In all but a few cases, the mintages for the Liberty Head Nickel occurred in relatively high numbers. Most issues of the series with the exception of three remain relatively available for collectors. This is a contrast to the previous Shield Nickels, which saw mintage levels much more varied, including several years where coins were struck only in proof format.
Charles E. Barber designed the Liberty Nickel. His design featured the head of Liberty on the obverse. She wears a crown and has wheat and cotton woven into her hair with thirteen stars around. The reverse includes a large Roman numeral “V”, which was originally the only indication of the value of the coin. Part of the way through the first year of issue, the word “CENTS” was added. Remaining inscriptions are “United States of America” and “E Pluribus Unum”.
For the Liberty Nickel series:
- There are 33 different regular issues of the series. This includes the “without cents” and “with cents” varieties of the first year.
- Production took place at three different mints, although the Denver and San Francisco Mint only struck coins in the final year.
- The average mintage for a regular issue is 18,242,754.
- The lowest mintage occurs for the 1912-S Liberty Nickel at 238,000, while the highest mintage occurs for the 1911 Liberty Nickel at 39,557,639.
- The 1913 Liberty Nickel, which was illegally minted, is believed to have an original mintage of 5.
Liberty Nickel Mintages
| Issue | Mintage |
|---|---|
| 1883 without cents | 5,474,300 |
| 1883 with cents | 16,026,200 |
| 1884 | 11,270,000 |
| 1885 | 1,473,300 |
| 1886 | 3,326,000 |
| 1887 | 15,260,692 |
| 1888 | 10,715,901 |
| 1889 | 15,878,025 |
| 1890 | 16,256,532 |
| 1891 | 16,832,000 |
| 1892 | 11,696,897 |
| 1893 | 13,368,000 |
| 1894 | 5,410,500 |
| 1895 | 9,977,822 |
| 1896 | 8,841,048 |
| 1897 | 20,426,797 |
| 1898 | 12,530,292 |
| 1899 | 26,027,000 |
| 1900 | 27,253,733 |
| 1901 | 26,478,228 |
| 1902 | 31,487,581 |
| 1903 | 28,004,930 |
| 1904 | 21,403,167 |
| 1905 | 29,825,124 |
| 1906 | 38,612,000 |
| 1907 | 39,213,325 |
| 1908 | 22,684,557 |
| 1909 | 11,585,763 |
| 1910 | 30,166,948 |
| 1911 | 39,557,639 |
| 1912 | 26,234,569 |
| 1912-D | 8,474,000 |
| 1912-S | 238,000 |
| 1913 | 5 known |
Source: LibertyNickel.net
