6mm of the gold coin. Some people reeded the smooth edge of the nickel then applied a gold plating to the surface. Collectors now refer to these altered pieces as “Racketeer nickels.”

There was a famous court case of Josh Tatum, who could neither hear nor speak, who would take these gold-plated nickels into a store, point at a cigar priced at 5 cents, put this coin on the counter, then leave the store whether or not he received no change or $4.95 change. It proved impossible to convict him as he never made a positive statement that his coin was a $5 Liberty. (From this case comes the term “joshing” referring to an attempt to mislead someone.)

With fewer than 5.5 million 1883 No Cents Liberty nickels struck, the reverse design was modified mid-year to add the word “Cents” at the bottom of the reverse.

The Act of Sept. 25, 1890, abolished the 3-cent nickel, the gold dollar and the $3 gold Indian. It also specified that coin designs could not be changed more often than 25 years (unless an exception was authorized by Congress and the president such as occurred with the 1932 Washington quarter and the 1964 Kennedy half dollar).

When the 25-year life of the Liberty nickel was exhausted, sculptor James Earle Frazer was commissioned to create a 1913 new design, with a Native American male on the obverse and a buffalo on the reverse. To keep the Native American image from being identifiable to any particular tribe, Fraser created a composite design using three elderly chiefs: Iron Tail, Two Moons and John Big Tree. Instead of a buffalo, Fraser used American bison Black Diamond, then residing at the Central Park Zoo in New York City.

Unfortunately, Fraser’s focus was more on beautiful artwork and less on the requirements for a coin to circulate. The highest points of his design were the date at the lower left of the obverse and the “Five Cents” denomination at the bottom of the reverse. As a result, the date and denomination wore off rather quickly. Within two months of going into production, it became evident that the denomination on the reverse needed to be recessed. No modifications were made to the date, with the result that “No Date” Buffalo nickels are plentiful.

Design problems were circumvented 25 years later when the Jefferson nickel debuted in 1938. A public design competition was held with a deadline of April 15, 1938. The obverse was to show Thomas Jefferson and the reverse Jefferson’s home Monticello. The judges were Mint Director Nellie Taylor Ross and three sculptors. On April 24, 1938, they announced that German immigrant and former General Motors automotive designer Felix Schlag was the winner of the 390 entrants. Schlag used these funds to pay for the funeral and burial of his first wife.

Schlag’s obverse design was accepted, but he had to modify his angled view of Monticello to be a straight-on image. Also, the tree in front of Monticello in his original design was eliminated. But, at least this time around, the initial design of the Jefferson nickel continued to be struck almost continuously ever since (though in 1966, his initials “FS” were added to the base of Jefferson’s shoulder, accomplished partly through efforts by the Michigan State Numismatic Society).

Patrick A. Heller was honored as a 2019 FUN Numismatic Ambassador. He is also the recipient of the American Numismatic Association 2018 Glenn Smedley Memorial Service Award, 2017 Exemplary Service Award, 2012 Harry Forman National Dealer of the Year Award, and 2008 Presidential Award. Over the years, he has also been honored by the Numismatic Literary Guild (including in 2021 for Best Investment Newsletter), Professional Numismatists Guild, Industry Council for Tangible Assets, and the Michigan State Numismatic Society. He is the communications officer of Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Michigan and writes Liberty’s Outlook, a monthly newsletter on rare coins and precious metals subjects. Past newsletter issues can be viewed at http://www.libertycoinservice.com. Some of his radio commentaries titled “Things You ‘Know’ That Just Aren’t So, And Important News You Need To Know” can be heard at 8:45 AM Wednesday and Friday mornings on 1320-AM WILS in Lansing (which streams live and becomes part of the audio archives posted at http://www.1320wils.com).