The following article by Q. David Bowers appeared in Nickel News, Volume II, Number 1, 1989, published by the American Nickel Collectors' Association.

Nickel five-cent pieces have always been among my favorite series. As a dealer, over the years I have handled many interesting examples, including the famous 1913 Liberty Head nickel, specimens of the 1938-0/5 "overmintmark" Buffalo nickel when they first came to light, the scarce 1918/7-0 overdate, etc. However, most pieces that have gone through my hands have been of the "bread and butter" type -- pieces which are not necessarily expensive or rare but which are certainly interesting.

One of my first encounters with a rare nickel five-cent piece was in the summer of 1955 when Aubrey Bebee and his wife Adeline, trading as Bebee's, of Omaha, Nebraska, staged the auction in connection with the annual convention of the American Numismatic Association, held that year in Omaha at the Hotel Fontenelle. I was the successful bidder, for a resounding $610, of a glittering Proof 1867 With Rays nickel, far and away a record price. The investment was rather substantial for me in the beginning years of my business -- I was 16 years old at the time -- so when O.L. Harvey, an Oklahoma collector, offered me a small profit he became the new owner. At the time the record price for this Proof nickel created a big stir, and quite a few people figured that anyone foolish enough to pay $610 for a nickel like this would be an "easy mark" for other coins at high prices. So, quite a few interesting coins and collections came my way during the next few months, as a direct result of this acquisition!

The price of $610 can be put in better perspective if one considers that at the very same convention Aubrey Bebee paid $250 for a prooflike Uncirculated 1796 quarter dollar, also a record price. Today, as I write these words, the 1796 quarter dollar would be worth the best part of $50,000, whereas the 1867 With Rays Proof nickel would be worth in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. The 1796 caught up in price with the nickel and passed it, because the 1796 quarter is needed for type set purposes -- relatively few quarter dollars were made of that date, and 1796 is the only year with the Draped Bust obverse and Small Eagle reverse -- whereas the 1867 With Rays nickel, while scarce, is not the only piece of its design type. A Shield nickel of 1866, also With Rays, will suffice and is cheaper.

Years ago the 1867 With Rays nickel in all grades was recognized as a scarcity. I have before me a copy of the 1954-1955 Guide Book, which lists the 1867 With Rays nickel in Proof grade for $215. The runner-up in price is the 1877 at $110, followed in descending order by the 1871 at $80, the 1875 at $40, and the 1866 for $37.50. The cheapest Proof nickel back then was the 1883 Shield for $5.50.

In 1955 most collectors acquired coins by varieties. Collecting by design types was popular, but not nearly so popular as it would become after 1960, when the general price rise of all coins made it impractical for a large number of people to put together sets by dates.

Today, the Guide Book shows a somewhat different order. The designation "Proof-63" is used, and under this listing we see an 1867 With Rays nickel for $8,000, followed by the next highest priced coin, the 1866, for $2,500, then the 1877 for $2,400, and the 1878 for $1,600. The darling date of years ago, the 1871, is listed at $850, not much above the basic $600 listed for the cheapest dates: 1867 Without Rays, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1882, and 1883.

Early on I was attracted by the wide variety of recut (as we knew them then) dates and other features in the series, as well as the seemingly infinite die break variations. More so than most other issues of the era, Shield nickels have "personalities" -- idiosyncrasies such as die breaks, recuttings (about which more will be said later), and weak-appearing strikes.

On the subject of recutting, re-engraving, and the like, I have noted with interest the recent preference for the correct technical term: "repunching." For, indeed, date logotypes and other features are impressed in the die by "punching" or, in the instance of the entire design, by "pressing." However, generations of earlier collectors used the terms "re-engraving" and "recutting." Indeed, today Elizabeth Jones is known as the chief engraver at the United States Mint, although from a technical viewpoint she does very little engraving. Rather, she engages in designing, molding, and sculpting.

Among Shield nickels, the 1878 has always been particularly interesting, because the majority of the pieces have frosty or partially frosty surfaces, rather than mirror-like Proof finish. Indeed, an 1878 with a full mirror Proof surface would be unusual. If it were not for the fact that Mint records tell us that these were made only in Proof grade, most extant coins would be catalogued as business strikes! The incomplete Proof finish on these has its counterpart among certain issues in the related nickel three-cent series.

The 1883/2 overdate wasn't a widely recognized variety back then, although it is well known now. The incomplete Proof finish on these has its counterpart among certain issues in the related nickel three-cent series. I see in Walter Breen's Encyclopedia that he states that this variety was "discovered about 1954." It was always fun to look through 1883 Shield nickels and pick out overdates, for it wasn't until several years later that the variety was widely known.

