United States Liberty Nickel
1883–1913 • The Gold-Plating Scam • America's Most Famous Coin
Liberty Head Nickel Value Guide
Key Dates and Typical Values by Grade
| Date / Type | Mintage | Good (G-4) | VF-20 | MS-63+ | Shop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1883 No CENTS — Racketeer Nickel | ~5,479,519 | $8 | $20 | $200+ | Shop |
| 1883 With CENTS | ~16,032,983 | $10 | $40 | $300+ | Shop |
| Common date (1884–1911) | Varies | $3 | $12 | $150+ | Shop |
| 1885 | 1,476,490 | $500+ | $2,000+ | $15,000+ | Shop |
| 1886 | 3,330,290 | $200+ | $800+ | $8,000+ | Shop |
| 1912-S | 238,000 | $400+ | $1,200+ | $10,000+ | Shop |
| 1913 — The Legend | 5 (illegal) | $3.2M – $4.56M at auction (private sale reported at $5M) — only 5 known | Shop | ||
These Liberty Head nickels values reflect typical retail ranges for problem-free coins. For every other denomination, see our full U.S. coin price guide, or work through a specific coin step by step with What's My Coin Worth? Even so, strike quality and eye appeal move prices within a grade, so compare recent sold listings before any significant purchase.
Origins of the Liberty Head Nickel
The Liberty Head Nickel — universally nicknamed the "V" Nickel for the large Roman numeral V dominating its reverse — replaced the Shield Nickel in 1883, designed by Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, the same prolific engraver behind the entire Barber coinage series (dime, quarter, and half dollar) that would follow just nine years later. The obverse presents a classical left-facing profile of Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed "LIBERTY," surrounded by thirteen stars, while the reverse's large V is encircled by a wreath of corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco — an intentional celebration of American agricultural abundance.
The series ran for exactly 30 years, from 1883 through 1913, struck primarily at Philadelphia with limited Denver and San Francisco branch mint production only in the series' final years. It served as America's standard five-cent coin for three decades before being replaced by the Buffalo Nickel in 1913 — the same transitional year that produced the series' single most legendary and valuable coin, discussed below.
The 1883 "Racketeer Nickel" — A Gold-Plating Scam
When the Liberty Head Nickel entered circulation in February 1883, its reverse design carried a critical oversight: the large Roman numeral V indicated the denomination, but the word "CENTS" appeared nowhere on the coin. Because the new nickel was strikingly close in size and color to the contemporary five-dollar Liberty Head gold half eagle, enterprising con artists quickly began gold-plating the nickels and passing them off to unsuspecting merchants and cashiers as genuine five-dollar gold pieces — walking away with change worth nearly a hundred times the coin's actual value.
Reports of the scam spread through newspapers nationwide within weeks. Despite Philadelphia Mint Superintendent A. Loudon Snowden's public defense of the original design, the Mint moved quickly, and by mid-1883 a revised reverse die adding the word "CENTS" beneath the V went into production — creating the two collectible 1883 varieties known today as "No CENTS" (roughly 25% of the year's total mintage) and "With CENTS." A frequently repeated legend attributes much of the scheme to a deaf-mute con artist named Josh Tatum, who allegedly evaded prosecution because he never verbally claimed his gold-plated nickels were worth five dollars. Numismatic historians treat this story as popular folklore rather than documented fact — no contemporary newspaper accounts, court records, or census information have ever been found to confirm Tatum actually existed, and the tale didn't appear in print until decades after 1883. Genuine period "Racketeer Nickels" can typically be identified by hand-applied reeding added to the edge to further mimic a gold coin — a detail absent from the mass-produced gold-plated novelties sold to non-collectors today.
The 1913 Liberty Head — America's Most Famous Coin
By 1913, the Liberty Head design had already been officially discontinued, replaced at the start of the year by the new Buffalo Nickel. Yet five nickels dated 1913 and bearing the old Liberty Head design exist today — struck without any Mint authorization, widely believed to be the work of Philadelphia Mint employee Samuel W. Brown, using genuine dies that should never have produced a 1913-dated coin at all. Brown kept the coins secret for years before revealing them publicly in 1919 and 1920, conveniently just after the statute of limitations for prosecuting a Mint employee had expired.
The public auction record for the five known examples is $4.56 million, paid for the finest-known Eliasberg specimen at Stack's Bowers in August 2018. That same coin reportedly sold privately for around $5 million in 2007. The Walton specimen brought $4.2 million at GreatCollections in October 2022, and it has its own remarkable story: it survived a fatal 1962 car crash, was wrongly declared a counterfeit, and sat forgotten for over 40 years before authentication confirmed it genuine in 2003. It is, without exaggeration, considered the single most famous coin in American numismatics. See our full Nickels Overview for the complete story of the 1913 rarity.
Key Dates and Notable Issues
1913 — The Legend
1883 No CENTS — Racketeer Nickel
1912-S
1885
1886
1883 With CENTS — First Year Continued
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Related Coin Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Racketeer Nickel?
Was Josh Tatum a real person?
What is the most valuable Liberty Head Nickel?
What are the genuine key dates in the Liberty Head Nickel series?
How can I tell a genuine 1883 Racketeer Nickel from a modern fake?
What is a good entry point for collecting Liberty Head Nickels?
A Guide Book of Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels - Features hundreds of full-color photographs, including high-resolution enlargements of key overdates and errors.
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