Shield Nickels were produced from 1866-1883. They were created by the Act of May 16, 1866. Its weight was placed at 5 grams, and it has the same composition as three cent nickels from 1865. The obverse design is similar to a two cent coin, which was minted in 1864-1873. The first Shield Nickels produced had Rays between the stars on the reverse. In 1867 some were produced with rays but most were produced with no rays as that was eliminated. There were 13 stars and 13 rays to represent the colonies. No further changes were made to the design j in N’Yuk the Shield was replaced with the Liberty Head Nickel. In 1877 and again in 1878 only proof issued were produced but circulation issues were back in production in 1879 until 1883. There are a few varieties for this fairly short lived series.
Thet are fun to pick...this one a bit OD....... This one mising a leaf....and someone but a 1 in the ball.....
For those who don't know, the wreath is supposed to be roughly symmetrical. But on the punch made for the shield/wreath they erred and the second upper leaf cluster on the right had only three leaves instead of four like the second cluster on the left. So until a new punch was made in I believe 1870, every die in 1866, 67, 68, and 69 had that fourth leaf cut into the die by hand. Every now and then they would forget and a die would be put into use that didn't have the fourth leaf cut into it. Considering the number of dies they had to make for this series the number of dies missing the leaf is surprisingly small and the missing leaf coins are often in demand.
Many dont realize that theres more none found varieties in the series as to whats has been found and attributed. So if you like chasing varieties or finding new discoveries the shield series wont disapoint you. They are fun to collect.
