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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 1822747, member: 66&quot;]During the Civil War all of the silver and gold coins were disappearing from circulation.&nbsp; Uncertainty over who would win and wartime shortages forced up the value of the metals and they were worth more as metal than the face value of the coin.&nbsp; The bronze cent, two cent and later the copper nickel three and five cent pieces were some of the first coins with a metal value well below the face value of the coin.&nbsp; In the case of the shield nickel it was originally intended to be a TEMPORARY coinage until the metal prices dropped enough that large scale coinage of the silver half dimes could recommence.&nbsp; Some small coinage of the half dimes continued simply because the authorization for the half dimes had never been rescinded.&nbsp; Therefore some proofs were made and the mint also struck a modest amount of business strike because they didn&#039;t want to create rarities.&nbsp; Most of these were probably not release until the early 1870&#039;s when silver resumed parity with gold and paper.&nbsp; In the meantime though the public found the shield nickel was a much more convenient size and weight than the tiny half dime. So when the weights of the silver coins were increased in 1873 the half dime was simply discontinued in favor of the five cent piece.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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