1881 Proof Nickel Pattern - J-1671

Coin Details

Auction Record

PR30 PCGS realized $2,070 at Heritage Auctions, 2005.

Description

Early prototype for the Liberty Head Nickel, struck in copper-nickel at the Philadelphia Mint in 1881 under Superintendent Snowden's design initiative. The obverse features Charles Barber's Liberty Head portrait facing left with a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, surrounded by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the date 1881. The reverse displays a large Roman numeral V centered within an agricultural wreath of wheat, cotton, and corn, following Snowden's instructions for wreath-enclosed denomination marking. No additional mottoes or legends appear on the reverse, creating a clean and uncluttered composition. This first nickel pattern in the 1881 series established the basic design vocabulary — Liberty Head obverse paired with wreath-and-V reverse — that Barber would refine through multiple iterations over the next two years before the Liberty Head Nickel entered production in 1883. The design is recognizably ancestral to the adopted coin but differs in the arrangement of obverse legends and the simplicity of the reverse.

Rarity Notes

R-6 to R-7 (Very Rare to Extremely Rare). An estimated 8-15 specimens known.

Cross References

Judd J-1671, Pollock P-1872