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U.S. Shield & Liberty Nickel Pair Fine |
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U.S. 1866-1867 Shield Nickel With Rays: Minted after the Civil War to replace fractional currency, this was America’s first nickel 5 cent piece. The Mint’s chief engraver, James B. Longacre, created the obverse design based on his previous 2 cent piece: shown is the familiar U.S. shield surrounded by laurel branches. The reverse of these early 1866 and 1867 issues include 13 rays between the 13 stars representing the original colonies. Later in 1867 the rays were removed due to minting difficulties. In the 17 years of issue, just 15% of Shield nickels were minted with rays.
U.S. 1883-1913 Liberty Head Nickel With Cents: In 1883, the new Liberty head nickel featured only a large “V” for the 5 cent denomination. It didn’t take long for swindlers to gold-plate some and pass them off to unsuspecting clerks as $5 gold pieces. The deaf mute Josh Tatum was the most notorious — his lawyer got him off by claiming that Tatum couldn’t tell merchants it was merely a nickel he was handing them (and “I was only joshing you” entered the language). We are offering the second type with the added “cents” below the “V”.
Both coins come in well-preserved Fine quality. Our choice of dates.
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