1909 Proof Nickel Pattern - J-1786

Coin Details

Description

Judd-1786 is the sixth of seven nickel patterns from 1909, nearing the end of the year's intensive design exploration for the five-cent denomination. The breadth of the 1909 nickel pattern series reflects a creative process that drew on multiple design traditions. Chief Engraver Barber, trained in the European academic tradition by his father William Barber, favored classical allegorical subjects, while the emerging progressive design movement championed by Roosevelt and the Commission of Fine Arts preferred uniquely American themes. This tension between classical and American iconography played out across the full sequence of nickel patterns and would ultimately be resolved in favor of Fraser's distinctly American imagery — a Native American profile and American bison that owed nothing to European artistic conventions. J-1786 represents one of the later design iterations explored in 1909, potentially incorporating feedback from earlier pattern evaluations. The pattern was struck in proof format in copper-nickel at the Philadelphia Mint.

Rarity Notes

R-6 to R-7 (Very Rare to Extremely Rare). Approximately 10-15 specimens estimated for this variety.

Cross References

Judd J-1786, Pollock P-1976