Coin collecting has developing a following in the United States. An estimated 150 million Americans participate in the hobby. Though not as collectible, some individuals pursue US nickels for their collections.
The American five-cent coin or nickel features one of the world’s most expensive issues. The US Mint first struck a five-cent coin called the half dime in 1794 and produced it alongside five-cent paper notes in the early 19th century.
In 1886, the first true nickel entered circulation coexisted with the half dime through 1873. As its name suggests, the new coin did away with silver as a metal component, but it did not become permanent. From 1942 to 1945, the coins consisted of 35 percent silver and copper and manganese due to the limited supply of nickel, which went to artillery production.
The name nickel comes from mid-18th-century mining in Germany. When miners discovered veins of less-valuable ore such as copper, they felt disappointed and called it “kupfernickel" or “rascal copper.” Ironically, the modern nickel coin comes from an alloy that contains only 25 percent nickel and the rest from copper.
In 1913, the US Mint redesigned the nickel, which featured a Charles Barber Liberty Head V design. James Earle Fraser conceptualized the new coin, which featured an American buffalo or bison. However, many believe that Samuel W. Brown, who worked at the mint from 1903 to 1913, secretly struck five proofs of the nickels with the Liberty Head V design. He brought these to the attention of the numismatic community at a Chicago Coin Club event in 1919.
The next showcase of the coins occurred at an American Numismatic Association (ANA) event in Philadelphia. Brown and his former boss, Dr. T.L. Comparette, who oversaw the the Mint Cabinet (the federal coin collection), attended the event. Their presence indicated that the coins had an accepted rarity rather than contraband.
Soon afterward, the five coins, advertised in “proof-like” condition, went on sale to the general public. Some postulate that Brown did not secretly mint the coins but that Mint colleagues struck them in 1919 for the ANA convention. Brown, no longer affiliated with the Mint, would have been the ideal person to introduce the rare coins, similar to a commemorative issue, to collectors.
Whatever the case, collectors have coveted the five Liberty Head V Nickels for the past century, with a $100,000 sale in 1972 marking the first time a US coin went for six figures. The coin’s value at auction surpassed $1 million in 1996, and one of the five coins went for $4.56 million in 2018.
Another noteworthy nickel is the 1918/7-D Buffalo Nickel with a double-struck date (seven shows under the eight). The rare error went undecided for two decades. Moreover, the coin has accrued a value in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The earliest sought-after nickel variation is the Shield Nickel, which features rays around the 5, a carryover from the initial 1866 striking and removed in 1867. Some believe that ten of them still exist.
