"Ah, yes, the dreaded nickel-- the most oversized and least usable coin"
Actually, the nickel is the only current coin that is actually worth _more than_ its face value.
When silver dollars, halves, quarters and dimes had real silver (pre-1964 or so), they, too, had "value". But today, the alloys those coins contain have no actual "worth" at all.
But a nickel is still _made with_ nickel (25% nickel and 75% copper). As such, each coin is worth roughly 17 cents or so, if you were to melt it down into alloy. But to do this is illegal.
Nevertheless, the nickel actually is "worth something". Even if the U.S. currency were to collapse into nothingness, the nickel would still be worth the metal it's cast out of...