Today, the sizes of United States coins can help you to tell them apart quickly, but have nothing to do with their values. Metal prices constantly fluctuate, so the values of circulating coins aren’t tied to metallic content. But back in 1793, when the first U.S. coins were produced, the United States Mint linked the sizes of coins to a particular metal standard—the silver dollar. Except for the copper penny, all coins were produced in proportionate metallic content to the dollar, and their sizes were regulated accordingly. The fifty-cent coin contained one-half as much silver as the dollar, the quarter had one-fourth as much, and the dime or ten-cent coin had one-tenth as much. The five-cent coin, or half-dime as it was called then, had only one-twentieth the silver. But it was so small that it was difficult for people to handle. So in 1866, United States Mint officials decided to make it larger by changing its content from silver and copper to a combination of copper and nickel—and the modern nickel was born.