Liberty Nickel Mintage

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.

1883 Liberty Nickel
1883 Liberty Nickel

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.”

Liberty Nickel Notes:

  • 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:

IssueMintage
1883 Without CENTS5,474,300
1883 Proof Without CENTS5,219
1883 With CENTS16,026,200
1883 Proof With CENTS6,783
188411,270,000
1884 Proof3,942
18851,473,300
1885 Proof3,790
18863,326,000
1886 Proof4,290
188715,260,692
1887 Proof2,960
188810,715,901
1888 Proof4,582
188915,878,025
1889 Proof3,336
189016,256,532
1890 Proof2,740
189116,832,000
1891 Proof2,350
189211,696,897
1892 Proof2,745
189313,368,000
1893 Proof2,195
18945,410,500
1894 Proof2,632
18959,977,822
1895 Proof2,062
18968,841,048
1896 Proof1,862
189720,426,797
1897 Proof1,938
189812,530,292
1898 Proof1,795
189926,027,000
1899 Proof2,031

Liberty Nickel Mintages Continued:

IssueMintage
1900 Proof2,262
190126,478,228
1901 Proof1,985
190231,487,581
1902 Proof2,018
190328,004,930
1903 Proof1,790
190421,403,167
1904 Proof1,817
190529,825,124
1905 Proof2,152
190638,612,000
1906 Proof1,725
190739,213,325
1907 Proof1,475
190822,684,557
1908 Proof1,620
190911,585,763
1909 Proof4,763
191030,166,948
1910 Proof2,405
191139,557,639
1911 Proof1,733
191226,234,569
1912 Proof2,145
1912-D8,474,000
1912-S238,000
19135 Known
Source: LibertyNickel.net