Shield Nickel Design Hubs
The master hubs for the shield nickel series underwent some subtle (and one not so subtle) redesigns during the lifetime of the series. In some years, multiple hubs were used. The ability to determine which hub produced a die can be extremely helpful in attributing shield nickel varieties in those years where multiple hubs were used.
There were three obverse design hubs, which this website designates Obverse A, Obverse B, and Obverse C in the order in which they were placed in production. All three may be found on business strike shield nickels. There are six reverse design hubs, which this website designates (roughly in order of their use) Ip, I, IIo, IIa, IIb, IIc. Only reverse hubs I, IIa, IIb, and IIc were used on business strike shield nickels - the other two hubs were proof only issues.
The production method used today for creating dies is as follows:
An important thing to understand about the mint's use of the design hubs in the shield nickel series is that it was not until the introduction of Obverse C and Reverse IIc in 1869 that the mint created master dies and working hubs. Prior to 1869 working dies were created directly from master hubs. So, features such as broken letters on coins prior to 1869 can be traced back directly to deterioration of the master hub, and such features can be used to place coins properly in an emission sequence. The reverse hub IIb has been studied in this manner by Dennis Paulsen with the results published in The Cherrypickers' Guide. For an alternative view of how shield nickel dies were prepared, see Q. David Bowers' book (bibliography below).
The following table summarizes all of the known hub pairings for shield nickels.
| Year/Strike | Obverse | Reverse |
| 1866 Proof | Ap | Ip |
| 1866 Business | A | I |
| 1867 with rays Proof and Business | A | I |
| 1867 no rays Proofs |
A |
IIo |
| 1868 Proofs | A | IIa |
| 1868 Business (about 10% have the IIb reverse) | A A |
IIa IIb |
| 1869 Proofs (all have wide date) | A | IIa |
| 1869 Narrow date (Business strike only) | A | IIa |
| 1869 Wide date (B/IIa combo is very rare) | A A B B |
IIa IIc IIa IIc |
| 1870 Proofs | B | IIc |
| 1870 Business (B/IIa combo exists only as a DDR IIa over IIc) | B B |
IIa IIc |
| 1871 all | B | IIc |
| 1872 Proofs | C | IIc |
| 1872 Business (about 10% have the B obverse) | B C |
IIc IIc |
| 1873 through 1883 all (1873 Proofs are all Closed 3) | C | IIc |
Just to make things a little more confusing, various reference books use different nomenclature for the hubs. Here's a cross-reference table.
| This Website | Fletcher | Bowers | Peters & Mohon | Other variants |
| Obverse Ap | ||||
| Obverse A | Obverse A | Style 1a | Type I | Notched arrow |
| Obverse B | Obverse B | Style 1b | Type II | Sliced arrow |
| Obverse C | Obverse C | Style 1c | Type III | Full arrow |
| Reverse Ip | Style A | |||
| Reverse I | Reverse I | Style B | Type A | With rays |
| Reverse IIo | Style C | |||
| Reverse IIa | Reverse IIa | Style D | Type B | Reverse of 1867, r67 |
| Reverse IIb | Reverse IIb | Style E | Type C | Reverse of 1868, r68 |
| Reverse IIc | Reverse IIc | Style F | Type D | Reverse of 1870**, r70 |
.
** Definitely a misnomer as the hub first appeared in 1869!
References to sources cited above:
The Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties (Fourth Edition Volume 1) by Bill Fivaz and J.T. Stanton, 2000 Stanton Books and Supplies, Savannah, GA.
The Complete Guide to Shield and Liberty Head Nickels by Gloria Peters and Cynthia Mohon, 1995 DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA.
The Official Red Book of Shield and Liberty Head Nickels
by Q. David Bowers, 2005 Whitman Publishing LLC.
The Shield Five Cent Series by Edward L. Fletcher, 1994 Dead End Publishing, Ormond Beach, FL.
Changes last made on: Thursday April 4, 2024 23:43
This page copyright (C) 2004, 2005, 2016 by Howard Spindel. All rights reserved.