The first U.S. copper-nickel 5-cent coin was minted in 1866. It wasn’t until the Jefferson nickel debuted in 1938 that the initial design of a U.S. nickel was used for longer than a year.
The initial Shield nickel was authorized in legislation passed by Congress on May 16, 1866 (it passed out of the House committee and was approved by both chambers on this date). On the original reverse design, there were rays between each of the stars. It wasn’t long before designer James B. Longacre was accused of being a Confederate sympathizer by creating a reverse design with some similarities to the Confederate “Stars and Bars” flag.
That wasn’t the only difficulty with the reverse design. The 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel alloy of the coin inflicted more wear and tear on dies that did copper, silver or gold coins. The increased complexity of the reverse design with the rays made this a greater problem. As a consequence, the majority of Shield nickels struck exhibit one or more die cracks.
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