Shield Nickel 1866 - 1883
Shield Nickel 1866 - 1883: identify, compare, and value
Use this page to identify details collectors compare, understand value clues, and check current market examples.
Value Guide Summary
Use this page to understand what this collectible is, what details collectors usually compare, and where to check current market examples.
What collectors look for
Original condition, age, maker marks, materials, completeness, unusual variants, and documented history usually matter most.
How to identify examples
Compare markings, construction details, finish, size, period-correct materials, and known design features before assuming authenticity.
Value clues
Rarity, demand, condition, eye appeal, provenance, and whether similar examples are actively selling can all affect market value.
Red flags
Watch for reproductions, heavy restoration, replaced parts, fantasy pieces, unclear photos, and listings with vague descriptions.
During the war the federal government issued series after series of fractional currency. These "shinplasters" as they were known, rapidly soiled in circulation and were despised by the public. When yet another five-cent issue of fractional currency was introduced in 1865, it was enough to push Mint Director James Pollock to endorse a five-cent coin made of nickel. Pollock had previously been an opponent of nickel coinage. He saw first hand how difficult 12% nickel coins (the 1857-64 cents) were to strike and how the hard, brittle metal broke dies and injured the Mint's machinery. He also knew how politically persuasive one Joseph Wharton was in the halls of Congress. Wharton owned the largest nickel mine in America and had lobbied Congress for many years to use the metal in the nation's coinage. But after the third issue of five-cent fractional currency was released to unfavorable public opinion, Pollock was finally convinced that the nation's best interests would be served by striking a new five-cent coin in nickel, even if it meant adding to the already wide assortment of small denomination coins then in use. These included the half cent, large cent, copper-nickel cent, two-cent piece, three-cent nickel, three-cent silver and silver half-dime. Most of these coins were not circulating due to wartime hoarding. Pollock looked at the nickel five-cent piece as a temporary measure, a coin that would circulate and replace the universally unpopular fractional notes until such a time as the silver half-dime could return to circulation.
As originally proposed, the nickel five-cent piece was to weigh not more than 60 grains (or 3.88 grams expressed metrically) and be composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The House Coinage Committee intended for the new coin's weight to be expressed in metric units, but could not bring itself to publicly state so. The next metric weight would have been four grams, but this unit was mysteriously bypassed and five grams was the weight adopted. But rather than express the weight in this simple term, the enabling legislation required the coin weigh 77.16 grains, the English equivalent of five grams.