Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) second-rate, inferior, trivial.

1896		C.H. Shinn Story of Mine 1: Pistols and bandits abound in a nickel-novel atmosphere [DA].
1904		Salt Lake Herald (UT) 19 Oct. 5/1: A few more of the nickel movement [i.e. cheap whisky] and James to the nut college where the crackers [sic] will do for him.
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 78: It was the east side of the street only which held the ‘cafes’, the dime flopping dumps, the nickel restaurants and barber shops and the ‘missions’ patronized by the uncouth hoboes.
1926		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 142: [She] went down to the nickel crawl, / She was looking for her man [...] Frankie went down to the corner / Just to buy herself a beer.
1938		D. Runyon ‘The Big Umbrella’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 550: He comes from some nickel country over in Europe.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act I: The stink of nickel whiskey.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 87: Wilson, I’m gettin’ tired a you fellas runnin’ around here doin’ these nickel-assed crimes.
1984		W. Diehl Hooligans (2003) 28: They stood [...] making nickel talk and eyeballing me.