Buffalo Nickels 1913-1938

About This Series

James Earle Fraser's Buffalo nickel stands as one of the most distinctively American coin designs ever produced, combining a composite portrait of three Native American subjects — Iron Tail (Lakota Sioux), Two Moons (Cheyenne), and John Big Tree (Seneca) — with an American bison modeled on Black Diamond from the Central Park Zoo. The design debuted in two types in 1913: the Type 1 features the bison standing on a raised mound, while the Type 2 places it on a flat plain with the denomination recessed below to reduce the rapid wear that plagued the raised date. Despite this modification, dates on Buffalo nickels wore smooth in circulation faster than any other series, creating vast numbers of dateless examples that still surface in quantity today. The 1913-S Type 2, with just 1,209,000 struck, is the key date among business strikes, while the spectacular 1918/7-D overdate and the famous three-legged 1937-D — where over-polishing of a clashed die removed the bison's front leg — are among the most sought-after 20th-century U.S. coin varieties. Struck in 75% copper and 25% nickel at 21.2mm and 5.0 grams, over 1.2 billion Buffalo nickels were produced across 26 years. The design's powerful imagery of the American West has made it an enduring cultural icon beyond numismatics.

Series Information