1866 Shield Nickel - Rays - PC-5c-1866-01 Pre-Cud

Description

Documented by the Cuds on Coins attribution service, PC-5c-1866-01 records a pre-cud on the 1866 Shield Nickel with Rays — the inaugural year of the five-cent nickel denomination in the United States. The designation follows the standard naming convention: PC for pre-cud, 5c for the nickel denomination, 1866 for the date, and 01 as the catalog number. James B. Longacre designed the Shield nickel with an obverse featuring a prominent Union shield surmounted by a cross and the motto IN GOD WE TRUST, while the 1866-1867 "With Rays" sub-type carries a reverse with a large numeral 5 surrounded by stars and rays radiating between them — the rays were eliminated early in 1867 because of striking difficulties caused by the opposing high-relief design elements. Philadelphia struck approximately 14.74 million Shield nickels with rays in 1866, the first year of production, and the new 75% copper, 25% nickel alloy presented unfamiliar metallurgical properties to the die shop. Nickel's hardness created greater striking pressures and accelerated die wear compared to the softer copper and silver alloys that had previously dominated coinage production, potentially contributing to increased die cracking rates during the early years of the denomination. Pre-cuds on this first-year-of-issue coin provide evidence of how the Mint's die infrastructure adapted to the demands of the new composition, documenting instances where die steel began to fracture under the elevated stress of striking the hard nickel alloy.

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