The nickel coin is a coin that is worth 5 cents in the United States. It was originally designed in 1938 with a picture of President Thomas Jefferson on the back of the coin. Monticello’s picture was on the nickel coin from 1938 through 2003.
In 2004 and 2005 there were various pictures on the back of the nickel coin to commemorate the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition. The new designs on the nickel coin were called the Westward Journey series. In 2006, Monticello’s picture was on the back of the nickel coin again while Jefferson’s picture was on the front of the nickel coin.
History Surrounding The Nickel Coin.
Really small five-cent pieces that were called half dimes were used before the nickel coin was introduced. However, both during and after the American Civil War there was a shortage of silver. Because of that, it was important to find a new type of metal for creating the five-cent coins. This is when copper stated to be the material used to make the coins. It is still used to make the nickel coin up to this day.
Alas, there were a lot of troubles during the 20th century because of how hard a nickel coin is. Nowadays, modern minting equipments do not have any difficulty making a nickel coin.
The nickel coin was able to be used to make a local phone call from a public phone booth in the United States until the early 1950s. Most of the rural places in the United States still charged a nickel for a local public phone call until the mid-1970s. It is also fascinating to know that it once only cost a nickel to ride on a public transit vehicle. This includes the bus and the subway car. When it was first invented, a nickel coin could get you a lot of things.
The Worth Of A Nickel Coin.
The term nickel was applied to the nickel coin before they were ever made out of nickel. Actually, the term “nickel” was first applied to the Indian Head coin that existed from 1859 to 1864. These coins then came to be known as nickel coin during the Civil War.
Finally, the Shield nickel hit originated in 1866 and was very popular. This nickel coin changed the way that Americans associated coins that are made from nickel. This is how we have come to have the coin that we call a nickel coin today.