Buffalo Nickels

The design entered production in February 1913, and the public loved it. After thirty years of Barber's classical restraint, the Buffalo nickel felt genuinely American in a way that Liberty heads and Roman numerals did not. The coin was widely praised in the press, which was a pleasant change from the criticism that had greeted several earlier redesigns. Barber, still Chief Engraver and responsible for translating Fraser's models into working dies, was reportedly unhappy about the whole project. He had opposed the redesign and made the process difficult where he could, a pattern he had followed with the Saint-Gaudens gold coins a few years earlier. Fraser later said that Barber's obstructionism had forced compromises in the design, though the specifics are murky.

The reverse went through one modification in the first year. The original 1913 design, known as Type I, placed the bison on a raised mound with the denomination FIVE CENTS on a flat area below. The mound wore down quickly in circulation, making the denomination illegible, and the Mint recessed the denomination into a straight line below the bison by lowering the ground to a flat plane. This Type II design appeared partway through 1913 and continued for the rest of the series. Both types exist for 1913 from Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco, creating a six-coin first-year set that has been a popular collecting goal since the coins were issued.

Production ran from 1913 through 1938, twenty-six years that spanned two world wars and the worst economic depression in American history. Annual mintages varied enormously. The Mint struck over 30 million Buffalo nickels in some years and fewer than a million in others, with the Depression years of the early 1930s producing the lowest outputs. All three mints, Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco, struck Buffalo nickels for most of the run, giving the series a complexity that the single-mint Shield and Liberty Head nickels lacked.

The design's great weakness was durability. Fraser's high-relief portrait and bison looked wonderful on a freshly struck coin but wore down with alarming speed in circulation. The date, positioned on a raised area below the Indian's chin, was particularly vulnerable. A few years of pocket wear could render it completely illegible, creating the phenomenon of "dateless" Buffalo nickels that filled junk boxes at coin shops for generations. The horn on the bison's head and the fine detail in the Indian's feathers also wore quickly. The Mint tried various approaches to extend die life and improve wear characteristics, but the fundamental problem was that Fraser had designed a coin for display rather than for the rough treatment of daily commerce. Barber, whatever his other faults, understood that a circulating coin needed flat, protected design elements, and the Buffalo nickel proved him right on that narrow point even as it proved him wrong about everything else.

The 1918/7-D overdate is the most famous variety in the series, created when a 1918-dated die was punched over a 1917-dated hub. The underlying 7 is clearly visible beneath the 8, and the variety has been recognized and collected since at least the 1930s. Bowers notes that the overdate was likely an economy measure, with the Mint reusing an imperfect die rather than discarding it. Survivors number in the low thousands, mostly well worn, and the variety commands a substantial premium in all grades.

The 1937-D Three-Legged Buffalo is the other variety everyone knows about. A die polishing error at the Denver Mint removed most of the bison's front right leg, producing a distinctly three-legged animal. The error was noticed during production but not corrected immediately, and an unknown number, probably in the tens of thousands, entered circulation before the die was pulled. The variety has become one of the most popular errors in American numismatics, instantly recognizable and endlessly counterfeited. Breen warned that more fake Three-Legged Buffaloes exist than genuine ones, a situation that has only gotten worse since he wrote that.

Among regular dates, the 1913-S Type II is a key at 1,209,000, and the 1921-S at 1,557,000 is nearly as difficult. The 1926-S is another recognized rarity, particularly in higher grades where the typical poor strike quality of San Francisco issues in this period makes finding a sharp example a real challenge. The Depression-era dates of 1931-S and 1932-D are low-mintage issues that are scarce across the board. Denver and San Francisco strikes from the 1920s are generally harder to find in mint state than Philadelphia issues of the same period, a reflection of both lower mintages and less careful production at the branch mints.

A nickel in the 1913 to 1938 period bought what it had bought for decades. A newspaper, a candy bar, a phone call, a Coca-Cola, a streetcar ride. The coin-operated economy that had begun during the Liberty Head era expanded enormously during the Buffalo nickel years. Jukeboxes, slot machines, pay phones, and vending machines all ran on nickels, and the five-cent piece became embedded in American commercial culture in a way no other denomination quite matched. The Buffalo nickel served this world until 1938, when Felix Schlag's Jefferson nickel replaced it. By that point Fraser's design was looking tired, literally. The coins in circulation were worn smooth, the dates unreadable, the bison reduced to a vague lump. The design had been beautiful. It just was not built to last.

Sources: Q. David Bowers, A Guide Book of Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels (Whitman Publishing, 2007); Walter Breen, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins (Doubleday, 1988); Kevin Flynn, The Authoritative Reference on Buffalo Nickels (Kyle Vick, 2006); R.S. Yeoman & Jeff Garrett, A Guide Book of United States Coins (Whitman Publishing, 2025); PCGS CoinFacts.