Next come Liberty Head nickels of the 1883-1913 years. The first issue, the 1883 Without CENTS has always been one of my favorite United States coins. At the same time it is certainly one of the most plentiful issues. Indeed, apart from Morgan silver dollars surviving from government hoards, the 1883 Liberty nickel without CENTS is probably the most plentiful 19th-century United States coin surviving today in MS-60 or better preservation, with the 1893 Columbian half dollar being the runner-up. A pattern 1882-dated nickel of the same design was made, Judd-1690, and over the years I have handled perhaps 10 of these, including duplicate appearances of the same example. All have been Proofs. I have never seen a worn coin. Curiously, Walter Breen in his Encyclopedia takes a different view and states forthrightly: "Over three quarters of the known specimens [of Judd-1690] are in VF or EF grade, although they originated as Proofs."

The reverse die of J-1690 shows a minute repunching (must be accurate here!) at the lower right of S of PLURIBUS. A few 1883 Proofs were made from this identical reverse die -- and today perhaps one out of 10 or one out of 20 1883-dated coins encountered show this repunching.

The reason that the business strikes of the 1883 Liberty Head nickel are common is because the rumor circulated that the government had made a mistake -- which indeed it had -- by not putting the word CENTS on the reverse. It was stated that the nickels would be soon recalled and would jump sharply in value. As it turned out they were not recalled, but remained in circulation for many years. Ironically, just about any other nickel of its era became worth more than the hoarded 1883 Without CENTS.

Among early dates of Liberty Head nickels the 1885 has always been highly prized. Returning to the 1954-1955 edition of the Guide Book I note that back then an 1885 in Good grade catalogued $12.50, as compared to 15c for a typical common date of later years. In Proof preservation, the 1885 listed for $32.50, as compared to only $5.50 for a date such as 1904 or 1905. In other words, the 1885 in Proof was worth about six times as much as a common issue. Today, in 1988, an 1885 Proof-63 lists for $1,600 while a commoner Proof lists for $425, so the ratio has remained about the same-not quite what it was, but close enough. In Good grade today, an 1885 catalogues for $250, against 60 cents for a common date, so that spread has widened measurably.

Back in 1954-1955 a 1913 Liberty Head nickel catalogued for $5,000. That didn't mean that you could buy one for that price, for then, as now, specimens were hardly ever seen. It is believed that just five were struck, although no one will ever know, for they were made privately. Back in the 1970s I purchased the Hydeman Collection example of the 1913 Liberty Head nickel from World-Wide Coin Investments of Atlanta, Georgia, a firm which in turn had bought it from Abe Kosoff, who handled the Hydeman Collection when it was sold. The prized nickel later went through Superior Coin and Stamp Company to California collector Jerry Buss. In 1985 when the same company handled the Buss Collection at auction, the piece fetched $385,000, with the buyer being Reed Hawn, a Texas numismatist.

I almost handled another 1913 Liberty Head nickel. As most readers probably know, our firm catalogued and presented at auction the Norweb Collection of United States coins. Ambassador and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb made generous gifts of certain rarities to the Smithsonian Institution and the American Numismatic Society earlier, and included among those gifts was a beautiful 1913 Liberty Head nickel -- so now the National Collection at the Smithsonian has one. I was involved in the appraisal and transmission of this gift a number of years ago. Had it not been donated to the Smithsonian, it would have been offered on the market in 1988.

I should mention one other Liberty nickel variety, the 1903 Proof, some specimens of which have an inverted reverse. I was the discoverer of this misaligned die when I purchased in a "National" album page a complete set of Proof Liberty nickels from an Upstate New York collector circa 1964. I turned the album page over and noticed that one nickel was upside down in relation to the others. I figured that it must have been put in the album incorrectly, so I removed the acetate slide and oriented the reverse in the proper direction. Then I turned the album page over and found that the obverse of the 1903 nickel was now upside down! I then took the nickel out from the holder and found that, unlike other Proof nickels in which the obverse and reverse are aligned 180 degrees apart, this particular specimen had both dies in the same direction -- like a medal, rather than a coin. From that day onward I watched for other examples of this variety and since then have encountered very few. I suspect that this error was caught at the Mint before more than a few hundred were made.

Whenever I see a Liberty Head nickel I think of the purchasing power of a nickel during the turn of the century. In my book Adventures With Rare Coins, I devoted the first chapter to the Liberty Head nickel, what it would buy back then, and the adventures it could lead one to. A few years ago I wrote a book on old-time movies, Nickelodeon Theatres, which told about theatres in the United States, primarily of the 1905-1915 era, which charged a nickel for admission. The name "nickelodeon" was derived from "nickel," the admission, and "odeon," the French word for theatre.

