1883-1913 Liberty Nickel Coin Guide
The 1912-S Liberty Nickel (Buy on eBay) has the lowest mintage of the series by far, with only 238,000 produced. This is also the only date of the series struck at the San Francisco Mint, and one of only two issues containing a mint mark. Despite the low mintage, the issue remains more accessible than […]
The 1886 Liberty Nickel (Buy on eBay) is considered a semi-key date issue of the series. While this number may not seem low in the absolute sense, it was low in comparison to many other years of the series which had mintages above 10 million. Additionally, similar to the prior issue, the coins entered circulation […]
The 1885 Liberty Nickel (Buy on eBay) is regarded as the key date coin of the series. There were 1,472,700 examples originally struck for circulation at the Philadelphia Mint. This is actually not the lowest mintage for the series, but circulation took a heavy toll. At the time of issue, it was not as customary […]
The Liberty Nickels carry the same specifications as the prior series, with a composition of 75% copper and 25% nickel. Each coin has a standard weight of 5 grams, diameter of 21.2 mm, and a plain edge. All coins of the series were struck at the Philadelphia Mint until 1912, when coins were also struck […]
Aside from a few years, the Liberty Nickel mintages occurred in relatively high numbers. Most of the Philadelphia Mint issues were struck with a mintage of 10 million or greater, with a few notable exceptions. The 1885 Liberty Nickel and the 1886 Liberty Nickel with mintages of 1.4 million and 3.3 million are considered key […]