The "It Ain't Worth A Wooden Nickle" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in Hot Z Pizza paying for my medium size pizza I ordered about 15 minutes ago.  Had a couple of extras on it so the total price was $9.05.  Pulled out my wallet and gave the lady a $10.  Then I reached in my pocket and pulled out the nickel I had just found in the parking lot in front of the store.  Handed it to her and she jokingly said, "This isn't a wooden nickel, is it?" I then jokingly asked, "Do you get a lot of them here?"  

Wooden nickel produced for fairs and festivals.

She smiled and told me she never saw one in her life.  As far as me, I have seen wooden nickels, but at the time didn't realize what they were.  I can remember when I was a young child going to festivals and fairs at neighbor- hood towns around Lancaster, PA and receiving wooden coins as tokens from different stands set up to advertise their wares.  Wooden nickels, as they were called, aren't worth... well, a wooden nickel.  They were novelty coins made to advertise or commemorate organizations.  Some say you could redeem them for a drink at the festival or fair.  But, during the Great Depression they became legal tender due to coin shortages in some parts of the country.  Banks actually issued wooden nickels with expiration dates to help merchants make change for sales.  

A Round Tuit!

And, there was also a special kind of wooden nickel called "A Round Tuit".  The Round Tuit was a type of wooden nickel that has been popular for decades.  They too were distributed at fairs and festivals.  Once you had one you could no longer tell your parents that you would do your chores when got around to it!.  You can still buy wooden nickels from the Old Time Wooden Nickel Company in San Antonio, Texas.  

The Shield nickel.

Now, the first legal currency five-cent piece was the Shield nickel designed by James B. Longacre which was in use from 1866 to 1883.  Mr. Longacre made his nickle from the same alloy of which American nickels are struck today.  In 1883 the Liberty Head or "V" nickel came into use.  The nickel featured the head of Liberty, the Roman goddess and was made until 1913.  The demand for coins began due to the invention of coin-operated machines.  

The Liberty nickel.

Then in 1913 new molds were made and several 1913-dated Liberty Head nickels were produced to test the mold before they were changed to the Buffalo or Indian Head nickel.  Those few Liberty Head nickels are now collector coins with one being sold in 2010 for almost $4 million at auction.  

The Buffalo nickel.  The "tails" side really was a Bison.

The designer of the Buffalo nickel was James Earl Fraser and was issued from 1913 to 1938.  From 1938 until 2004 the copper-nickel coin featured a profile depiction of founding father and third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.  The likeness came from a Rembrandt Peale portraiture from 1800.  

The Jefferson nickel with Monticello.

On the "heads" side of the coin are the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" with the word Liberty and the year of issue.  On the flip side is a classic rendition of Monticello.  This nickel is a copper-nickel coin and was designed by artist Felix Schlag.  During WWII the alloy was changed to 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese rather than the 25% nickel and 75% copper.  

Monticello got a facelift.

When the war ended it returned to the silver and copper that it was before the war.  In 2006 the coin changed slightly with Monticello getting more detail and a cursive Liberty on the "heads" side with an updated portraiture of Jefferson.  The coin is smooth around the edges and close to a billion and a half nickels are made every year.  For many, coins aren't as important as they used to be.  If you found a penny in the street you always picked it up, unless you were superstitious and then you only picked it up if it was "heads".  

The new "Head" side of the Jefferson nickel.

Now, many people don't feel it is worth bending over to pick up a coin, no matter what denomination it many be.  For me, well that nickel I picked up as I walked in the pizza store saved me a pocket full of coins.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.