Liberty Head Nickels 1883-1912

Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber designed the Liberty Head nickel to replace James B. Longacre's Shield nickel, which had been struck since 1866. Barber's coin was meant as one member of a matching family of minor coins, with the cent, three-cent piece and five-cent piece sharing one portrait and marked I, III and V. Only the five-cent piece was adopted. NGC dates the first strikes to January 30, 1883, with release two days later; CoinWeek gives February 1 for the start of production.

The first design left out the word CENTS. Mint and Treasury officials had approved it that way, reasoning that the big V, the coin's size and its plain rim made the value clear. Within days, newspapers carried stories of swindlers gold-plating the new nickels and passing them as five-dollar gold pieces, which were about the same size. NGC thinks the scale of the fraud was overstated, and CoinWeek suggests the Secret Service's objections did more to force a change. The Treasury Secretary ordered a revision: CENTS went across the bottom of the reverse, and E PLURIBUS UNUM was shrunk and moved above the wreath. The public, expecting the CENTS-less coins to be recalled, hoarded them, which is why the No CENTS nickel is now the easiest Liberty nickel to find in Mint State.

The design then ran with only small changes until 1912. Demand for nickels fell in the mid-1880s: coinage stopped early in 1885, after fewer than 1.5 million had been struck, and did not restart until late in 1886. A 1906 law allowed the Denver and San Francisco Mints to strike minor coins, and in 1912 both made nickels for the first time. San Francisco struck all of its 238,000 in four days at the end of December.

The Buffalo nickel replaced the design in 1913. On December 13, 1912, the Mint Director told Philadelphia to strike no 1913 nickels until the new design was approved. Even so, five 1913-dated Liberty Head proofs exist, struck from genuine dies without authorization. They came to light in 1920 through Samuel W. Brown, who had worked at the Mint; NGC says an advertisement offering to buy such coins had been placed the year before as a cover story. All five later belonged to the collector Edward H. R. Green before being sold off individually.

Obverse. Liberty faces left, her hair tied back, wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY. Thirteen stars circle the rim, and the date is at the bottom.

Reverse. A large Roman numeral V sits inside an open wreath, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the edge.

• No CENTS (1883 only): E PLURIBUS UNUM runs below the wreath, and nothing else marks the value.
• With CENTS (1883 to 1912): CENTS is at the bottom between two dots, and the motto is smaller, above the wreath.

Mint mark. Only the 1912-D and 1912-S have one, on the reverse in the small space below the dot to the left of CENTS. All other dates are from Philadelphia and have no mint mark.

Racketeer nickels. A gold-plated 1883 No CENTS nickel, sometimes with reeding cut into the edge by hand, is called a racketeer nickel (search). Plating cannot be dated, so a gold example is not proof of an 1883 fraud (search).

• 1883 No CENTS: USA Coin Book lists 5,479,519 struck, proofs included. The one-year type is plentiful in Mint State because so many were saved.
• 1883 With CENTS: struck in roughly five times the number of No CENTS coins, but nobody saved them, so NGC finds them scarcer in Mint State.
• 1885: fewer than 1.5 million struck before coinage stopped early in the year. Worn coins are scarce, and for decades collectors filled the slot with a proof instead.
• 1886: USA Coin Book lists 3,330,290, proofs included, all struck after coinage resumed late in the year. CoinWeek notes the 1885 is harder to find in low grades, while the 1886 is a rarity in high Mint State.
• 1912-D: 8,474,000 struck, Denver's first nickels. Most are softly struck in Liberty's hair.
• 1912-S: 238,000 struck between December 24 and 28. NGC records that the first one struck paid the first fare on San Francisco's new Municipal Railway, ridden by Mayor James Rolph.
• 1913: the five unauthorized proofs. One was missing from 1962 until 2003, and two are now in museums.
• Die varieties. Repunched dates are common, especially in 1883, and are catalogued in Kevin Flynn and Bill Van Note's specialist book. CoinWeek also lists doubled die reverses for 1887 and 1900. The 1883/2 overdate belongs to the Shield nickel, not this design.

• Composition: 75% copper, 25% nickel. Liberty Head nickels contain no silver.
• Weight: 5.0 grams
• Diameter: 21.2 mm, slightly wider than the Shield nickel, a change NGC says was meant to improve striking
• Edge: plain

Every date and both 1883 types share these specifications. Proofs were struck in each year from 1883 to 1912 and use the same metal.