How Your Nickel Coins Have Evolved Over The Years

Small five-cent pieces, called half dimes, precede the nickel coins. During and after the American Civil War, there was a shortage of silver and producing these half dimes became too expensive. Around the mid of 20th century, we could use the nickel coin to place a local phone call from every public phone booth in the United States. These coins were called nickel before it was made out of nickel. Originally, the term nickel was used to the Indian Head coins that existed from 1859 to 1864.In 2006 the value of metal in the nickel coin was 11.5% higher than its face value.