5 Cents '1866 Nickel Without Rays' Pattern, brass

The 1866 nickel five-cent piece represents one of the most consequential retooling moments in American coinage. Congress authorized the five-cent nickel that year specifically to displace the fractional paper currency that had flooded circulation during the Civil War. The Mint experimented aggressively with compositions before settling on the 75% copper, 25% nickel standard — brass being among the candidates tested and rejected. Judd-519 survives as physical evidence of that elimination process.

The "Without Rays" reverse was itself a mid-year production change in 1866, adopted because the rays caused excessive die wear.