Coin Collecting a Guide for Beginners Header

Liberty Nickels

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**1887 Liberty Head Nickel**

Liberty Nickels were officially minted between 1883 and 1912. They were made of 75% copper and 25% nickel. They featured a bust if "Liberty" on the front and the Roman Numeral "V" on the reverse.

So, although they are commonly known as Liberty Head Nickels, they are also sometimes referred to as V Nickels.

The first coins minted in 1883 did not include the word "cents" on the back and were very similar in size to the five dollar gold coin.

This was quickly noticed by con artists who took advantage of the fact and coated the nickel with gold to make a quick profit.

Legend has it that a character by the name of Josh Tatum, a deaf mute, was caught trying to pass one of these gold-plated nickels off as a five dollar gold coin. This is supposedly where the slang term "joshing" originated.

This legend has never been proven, however, the mint did add the word "cents" to the coin in the middle of 1883.

There is another interesting bit of history for liberty head nickels. It seems that an employee of the mint made five unofficial liberty head nickels in 1913 and snuck them out of the mint. These five coins, as you can imagine, are very rare and valuable pieces today.

Liberty Head Nickel - Variety 1 Without "CENTS"

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1883 No Cents
Liberty Nickel

Type	Liberty Nickel - Without Cents
Designer	Charles E. Barber
Years Minted	1883 only
Weight	5 grams
Composition	75% copper, 25% nickel
Diameter	approx. 21.2 mm
Edge	plain
Mints	Philadelphia - *no mint mark*
Mintage	5,474,300

Liberty Head Nickel - Variety 2 with "CENTS"

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**1883 Liberty Head Nickel with Cents**

Type	Liberty Nickel - With Cents
Designer	Charles E. Barber
Years Minted	1883-1913
Weight	5 grams
Composition	75% copper, 25% nickel
Diameter	approx. 21.2 mm
Edge	plain
Mints	Philadelphia - *no mint mark* Denver - D San Francisco - S
Mintage	1883 - 16,026,200 1884 - 11,270,000 1885 - 1,472,700 1886 - 3,326,000 1887 - 15,260,692 1888 - 10,167,901 1889 - 15,878,025 1890 - 16,256,532 1891 - 16,832,000 1892 - 11,696,897 1893 - 13,368,000 1894 - 5,410,500 1895 - 9,977,822 1896 - 8,841,058 1897 - 20,426,797 1898 - 12,530,292 1899 - 26,027,000 1900 - 27,253,733 1901 - 26,478,228 1902 - 31,487,561 1903 - 28,004,935 1904 - 21,403,167 1905 - 29,825,124 1906 - 38,612,000 1907 - 39,213,325 1908 - 22,684,557 1909 - 11,585,763 1910 - 30,166,948 1911 - 39,557,639 1912 - 26,234,569 1912 D - 8,474,000 1912 S - 238,000 1913 - 5