[The following excerpt is published courtesy of DLRC Press and its author, Gloria Peters & Cynthia Mohon. This information was originally published in 1995 in The Complete Guide to Shield and Liberty Head Nickels
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Pattern Coinage – Shield & Liberty Head Nickels
Pattern coinage, or essays, forms one of the more interesting historical areas in numismatics. There are basically two types of genuine essays and they have two characteristics in common. One, they are made with the approval of the Mint at Philadelphia. Two, they encompass either a new idea or design proposed for regular issue adoption. Within the essay or pattern family are two main units that encompass different purposes and processes. The Trial Die pattern literally means to “test the dies” of regular issue pieces (although different metal composition may be used). They were proposed for adoption as regular coinage and, according to Taxay, were “meant to stay within the mint.” The 1882 Liberty nickel J-1690, without cents, is a good example of a Trial Die and it was produced in nickel, copper and aluminum. Prior to arriving at this final stage of approval for regular issue coinage are several stages including Splashers, Set Up Pieces — and the next major essay — the Experimental Die patterns.
The Experimental pattern, intended for submission to a higher authority for approval, is far more dramatic and captivating than the regular Trial Die. It is undoubtedly this Experimental group that Mint Master Patterson DuBois addressed in his writings of January 1883, The Pattern Piece when he wrote,
“Open for me your cabinet of Patterns, and I open for you a record, which, but for these half-forgotten witnesses, would have disappeared under the finger of Time....Laws have been framed for them, words have warred over them. Now, only these live to tell the tale of what 'might have been'; only these remind us of what has been weighed, measured and set aside among the things that are not appropriate, not convenient, not artistic, in short, that are not wanted.”*
Mr. DuBois was certainly correct in stating the Experimental patterns were not wanted. But he could have added: only for regular issue. Patterns have always been coveted by collectors, dealers, and last but maybe most notable, mint officials. For the sake of accuracy we have added a few adjectives to DuBois’ glowing romantic description — illegal, unauthorized, subject to privy, favoritism, self- serving and greed. On the positive side a few did make their way to the mint cabinet — and a few were traded for coins wanted for the cabinet — however, it would seem most did not. The majority wound up in collectors’ and coin dealers’ cache. One of the more infamous employees, a night watchman named Theodore Eckfeldt (and other workers at the mint) had a side business in 1861 of selling pattern coins to East Coast dealers. But perhaps the worst example of misuse of power in high places was Dr. Henry R. Linderman, Director of the Mint intermittently from April 1867 to December 1878. Linderman was reported to be an avid pattern collector and during his term in office an excessive number of nickel patterns (among other denominations) and mulings were produced. For several years the unauthorized minting of patterns had drawn attention through numismatic publications and catalog offerings.
In 1887 Director of the Mint James P. Kimball, noted for his crackdown on the production of pattern coinage for mint officials and upper government personnel, was not altogether altruistic in his intent. R.W. Julian reports (and it is confirmed in Mint Records) that Kimball requested Daniel Fox who was then superintendent of the mint to make him a complete set of U.S. coins in copper. When he was rebuffed by Fox and reminded of the Act of 1873, he became miffed at his missed opportunity to have special strikings made for himself as had former Mint Directors. The Act of 1873 was on the books but it appeared little more than a written exercise by Dr. Linderman and others to appease the public and collectors. Fox cited the illegality of such mintings based upon the Act of 1873 in his report to the Secretary of the Treasury. Kimball then took it upon himself to make sure no one else in the future would gain from a loose interpretation of this Act.
Citing various Statutes and Sections of the law Kimball wrote:
“Yet it is a well-known fact that, since the enactment of the present coinage laws, as before, numerous pieces known as cabinet coins have been in circulation among numismatists, coin collectors, and coin dealers, for even the permanent existence of which pieces no justification can be found in mint practice, nor authority of law for their manufacture — much less for their issue or escape from the mint. Such pieces may be generally described as follows, under the terms by which they are popularly known:
1. “Mule-pieces” or “hybrids” — pieces struck from a regular coinage die or dies, of which the obverse or reverse, or both, is other than authorized by law for coin of the same denomination, or other than employed in the regular coinage of the same denomination of the same date.
2. False-metal pieces — or replicas or copies of coins in a metal or alloy or of a weight and fineness other than prescribed by law.
3. Trial pieces — or impressions in soft metal to test a die or dies, and not destroyed as required by regulation. .
4. Experimental pieces — struck for mint purposes from regular coinage dies in experimental metal or alloy.
“Restrikes,” often a subject of question among coin collectors in the case of rare coins, possible only by a most flagrant violation of the coinage laws and mint regulations, involving not only failure to deface obverse dies at the expiration of the year of date, but in the act of reproduction falsification of dates, are not here scheduled among the well recognized unauthorized cabinet pieces, as in no case of alleged reproduction of certain rare American coins from perpetuated or restored dies, so far as I am aware, has any such charge ever been proved against any of the mints of the United States.”
