5 Cents "Liberty Nickel" · “Liberty Nickel”

The Liberty Head 'V' Nickel (1883–1913)

In 1883 the U.S. Mint released a bright new nickel with a big Roman numeral V on the back — and forgot to put the word "cents" anywhere on it. Within weeks, crooks were gold-plating the coins and passing them as five-dollar gold pieces. The Mint scrambled to fix its own design. That blunder is only the first of the stories packed into this little coin.