Set of 5 Liberty Head Nickels

Gold Plated Racketeer Nickel

Minted from 1883 to 1912, the Liberty Head nickel was America’s 5-cent piece before the Buffalo Nickel came into use. The father of the Liberty nickel was A. Louden Snowden, Superintendent of the Philadelphia Mint. He instructed master engraver Charles E. Barber to design the new 5-cent piece, which Barber accomplished in a spare and simple style. The elegant design of this coin features Liberty’s head on the obverse and the Roman numeral V within a wreath on the reverse.

In 1882, the Mint endorsed Barber’s design, and samples were sent to Washington for approval by. To Snowden’s surprise, Treasury Secretary Charles Folger rejected the design. The secretary realized that the laws required “United States of America” to appear on the reverse of the coin, not the obverse. Folger had then consulted with President Chester Arthur, who agreed with Folger. Snowden then suggested that an exception should be made, but the secretary refused, and Barber needed to modify his design. The revised design was approved in 1883, and the coin was ready for struck.

We are offering a set of 5 mixed date Liberty Head nickels. The set is guaranteed to include the most famous Liberty nickel of all, the 1883 “Racketeer” Nickel. This coin was originally minted with the Roman numeral “V” on the reverse but without the word “cents”. This inspired con artists to plate the nickel in gold and try to pass it off as a more valuable $5 gold piece. Just 5 million of these coins were produced before the Mint realized its mistake. The rest of the 1883 nickels minted that year (16 million) all had the word “cents” added on. Each coin in this collection is in Good to Very Good condition and is encapsulated in clear plastic for protection. A free display case is included with each coin.