One example given by James P. Kimball in his writings was “It appears from the files of the office of the Secretary of the Treasury of the date of May 13, 1868, *Quotations on this and the next page are from the 1887 Report of the that four sets of (U.S. Director of the Mint.coinage) pieces in aluminum were struck at the mint at Philadelphia from the whole series of coinage dies of that year, for, and at the instance of, the Secretary of the Treasury, and at his expense for material.” Bowers and Merena stated these sets were made at the request of Mint Director Linderman supposedly with one designated for the Bank of England and one for France. One set was owned by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch; another set was included in the Garrett Collection; Breen wrote a third set was owned by either Abe Kosoff or Abner Kreisberg during the 1950’s. It is unclear if any of the four sets were actually sent to either England or France. Linderman had four 1868 pattern sets made in aluminum supposedly for officials outside the mint. However, upon his death several pieces of pattern coinage including, we understand, one 1868 aluminum pattern set (pictured below) were removed from Linderman's estate auction by the U.S. Treasury Department. One of the famous 1868 proof sets was auctioned in January, 1995 by Bowers and Merena.
Several changes in the form of Amendments, with approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, were adopted shortly thereafter. As of “October 10, 1887 all experimental and trial dies shall be in the custody of the engraver, who shall safely keep all models and hubs from which experimental dies have been prepared.” Mint Directors and others could no longer order patterns made without Congressional approval.
In retrospect, whether the methods used and the secretive disposal of pattern coinage meets with approval or not, it is a fact an important area in numismatics would be absent today if all pattern coinage had been destroyed or at least not made available to the collecting public. Patterns were struck in very small numbers and many are unique. Most were struck in a variety of metals with silver, copper and aluminum being the most popular among the mint’s many choices for experimentation. Aluminum was a new metal of the times and the intrinsic value was the same as silver. After 1836, patterns were struck from polished dies on polished planchets.
Nickel was found to be difficult to work with as well as costly in die life as early as 1863 in experiments with the Indian Cent. However, a few patterns continued to be struck in nickel and a copper-nickel alloy through 1864. A political and friendship collaboration between mint directors and Joseph Wharton, owner of the Gap Mine in Pennsylvania, overcame all minting concerns and influenced the decision to create the first regular issue copper-nickel 5 cent piece — the shield nickel.
Although a few patterns were made after 1885, pattern coinage for the 5¢ nickel did not resume until 1896. The “great volume, some 4,500 tons outstanding” of minor coin circulating was brought to the attention of the Committee of Weights and Measures in 1896 resulting in a resolution passed by the House of Representatives June 8, 1896 to explore other metals for minor coins. Metals chosen were pure nickel, nickel alloy, aluminum combined or alloyed with other metals and copper bronze. Vendors who desired to submit blanks of such alloys they thought might be suitable were permitted to do so. On December 12, 1896, 1 and 5¢ pieces were struck at the mint at Philadelphia from 14 different alloys submitted for trial, including pure aluminum and nickel. A number of nickel alloys worked satisfactorily, but with no improvement on the alloys then used. The experiment showed all the alloys of aluminum submitted were too soft, clogged the dies and gave burred edges to the coins. Pure-nickel sample blanks were found to be very hard, making it difficult to obtain a perfect impression of the dies and, after a few impressions, caused the dies to crack or break. No further testing was done, even though later the Mint Director wrote “the pure nickel blanks submitted by interested parties were not properly annealed prior to striking or they would have become malleable and received the impressions from the dies without any greater power than is now used in striking 1 and 5¢ pieces.” The 75% copper and 25% nickel alloy was retained.
CHARTING PATTERN ISSUES
In Appendix E on the auction appearance of 5¢ pattern coinage we have given an overview of the availability of the shield and liberty head nickel patterns and an idea of the prices paid during various auction time periods of the last twenty years.
A few pattern pieces never made an auction appearance during this period and may have quietly gone into private collections. It's also possible some remain in the estates of early buyers. There are records of a few unique pieces donated to institutions such as the Smithsonian, but how many others have been lost or damaged is unknown.
