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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Collector1966, post: 562138, member: 17919&quot;]It is my understanding that the government finally realized that the 1-cent coins weren&#039;t circulating because they contained nickel (at the urging of an influential nickel mine owner in Pennsylvania named Wharton). Once the government realized that small-denomination copper subsidiary coins would circulate, the nickel was removed from the cent, and the copper 2-cent piece was introduced. From what I gather from articles in Coinage and other numismatic publications, after the 1864 Act the owners of base-metal tokens were essentially left playing a game of &quot;hot potato&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s also interesting to note that Mr. Wharton, seeing the writing on the wall about the copper-nickel cent alloy, pushed for nickel to be used in the 3-cent piece instead-- accounting for the introduction&nbsp; of the nickel 3-cent piece in 1865 (and the introduction of the nickel 5-cent piece in 1866).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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