Shield nickels on cent planchets have often been mistaken for regular die trial pieces in various auction sales from the 1870’s to the early 1900’s. The following dates are recorded:

1866. This is often confused with examples of J510/P594. Only 2 are confirmed including the illustrated example making it as rare or rarer than the corresponding die trials. In fact, one of these, ex Seavey Descriptive Catalog (1873) #1048, Parmelee (1890) part of lot 165 was listed and sold in the pattern section of these sales. The illustrated example is ex Federal Brand 5/59, Superior 9/98 lot 854, Jim O’Donnell, Superior 2/01, Mike Byers and is graded PCGS XF 45.

J510

Note that the entire design does not fit on the smaller planchet.

1867 with rays which could be confused with J572/P648. A single gem UNC example is known ex Seavey Descriptive Catalog (1873) #1056, Parmelee (1890) part of lot 175 and is presently owned by Saul Teichman. It also was sold in the pattern section of the listed sales.

J572

1867 without rays which could be confused with J573/P650. This is reported in Judd and Taxay but is not confirmed.

J573

1868 which could be confused with J635/P707. This is reported in Judd and Taxay but is not confirmed. The copper pattern is also unconfirmed and may be a misdescription of this mint error.

1873 which could be confused with J1264/P1406. An example was offered in the pattern section of the 1909 Zabriskie sale - lot 312 in UNC which later ended up in the Olsen and Farouk collections.

J1264

1876 reported by member Fred Weinberg.

1882 ex Elder 2/25/09 lot 37, Elder 11/37 (a Chicago collector – Brand?) lot 1189, Xan Chamberlain - UNC. A second example - cleaned and VF is ex Heritage 9/02, Fred Weinberg and has since been rehabbed by NCS.