The designs for the 2005 nickel have been released to the public, and here they are. You can click on the thumbnail to view a close-up of each design.
 Obverse |
 Reverse 1 |
 Reverse 2 |
It’s interesting to note that the quotation from William Clark’s journal on the discovery of the Pacific Ocean on the second reverse originally contained the spelling of “Ocian,” but on the coin, the spelling has been changed to the modern “Ocean.”
In 2006 and until further notice, another new portrait of Thomas Jefferson will be used for the obverse and a new rendition of Monticello will be used for the reverse.
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7:45 pm (reply)
The sheer variety of spellings in the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition are supposed to be pretty impressive as well as indicative of the times. It would be interesting if they’d used the original spelling on the coin. :)
I’m glad to see the nickel get some attention, though when I first saw the commercial for the proof sets i thought it was another “government issued” (just not the US govt) “gold clad” American Eagle or something…