Buffalo Nickels 1913-1938

James Earle Fraser designed both sides of the Buffalo nickel. The Liberty Head nickel it replaced had passed the 25 years the Mint Act of 1890 required before a redesign. Fraser described the portrait as a composite of three chiefs who had posed for him. The bison was most likely Black Diamond, a resident of New York's Central Park menagerie in 1911. Chief Engraver Charles Barber adapted the models for production, and Philadelphia struck the first pieces on February 17, 1913.

The design wore badly from the start. By April 1913 circulated coins were visibly flattened, and the raised FIVE CENTS, which critics had called too shallow, was wearing away fast. Barber reworked the reverse that year, producing the Type 2; PCGS, quoting the specialist David Lange, places the start of Type 2 coinage in May 1913. The date was left as it was, raised on the shoulder, and it became the series' lasting flaw. By the time collectors began assembling Buffalo nickels by date and mint in the mid-1930s, most 1914-D coins had already worn dateless.

A refined obverse hub sharpened LIBERTY from 1916 on. In 1938, the final year, only the Denver Mint struck Buffalo nickels; the Jefferson nickel followed later that year.

The obverse shows a Native American facing right, with LIBERTY near the rim in front of the face. The date is raised on the shoulder, and a small F for Fraser sits just below it. The reverse shows a bison facing left, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arched above, E PLURIBUS UNUM in small letters under it, and FIVE CENTS at the bottom.

Mint mark. The mint mark is on the reverse, centered directly below FIVE CENTS, in the narrow band between the denomination and the rim. D is Denver, S is San Francisco, and Philadelphia used no letter. It is in the same place on Type 1 and Type 2 coins. On a worn coin, check that spot with a loupe before calling it Philadelphia.

Type 1 and Type 2 (1913 only). Look at what the bison is standing on:

• Type 1: a raised, uneven mound, with FIVE CENTS lettered in relief on the mound itself.
• Type 2: a flat ground line, with FIVE CENTS in a recessed space below it. Barber also softened some detail in the portrait and the bison when he made the change.

Every Buffalo nickel dated 1914 or later uses the Type 2 reverse. The public expected Type 1 coins to be recalled and saved them, while Type 2 coins went into circulation, which is why the 1913-D and 1913-S Type 2 are the scarcer types.

Dateless coins. The mint mark and reverse type survive long after the date is gone. Acid restorers can raise a ghost of the date, but they etch the coin, which then cannot receive a numerical grade.

Not varieties. On many early dates the shallowest feather near the neck was polished off the die. NGC treats these "two-feather" coins as die states and does not attribute them.

• 1913-S Type 2: 1,209,000 struck. NGC ranks it third-lowest in mintage for the series. It went straight into circulation, largely ignored, and is one of the hardest coins in the set in any grade.
• 1913-D Type 2: a long-recognized semi-key, since nobody saved the revised design.
• 1914/3: the sources disagree on this one. USA Coin Book lists it as a variety. NGC says the overdate was on a working hub, so it shows up faintly, and slightly differently, on several dies, and NGC no longer recognizes it.
• 1916 Doubled Die Obverse: strong doubling shows on the date, the feathers and the hair ribbon. It was not reported until the 1960s, and NGC estimates roughly 300 are known in all grades.
• 1918/7-D: one obverse die received hub impressions dated 1917 and 1918 and was then used at Denver. Its first recorded sale was at auction in 1930, so few were saved new. As the die wore it developed a crack running from the hair just above the knot down onto the cheek.
• 1921-S: 1,557,000 struck; scarce worn and rare in Mint State.
• 1924-S: 1,437,000 struck.
• 1926-S: 970,000 struck, the lowest regular-issue figure in the series. The coins went straight into circulation, and NGC doubts more than a few hundred remain in Mint State.
• 1931-S: 1,200,000 struck, but only 194,000 of them in January. The coins sat in vaults until 1935, and speculators saved so many that the date is common in Mint State.
• 1935 Doubled Die Reverse: one of several reverse doubled dies NGC notes for the date.
• 1936-D 3-1/2 Legs: listed as a variety by USA Coin Book.
• 1937-D 3 Legs: one of the bison's front legs is almost entirely missing. First reported in 1939, it is a late die state rather than a separate die. Sources disagree on the cause: the usual account is polishing to remove clash marks, while NGC argues a badly worn die pair was repolished to smooth its eroded fields. Genuine coins show erosion at the back of the neck and a row of tiny raised lumps under the belly (faint on low grades). Most fakes are four-legged coins with the leg tooled away, so look for a polished patch below the bison. The three-legged share of Denver's 17,826,000 nickels for 1937 is not recorded.
• 1938-D/S: several S-marked reverse dies were overpunched with a D when Denver became the only mint striking the design. Discovered in 1961; thousands survive, many uncirculated, because 1938-D rolls were hoarded.

• Composition: 75% copper, 25% nickel. Buffalo nickels contain no silver.
• Weight: 5.0 grams
• Diameter: 21.2 mm
• Edge: plain, with no reeding or lettering

These apply to every date and both types. The 35% silver five-cent pieces of World War II carry Felix Schlag's Jefferson design, not the Buffalo design.