Next in the line-up of nickels comes the Buffalo type, one of the few American coins known by its reverse. Although the purist might call them "Indian Head" nickels, I have never heard any collector or dealer refer to them as such. The term has never caught on, even though it is listed first in the Guide Book as a heading to that series. As is well known, the correct zoological term for the animal on the reverse is a bison, not a buffalo. However, "Buffalo" nickel it is, and always has been, and probably always will be.

Of all United States series, Buffalo nickels are among the hardest to grade today. Sometimes an Uncirculated coin, taken from a bank-wrapped roll, can appear to be worn. It would not be difficult at all to pick out a handful of Buffalo nickels in Uncirculated grade and give them to a dozen different grading experts, to find that there would be wide disagreement. Time and time again I have seen one person call a coin MS-65 and another call it MS-60.

From the standpoint of well-struck, top-level Uncirculated coins, Buffalo nickels are also one of the hardest series to complete among 20th-century American coins. Branch mint pieces from the late teens through 1927 are often poorly struck, and in this category nearly all known specimens of the 1926-D are weakly defined. The overdate in the series, 1918/7-0, has been a classic scarcity for many years, and I suspect that fewer than a half dozen specimens exist which today can be called MS-60 or finer. Even in worn grades, coins are few and far between.

One of my favorite Buffalo nickels is the 1938-D over S. This was discovered by two Jamestown, New York numismatists, C.G. Langworthy and Robert Kerr. Whether they sent them to me for verification, or whether they sent them to Coin World in Sidney, Ohio, I don't recall. I do remember, however, being very startled by the discovery, and being asked by Coin World to verify the coins for authenticity and then write them up for a feature story, which I did and which appeared on the cover of the September 14, 1962, issue. I don't have a copy of that issue on hand as I write this article, so perhaps a rereading of it would clarify exactly how this came about.

The idea of one mintmark over another was absolutely unheard of in the American series, and I was startled to see such a thing. At first, the 1938-D/S was believed to be a great rarity. Why not? A generation or more of collectors had studied Buffalo nickels and no one had ever seen or heard of such a thing. However, once the Coin World article was published, it seemed that everyone who had a 1938-D Buffalo nickel took out a strong magnifying glass and examined the reverse. Soon a few more pieces came to light, then a few dozen more, and on and on, so that today thousands of pieces are known.

This fantastic discovery set people to looking at mintmarks of other "common" modern coins, with the result that numerous other "overmintmarks" have been discovered since, including the 1949-D over S, the 1955-S over D, and the 1955-D over S in the nickel series.

It can be theorized that the 1938-D/S nickel was made by conserving reverse dies which had been created with the S mintmark. In 1938 it was realized that Buffalo nickels would be made only at the Denver Mint. Rather than waste dies with the S mintmark, at least three were overpunched with a D.

Later overmintmarks were probably simply the result of carelessness. I have been a visitor to the "inner sanctum" of the Mint on a number of instances and have seen the actual operation of the adding of mintmarks to a die. This is done by hand, by positioning a mintmark punch in the proper area and tapping it with a hammer. Those at the Mint today, including Mike Iacocca (who does much of the mintmark work), have related that the techniques of people present and past have varied, and at least in one instance a Mint employee was fond of tapping the punch perhaps a dozen times to "be sure" that the mintmark was impressed! One can envision a scenario in which such an employee tapped the mintmark punch three or four times, then was called away from his workbench-desk in the middle of the process, then returned and picked up a punch of another letter. Anyway, such things are interesting to contemplate and add much to the fun of numismatics.

If I had written this article a year ago I would have stated that one of the great rarities among modern coinage is the 1939 Jefferson nickel with doubled MONTICELLO and FIVE CENT5. And, indeed, the statement may still be true. However, in August 1988, our company bought a small group of Brilliant Uncirculated pieces -- a remarkable handful of coins of which earlier I had never seen an equivalent piece! Although I have handled any number of Very Fine to AU coins, and a stray low-end Uncirculated piece, never have I seen or handled higher level Uncirculated coins. Anyway, the group was quite amazing.

Jefferson nickels are, of course, a specialty unto themselves, and I suppose it is amazing that in today's era of great technology that the Mint often has difficulty producing nickels which are sharply struck. This does lend interest to the series, for the specialist can spend months or even years trying to track down a "full steps" specimen of an otherwise common date. It wouldn't be as much fun if one could simply write out a check and acquire in one fell swoop a complete set of Jefferson nickels, superbly struck, and in high grade.

What lies in store for the nickel's future? I don't know, except that the large number of nickels struck each year suggests that the denomination will be around for a long time.

Incidentally, the term "nickel" is a misnomer, and these pieces would more properly be called "coppers" for the pieces currently made contain three-quarters part copper and one-quarter part nickel.

1866 Shield Nickel With Rays

A 1914/3 Buffalo Nickel, one of the more subtle overdates in the series