Liberty Head Nickel - Production

Production

After heavy mintages of the nickel in 1883 and 1884, production was much lower in 1885 and 1886. This was due to an economic downturn which lowered demand for the coins. The 1886 production was also depressed by the Treasury's decision to reissue large numbers of worn minor coins. It was not until September 1886 that the Mint resumed full production of the coin. By 1887, however, the Mint was overwhelmed by orders, melting down large quantities of older copper-nickel coins to meet the demand. Despite these efforts, the Mint was forced to return many orders unfilled. Demand remained strong until 1894, when the Mint temporarily suspended production as it had accumulated a surplus during the Panic of 1893.

The Coinage Act of 1890 retired a number of obsolete denominations, including the three-cent piece. Another Act of Congress, also enacted on September 26, 1890 required that coinage designs not be changed until they had been in use 25 years, unless Congress authorized the change. However, the second act indicated that nothing in the law was to prevent the redesign of the current five-cent piece and silver dollar "as soon as practicable after the passage of this act". In 1896, pattern nickels were struck for the first time since 1885, when experimental, holed coins had been tested. The 1896 pieces, which featured a simple shield with arrows crossed behind it, were struck in response to a resolution of the House of Representatives asking the Secretary of the Treasury to report to it on the advantages and disadvantages of using various alloys in coinage. Pattern nickels would not be struck again until 1909.

The turn of the century saw unprecedented demand for nickels, due to a booming economy and the use of nickels in coin-operated machines. In 1900, Mint Director George E. Roberts called on Congress to grant the Mint a larger appropriation to purchase base metals, allowing for greater production of nickels and cents. The same year, the design was modified slightly, lengthening some of the leaves on the reverse. This change occurred with the introduction of a new hub, from which coining dies were made. Demand for the coins remained heavy; in March 1911, Mehl's Numismatic Monthly reported that the Mint was working twenty-four hours a day to produce cents and nickels, and even so was failing to satisfy demand.

Mint directors, in their annual reports, had long called for the authority to strike cents and nickels at all mints; by law they could then only be struck at Philadelphia. On April 24, 1906, this restriction was removed, although the first base metal coins, cents in both cases, were not struck at San Francisco until 1908 and Denver until 1911. In 1912, nickels were coined for the first time at each of the two branch mints. The 1912-S (for San Francisco) nickel was not struck until Christmas Eve, and was only struck for four business days. A 1912-S nickel, one of the first forty coined, was used by former San Francisco Mayor James D. Phelan to pay the first fare on the city's first streetcar on December 28, 1912. Excluding the 1913 nickel, the 1912-S, with only 238,000 struck, is by far the rarest in the series.