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Message:: [QUOTE="Ardatirion, post: 312633, member: 9204"]These coins come from a very interesting and often forgotten part of US history/numismatics. I was pretty confused the first time I saw one too! But now, I have a near complete collection of them! 5 centavo pieces like this one were originally struck on US nickel planchets. But the mint made quite a few mistakes, switching 5 centavo dies with 20 centavo dies. (These were originally struck on US quarter planchets, but the size was reduced to keep the silver value down) In 1918, for example, at the San Fransisco mint, they switched the obverse die for the 5 centavo with the obverse die for the 20 centavo, creating a rare small-date variety.  There are people out there who would argue that they should be included with the US series, myself included. But that's a whole different can of beans. :-D[/QUOTE]