The 1880 Shield Nickel has the lowest mintage of the series for a circulating coin. There were only 16,000 pieces produced. Other low mintage years include the 1879 Shield Nickel with 25,900 produced and the 1881 with 68,800 produced.
The 1880 Shield Nickel is the clear key date of the series. It is rare in all grades, but especially so in mint-state. Less than 100 circulation strikes are graded by the major grading companies in all circulated grades, making this coin much more available in proof. The proof version of the coin had a mintage of 3,955. Although this mintage is numerically lower than the circulation strike mintage, more remain available since the proof coins were more likely retained by collectors.
