Nickels

Many people refer to the five-cent coin as a nickel, but that was not always the case, as the first five-cent coin was made of silver. Then, all coins had to be made of gold, silver, or copper by law. This silver five-cent coin was called a "half disme" (pronounced like "dime"), and was much smaller than today's nickel. Congress decided to have the United States Mint produce a new five-cent coin, made of nickel and copper, in 1866...but the silver half disme was still made until 1873. So both sizes were circulating at the same time for several years.