Aluminum patterns (considered an intrinsic metal at the time of production) offered at auction are sometimes corroded on the rims so the prices may be misleading. A near perfect piece in any of the patterns might cost four times as much, or more, especially if 3rd party graded and considered the “finest known.” Availability, condition and rarity all play an important role in determining value; just as with regular issue coins. Abe Kosoff in his 1982 (7th Edition) United States Pattern, Experimental and Trial Pieces reminded buyers that an “auction sale analysis indicates a strong spurt in prices for certain categories. Should such prices remain firm they will have to be recognized as established values. However, because these prices may not turn out to be firm, similar items may not fetch the same extraordinary prices again.” In this, Kosoff was cautioning buyers on special offering sales such as the Garrett Collection (and other well publicized and/or famous name auctions) which can excite buyers into extraordinary bidding and therefore inflate the cost of a item beyond what a buyer at a different auction would be willing to pay.
Buyers of coins at auction should also be aware of an earlier practice among auction companies, corrected only a few years ago. Prior to this correction a consignor who placed a protected bid on a coin could “buy-back” the coin for a small percentage if the minimum was not met by auction buyers. The coin bought back by a consignor was listed in “prices realized” as sold and the company did not differentiate as to whether the coin was actually purchased by a bidder or was a buy-back. In a buy-back situation this practice would create a false value. Currently, most auction companies will not list a piece bought back by a consignor in their “prices realized.”
Prices may also reflect the condition of a pattern. For instance, a corroded aluminum pattern could sell for approximately 25% of the price paid for a perfect example. However, to a pattern buyer who really wants that particular coin for his or her collection the price paid, even if excessive for the condition offered, might be worth it. Especially if the pattern has rarely appeared at auction.
When any of the rarer issues do appear at auction expect the bidding to be very spirited. In an article on patterns, Winning Ways dated July, 1993 the 1868, J-624, R-7 Broad Planchet Liberty 5¢, NGC PR-65, billed as the “finest known,” had a retail value of $6,000. In Appendix E prices paid are compiled for specific time periods and the highest price paid is given for that period. The number of times a pattern has appeared in the auction market during the 1972-1993 time span should give the reader a starting point on the relative availability of a particular piece and the price paid over the years. A “finest known” example stands by itself in a particular period of time and its value depends on the desirability of the piece to those bidding.
1866 J-467;468;469 R-7- P-538 R-8
Obv. Bust of Washington: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Rev. Numeral 5 within laurel wreath with the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around. The 5 is tall, and its flag is pointed.
1866 J-486 R-6-P-575- R-6,7
Obv. Bust of Lincoln; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;1866. Rev. 5 CENTS within a laurel wreath, CENTS slightly curved; IN GOD WE TRUST above in small letters.
1866 J-492 R-6-P-579 R-8
Obv. A shield design similar to that adopted for regular issue except motto IN GOD WE TRUST is in smaller letters and the date is divided by the ball at the base of the shield.
Rev. The numeral 5 is centered in a laurel wreath with legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around. The 5 is tall and the tip of its flag is pointed. Photo: Western Publishing Co.
1866 J-500 R-8-P-585
Nickel R-8 The regular die without rays, as adopted in 1867.
1867 J-561;563 R-6 to 8-P;622;624 R-5 to 8.
Plain Edge Obv. Head of Liberty with head-dress of four large feathers; extending down from forehead is a ribbon inscribed UNION & LIBERTY; four stars on hair above forehead; beneath neck LONGACRE F. in minute letters.
Rev. Large V on a shield in an oval frame ornamented with scroll work and leaves; IN GOD WE TRUST above in small letters.
1868 J-623;626;629 R-4 to 7-P-692;695;698
Plain Edge R- 5 to 7. Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet without a star, inscribed LIBERTY in raised letter.
Rev. 5 CENTS in a laurel wreath, CENTS curved; IN GOD WE TRUST in small letters above.
1868 J-624;627 R- 7 to 8-P-693;696- R-6 to 7 Broad Planchet.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet without a star, inscribed LIBERTY in raised letters.
Rev. 5 CENTS in a laurel wreath, CENTS curved; IN GOD WE TRUST in small letters above.
1868 J-633;634 R-4 to 7-P-704;705 R-5 to 6.
Obv. Head of Liberty, wearing a coronet with star, inscribed LIBERTY in raised letter.
Rev. V in a laurel wreath connected at the top by a scroll inscribed IN GOD WE TRUST; a small Pattee [Maltese] cross in the folds.
1869 J-691 R-Unique- P-Not found.
Mule of the regular obverse shield die with the regular obverse die of the Indian cent; struck on a five cent planchet. Photo: Western Publishing Co.
1871 J-1050;1051;1052 R-5 to 6-P-1184;1185;1186 R-5 to 7.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, incused. Rev. V (reversed) CENTS in a laurel wreath. (22mm.)
