Most of us remember the 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robertson in a lawsuit filed by the American Council of the Blind that claims the U.S. Department of Treasuryis violating the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 with its paper money, right?

Well, way back in 1882 the United State Mint was considering a special pattern nickel, now known as the "Blind Man's Nickel." Under the auspices of William Barber, one ofthe mint's designers, George T. Morgan produced a handful of some proof Liberty nickels and Shield nickels with an edge that had five raised bars spaced at regular intervalsso that the blind could determine by the touch, its denomination. These coins were never released for circulation but the few that were struck did indeed find their way intocollectors hands.

The "Blind Man's Nickel" has long been a favorite of pattern collectors, both due to its extreme rarity and its highly unusual edge device. Two such Nickeldesigns were struck; one being the Shield Nickel design, the other, also struck bearing the date 1882 is of a Liberty Head design, similar to the adopted design but bearing theobverse legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA rather than stars. According to John Haseltine in his sale of March 1, 1883, these Nickels were "designed for the use of theblind" and that these "bold ridges" were placed "on the edge so that the blind could determine by the touch its denomination." Apparently, the need forsuch a coin was deemed to not be sufficient, nor was the idea practical to carry over into other denominations, not to mention that the raised bars along the edge also posedpotential jamming problem for the coin presses.

J1683/P1883 Copper-nickel Only 3 were struck according to the addenda in Haseltine's March 1883 sale. At least 3 are in fact known today.

Only 3 are confirmed including the Mitchelson-Connecticut State Library and Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation pieces and the illustrated example which is from Bowers andMerena's October 2000 sale. The latter is probably the Judd coin as well.

To read the complete article, see:
1882 Blind Man's Nickel(https://www.ngccoin.com/boards/topic/145547-1882-blind-man%E2%80%99s-nickel/)

1882 Liberty V Nickel Pattern Proof 5c Coin

NGC PF-64 Judd 1683

Nicknamed the "blind man's nickel", the edge of this coin has five equally spaced bars to distinguish it's denomination.

To read the complete lot description, see:
1882 *Blind Man's* Liberty VNickel Pattern Proof 5c NGC PF-64 J-1683 Judd WW(https://www.ebay.com/itm/1882-Blind-Mans-Liberty-V-Nickel-Pattern-Proof-5c-NGC-PF-64-J-1683-Judd-WW-/192110588292?hash=item2cbaaef184)

Tom writes: