 1866 Transitional Pattern. Judd-507, AW-570 (R-5). Nickel, Plain Edge. Gem Brilliant Proof with Frosted Cameo Devices. The obverse design is the regular issue dies, the reverse is the regular issue design adapted in 1867 without the rays. The surfaces are bright and reflective save for a hint of delicate gold toning mixed with a hint of nickel blue haze in the fields. Examination will discover a couple of minute specks and a hairline or two, but this coin is a solid Gem example of this ever popular pattern issue. Diagnostic die centering dots are found within the upper shield lines and two more are present near the center of the '5' on the reverse. Ample frost on the devices produces the desired Cameo effect, a testament to the technological advances achieved in the few years prior to this issue in working with nickel as an alloy with copper.
The composition for these new ''Nickels'' is actually 25% nickel and 75% copper. Nickel is a notoriously hard metal compared with copper, silver or gold, and mints all over the world found it one of the most challenging base metals to integrate into coinage. In the Western Hemisphere, most of the nickel mines were controlled by Joseph Wharton who managed to gain a virtual monopoly on nickel production. However, there was no need for nickel for industry, so Wharton did the most expedient thing--he had his friends in Congress pass legislation requiring our government to use nickel as an alloy for coinage, first on the Copper-nickel Flying Eagle Cents, then for the Three Cent coinage of 1865 and finally on these Five Cent coins beginning in 1866. Wharton then had a ready buyer for all the nickel his mines could produce.
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