Buffalo nickel

How to read it

The US Mint struck the Buffalo nickel from 1913 to 1938 and gives it both its names, the Indian Head or Buffalo nickel. In Q. David Bowers’s description on PCGS CoinFacts, the front is a Native American head facing right, with LIBERTY at the upper right and the date at the lower left, and the back a bison with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and E PLURIBUS UNUM above and FIVE CENTS below. Bowers says Fraser modelled the head from three Native American models and the bison from one at the Bronx Zoo. NGC says the mint mark, D or S, is at the bottom of the reverse under FIVE CENTS; Philadelphia coins have none. PCGS lists 75% copper and 25% nickel, 5.00 grams. The Jefferson nickel replaced it in 1938.

Also searched as: buffalo nickel value, Indian head nickel.

Type 1 and Type 2

On the first 1913 nickels the bison stands on a raised mound with FIVE CENTS on it. Bowers says that lettering wore quickly, so the reverse was redesigned the same year: on Type 2 the bison stands on a flat line and FIVE CENTS sits in a recess below it, the style used until 1938.

The 1937-D three-legged buffalo

On some 1937 Denver nickels the bison has lost its front right leg, which NGC describes as the leftmost one. PCGS says the leg was ground off when a die was over-polished, and that genuine coins show a raised “stream” between the back legs left by the damaged die. NGC says the variety is found only with the D mint mark. A Montana dealer, C. L. “Cowboy” Franzen, found the first examples late in 1937.

What the NGC Price Guide listed

In May 2023 the NGC Price Guide put the 1937-D three-legged buffalo at $1,000 in AU 50 and from $2,200 in MS 60 to $110,000 in MS 67; ordinary 1937 nickels from any mint were $10 in AU 50 and $35 in MS 63. In December 2023 it listed the 1924 at $4 in VG and $145 in MS 62, and the 1924-S at $55 and $3,250. The NGC guide gives average dealer retail prices for NGC-certified coins, and its figures change; these are the prices NGC published on that date.

Look-alikes

The Indian head cent is a different coin, a one-cent piece of 1859 to 1909. The US Mint’s American Buffalo gold coins, from 2006, use designs based on Fraser’s 1913 Type 1 nickel.