1882 J-1680;1681;1682 R-6 to 7-P-1882 Plain Edge R-6.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY incused; behind the coronet are heads of wheat and cotton leaves and bolls; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around margin.
Rev. Large V in a wreath of cotton and corn. Motto above wreath is E PLURIBUS UNUM. 22mm.
1883 J-1683;R-8- P-1883 R-7 to 8.
“Blind man’s nickel.” Five equally spaced ridges on the edge.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY incused; behind the coronet are heads of wheat and cotton leaves and bolls; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around margin.
Rev. Large V in a wreath of cotton and corn. Motto above wreath is E PLURIBUS UNUM. 22mm. Photo: Western Publishing Co. The experimental 5¢ pieces with 5 equally spaced bars on the edge, was the suggestion of Rep. William S. Rosecrans (known to students of the Civil War era as General Rosecrans of Chickamauga and other well known battles) “after many of his compatriots were blinded by combat or disease.”
1883 J-1697; R-8- P-1899 R-7.
Another “Blind man’s nickel.” Five equally spaced ridges on the edge. Obv. Rev. Regular shield dies. Photo: Western Publishing Co.
1883 J-1704;1705;1706 R-Not given-P-1908;1909;1910 R-6 to 8.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, incused; behind coronet are heads of wheat and cotton leaves and bolls; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around margin.
Rev. PURE NICKEL in a wreath of cotton and corn; in margin, FIVE above and CENTS below, six stars to right and seven to left. 22mm.
1883 J-1707 R-Not given- P-1911 R-6 to 7.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, incused; behind coronet are heads of wheat and cotton leaves and bolls; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around margin.
Rev. 75 N. 25 C. centered within a wreath of corn and cotton with FIVE above and CENTS below. There are thirteen stars at the border arranged seven left and six right. Photo: Western Publishing Co.
1883 J-1710;1711 R- Not given-P-1914;1915 R-5 to 7.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, incused; behind coronet are heads of wheat and cotton leaves and bolls; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around margin.
Rev. 50 N. 50 C. in the wreath. 22mm.
1883 J-1712;1713 R-Not given-P-1916; 1917 R-6 to 7.
Obv. Head of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, incused; behind coronet are heads of wheat and cotton leaves and bolls; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around margin.
Rev. 33 N. 67 C. in the wreath. 22mm.
1883 J-1717;1718;1719 R-Not given-P-1922;1923;1924 R-6 to 8.
Obv. The regular die.
Rev. V in a wreath of corn and cotton; across the numeral is a scroll inscribed CENTS, incused; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in margin above, E PLURIBUS UNUM below. 21mm.
1884 J-1724;1725 R-Not given-P-1934;1935 R-6 to unique.
Obv. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1884 around a circle of thirteen stars within which is an octagonal hole in the planchet.
Rev. Above hole FIVE, below CENTS and on either side a United States shield.
1885 J-1742 Not given- P-1954 R-6 to 7.
Obv. Annular (ring shaped pattern). UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1885 around a circle of thirteen stars within which is a hole surrounded by denticles.
Rev. Above hole FIVE CENTS, below a United States shield with a laurel branch on either side. Photo: Western Publishing Co.
1896 J-1770;1771;1772 R-Not given-P-1986;1989 R-6.
Obv. A United States shield crossed by a scroll inscribed LIBERTY incused; behind the shield are crossed poles supporting a Liberty cap and an eagle with widespread wings; around this above is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM, below 1896; six stars to the right and seven to the left; all within a circle of dots.
Rev. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1 CENT in an olive wreath, all within a circle of dots.
1909 J-1781 R-8- P-2016 R-Unique(?)
Obv. A United States shield crossed by a scroll inscribed LIBERTY; behind shield are crossed poles supporting a Liberty cap and an eagle with widespread wings; around, thirteen stars; below, 1909.
Rev. 5 CENTS in a wreath of laurel; above, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; below, E PLURIBUS UNUM in small letters. Photo: Western Publishing Co.
1909 J-1782 R-8-P-2017 Unique (?).
Obv. Bust of Washington to right; above LIBERTY; 7 stars left and 6 stars right; below, 1909.
Rev. 5 CENTS in a wreath of laurel; above, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; below, E PLURIBUS UNUM in small letters. Photo: Western Publishing Co.
1910 J-1788 R-8-P-2023 R-8
Obv. Large bust of Washington facing left; in front, LIBERTY; behind, 1910.
Rev. Large 5 in outline, crossed by the word CENTS within two laurel branches; above, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA beneath which in smaller letters, E PLURIBUS UNUM; below wreath in minute letters, IN GOD WE TRUST. Photo: Western Publishing Co.