Nickel (United States coin)

Nickel (United States coin)

A nickel is a five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint. Composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel, the piece has been issued since 1866. Due to inflation, the purchasing power of the nickel continues to drop. In 2018, over 1.26 billion nickels were produced at the Philadelphia and Denver mints.

About Nickel (United States coin) in brief

Summary Nickel (United States coin)A nickel is a five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint. Composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel, the piece has been issued since 1866. Due to inflation, the purchasing power of the nickel continues to drop. In 2018, over 1.26 billion nickels were produced at the Philadelphia and Denver mints. The silver half dime, equal to five cents, had been issued from the 1790s until 1873. The first pieces under federal authority were half dimes, struck in 1792 in the cellar of John Harper, a saw maker; as the first federal mint was still under construction in Philadelphia, this took place locally at Sixth and Cherry Streets. The half dime was originally struck from 1794 until 1805, though none were dated 1798, 1799, or 1804. By 1804, silver US coins were heavily exported, as they could be exchanged at par in the West Indies with heavier Spanish coins, which were then imported as bullion and deposited at the Mint for melting and restriking. In 1837, its fineness was increased from 89 to 89.24%. In 1851, it ceased to be the smallest US silver coin issued by the Mint. The American Civil War caused most American coins to vanish from circulation by the means of such merchant tokens, such as Gobrecht coins, filled by such merchants as Christian Kneass, who filled the gap by such means as such merchant. The Mint is exploring the possibility of reducing cost by using less expensive metals.

As of the end of FY 2013, it cost more than nine cents to produce a nickel. In 2006, the Mint reverted to using Jefferson nickel designer Felix Schlag’s original reverse, although a new obverse, by Jamie Franki, was substituted. In 1807, mint Director Robert Patterson explained to Thomas Jefferson that any coin will take the whole of our Silver Bullion to come through the Banks, and it is very seldom that they consent to take our Silver dollars. The coin would bear this design until its abolition in 1873, when the half dime would bear a bust of Liberty by Christian Christian Gobrechtschnecht by a seated Liberty by Liberty, to one that featured a Bust of Liberty, seated by Liberty by a Christian Christian, to the one that features Liberty byLiberty by Liberty. The nickel was struck from 1866 until 1883, then was replaced by the Liberty Head nickel. The Buffalo nickel was introduced in 1913 as part of a drive to increase the beauty of American coinage; in 1938, the Jefferson nickel followed. In 2004 and 2005, special designs in honor of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were issued. In 1793, the newly established Philadelphia Mint began striking cents and half cents. Coinage of precious metal was delayed; Congress required the assayer and chief coiner to each post a security bond of USD 10,000, a huge sum in 1793.