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1866 5C Rays PR64 NGC.. Delicate pewter gray surfaces. 1866[5C] Rays PR64 NGC.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1866 5C Rays PR64 NGC.. Delicate pewter gray surfaces. 1866[5C] Rays PR64 NGC.
<B>1866<5C> Rays PR64 NGC.</B></I> Delicate pewter gray surfaces. The devices are frosty and the fields are reflective, but not deeply so. Most design features are sharp, but slight striking softness is seen on the stripes of the shield and at the tips of the rays in the sunburst pattern around the numeral 5 in the denomination. Shield nickels with Rays are particularly important to collectors because of their status as a two-year design type. They were coined only in the years 1866 and 1867. The 25% nickel alloy used to produce five-cent pieces was new to the Philadelphia Mint in 1866, and it took several decades before the Mint was capable of reliably producing nickel proofs of the same high consistent quality as those made from silver and gold. Even as late as the 1870s and 1880s, nickel proofs were often minted that have subdued mirror brilliance.