Asmus Freytag scripsit: > Many monetary systems have coin sizes and weights that are based on > the traditional precious or semi-precious metals once used. The nick- > name for the nickel gives that away, associating it with a different > metal than the (presumably once) silver-based dime/quarter/silver dollar > based series.
Silver they were, until 1965 (though the dollar coin retained some silver content until 1970). Now they are a copper core with copper-nickel cladding. The nickel was not minted until 1866, and from 1866 to 1873 competed with the silver half-dime, which was the original five cent coin. Ironically, in 1943-45 nickels were actually minted in silver, as nickel was considered strategic for the war effort. Current nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel, the same as the cladding of the other coins. (Pennies are copper-clad zinc, however.) -- "[T]he Unicode Standard does not encode John Cowan idiosyncratic, personal, novel, or private http://www.ccil.org/~cowan use characters, nor does it encode logos http://www.reutershealth.com or graphics." [EMAIL PROTECTED]
