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The Shield nickel was the first American five-cent coin that did not contain precious metals.

The Shield nickel, minted from 1866 to 1883, was America's first nickel five-cent piece.

During the Civil War, gold and silver coinage was hoarded in large quantities. Since all coinage of that era except the cent contained precious metals, this resulted in a shortage of small change, which in turn led to the creation of Fractional Currency. These low-value paper notes ("shinplasters") were widely hated since some merchants refused to accept them and they wore out extremely quickly. Consequently, in 1865, Mint Director James Pollock officially endorsed the creation of a nickel five-cent piece to replace the hated fractional notes. The Mint's chief engraver, James B. Longacre, created a design based on his previous two-cent piece, with a shield as the main obverse motif. On May 16, 1866, legislation enabling the new coin was enacted, and Shield nickels began to be struck that year.

Since nickel is an extremely hard and brittle metal, it was difficult for the Mint to strike, even in the 25% nickel, 75% copper alloy used for this coin. In fact, it had recently been abandoned for use in the cent for that reason, where it was replaced with a bronze alloy much easier to work with. Its use in coinage was chiefly due to the political influence of nickel magnate Joseph Wharton. The coin's original reverse design had a circle of 13 stars, with rays between each pair of stars. These were removed one year later. Apparently, some individuals complained that the reverse design too closely resembled that of the Confederate flag. Moreover, the high-relief rays exacerbated the coin's inherent striking difficulties. Even when the rays were removed, however, the coins continued to be weakly struck, and the striking dies broke repeatedly.

The Shield nickel was quite effective in replacing the half dime, as its base metal composition discouraged hoarding and caused it to circulate very widely. The half dime was thus discontinued in 1873. When Charles E. Barber became the new Chief Engraver, he set about placing his own designs on U.S. coinage, and the Shield nickel was replaced with Barber's Liberty Head nickel in 1883.

• US Shield Nickel by year and type. Histories, photos, and more.
• CoinResource.com - Shield Nickels 1866-1883
• CoinFacts.com - Shield Five Cents (1866-1883)