Five Cents · 1883–1913

Liberty Head Nickel

Liberty facing left wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, surrounded by 13 stars with the date below. A large Roman numeral V (five) inside a wreath of cotton and corn, with CENTS added below the wreath after mid-1883.

Designer

Charles E. Barber

Diameter

21.21 mm

Edge

Plain

Mint mark

Reverse (back), to the left of CENTS below the wreath — only on 1912-D and 1912-S

Composition

1883–1913: 75% copper, 25% nickel · 5 g

Did you know? Five 1913 Liberty nickels were struck under mysterious circumstances after the design was officially retired — all five are accounted for today and one has sold for over $4 million.

Beginner tip: Check the date first (1885, 1886, and 1912-S are the big ones), then flip an 1883 over to see whether the word CENTS appears under the wreath.

Key dates to look for

1885 V Nickel

$400+ even in Good condition

The key date of the series — low mintage and heavily collected

1886 V Nickel

$200+

Second-lowest circulation mintage of the design

1894 V Nickel

$80+

Semi-key with a mintage under 5.5 million

1912-S V Nickel

$100+ in Good condition

Only 238,000 struck — the first San Francisco nickel

Valuable varieties & errors

1883 No CENTS ("Racketeer" Nickel)

common

$5 – $40+

The first 1883 nickels said only V — Roman numeral five — with no word CENTS anywhere. Con artists gold-plated them and passed them off as $5 gold coins, so the Mint quickly added CENTS below the wreath. So many No CENTS coins were saved as curiosities that they are actually the cheapest coin in the series today.

How to check: Flip the coin over. If the space below the wreath shows E PLURIBUS UNUM and no word CENTS, you have the No CENTS type. Beware of examples with traces of gold plating — those are the famous 'racketeer' novelty pieces, collectible for the story but not worth more.

1883/2 Overdate (No CENTS)

rare

$150 – $1,000+

Some No CENTS dies were made from leftover 1882-dated dies that were re-punched to 1883. Several die pairs are recognized, all showing pieces of a 2 beneath the final 3.

How to check: On a No CENTS 1883, put a loupe on the last digit of the date. Look for the diagonal stroke and flat base of a 2 showing through the 3, most obvious below the 3's lower curve. Compare with a normal 1883 photo online to train your eye.

1913 Liberty Head Nickel

extreme

$3,000,000+ (five known, all accounted for)

Only five 1913 Liberty nickels exist, struck without authorization after the Buffalo design had officially replaced this one. All five are famous, individually tracked, and held in museums and major collections.

How to check: You will not find a real one in change — every genuine example is accounted for. Any '1913' Liberty nickel you encounter is almost certainly an altered date, usually a 1903, 1910, or 1912 with the digits re-engraved, so inspect the last digit for tooling marks and unusual shape.

Error types found on this series

Off-Center Strike

The blank wasn't centered when struck, so part of the design is missing and part of the coin is blank.

Clipped Planchet

A bite-shaped piece of the coin is missing because the blank was punched from an already-punched part of the metal strip.

Die Crack

A crack in the die fills with metal during the strike, leaving a thin raised line on the coin.

Lamination Error

A thin layer of the coin's metal peels, flakes, or cracks off because the alloy was poorly mixed.

Doubled Die (Obverse)

The front design shows a second, shifted image because the die itself was made doubled.

Real photos where available (credits); others are illustrations.

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