During the American Civil War of 1861-1865 there was a great shortage of coined money due to widespread hoarding by the public. It was not until 1864, and the advent of the bronze cent and 2-cent pieces that the marketplace had a ready supply of small coins. There was still the problem, however, of no coin larger than a 2-cent piece.
The 1864 change to bronze for the cent meant that nickel was no longer used in our coinage. Beginning in 1857 with the Flying Eagle cent, the Mint had used great quantities of this metal, nearly all of which was obtained from European refineries. The 1864 change, however, came just as Joseph Wharton was getting ready to sell nickel to the Philadelphia Mint from his Pennsylvania mine. In 1865, however, Wharton retaliated by having his Congressional supporters push through a bill authorizing a copper-nickel 3-cent piece.
The new 3-cent coin, although legislated by questionable means, proved very popular with the public as it meant that yet another coin was readily available. This gave Wharton fresh ideas, and in May 1866 Congress approved yet another copper-nickel coin, this time for 5 cents. The Shield nickel, as it is now known to collectors, was first struck on June 11 of that year.
Large numbers of Shield nickels were struck in the 1860s, but gradually the marketplace became saturated with them and coinage dwindled in the early 1870s. In 1876, the regular coinage,
