The Nickel Adds Up On This Day In History

In case anyone asks. The U.S. Mint got the go-ahead to start making nickels on this date in 1886.

According to our show prep service, prior to that there was something called the half-dime, but no official nickel/five-cent piece.  So, if you started to embezzle a nickel a day every day since then, you would have smuggled out  47,482 nickels. (I know, WHY, right?)

At 14 nickels to the inch, that’s a stack 282 feet tall.  For perspective, the stack would fit between the Jefferson Memorial (and it was Jefferson who for years was the face of five cents) at 129 feet tall and slightly less than the U.S. Capitol at 288.

But you don’t embezzle for stack size, you’re in it for the cash value which would be a less than presidential $2,374.10.

Still if you had accomplices, like say 6317 of them and you pooled your money, you would have just enough for the Louisiana Purchase at a cool 15 million.