Shield Nickel Values 1866-1883

History of the Shield Nickel

America's first five-cent nickel piece was born of the Civil War, when silver half dimes vanished into hoards and the Mint needed a base-metal substitute the public would accept. Longacre adapted the shield motif from his two-cent piece of 1864.

The hard nickel alloy battered the Mint's dies; cracks and cuds are so routine that specialists collect them as die varieties. The original 1866 'with rays' reverse proved especially difficult to strike and was simplified within a year, creating a two-year subtype.

Low-mintage proof-only and near-proof-only dates of the late 1870s, particularly the 1877 and 1878, anchor the series for advanced collectors.