Indian Head / Buffalo nickel (1913–1938)
Main article: Indian Head nickel

Buffalo nickel

The Indian head buffalo nickel was produced from 1913 to 1938, inclusive. Mint marks for the coins are on the reverse, beneath the words "Five Cents" and above the rim. The Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints all participated in the mintage, though San Francisco generally had a much smaller annual production than either of the other two mints.

The buffalo nickel, as designed by James Earle Fraser, featured a profile of a Native American on the obverse and an American Bison (buffalo) on the reverse. Fraser said he used Indian chiefs in the composite portrait. His memory was often faulty in this regard. The most likely models were Iron Tail, Two Moons, and Adoeette. Adoeette was also known as Big Tree. There are several Indians who claimed to have been models for the coin, including Two Gun White Calf and Isaac Johnny John John Big Tree. They are sometimes incorrectly named as having posed for Fraser. Neither did[citation needed].

The model for the bison may have been Black Diamond, from New York City's Central Park Zoo. Fraser's design is generally considered to be among the best designs of any U.S. coin. Matte proof coins were specially struck for collectors from 1913 to 1917 at the Philadelphia mint.

There was a type change in mid-1913 when the mound on the reverse was changed mid-year to an incuse flat plane because of wear problems. Thus, with the three mints, there are six types of 1913 nickels. There was no change to the date placement, so the dates on many early buffalo nickels have been completely worn off. As the series progressed, the date was gradually struck with larger and bolder numerals, which ameliorated the problem.

Often, dateless buffalo nickels can have their dates "restored" by applying a ferric chloride solution to the date area. From a collecting standpoint this destroys the value of the coin, taking it from "very worn" to "very worn and chemically damaged". In addition to weak dates, many buffalo nickels — especially those minted in Denver or San Francisco in the 1920s — are found with the horn and/or tail on the reverse, or the word "LIBERTY" on the obverse, badly struck and lacking complete detail. The 1926-D is particularly noted for these defects.

Four valuable varieties exist in the series. In 1918 some of the Denver mint nickels were minted from a redated 1917 die. The resulting 1918/7-D overdate is a rare and sought-after coin. This previously occurred with 1914 Philadelphia strikes, showing traces of a 3 under the last digit in the date. Also, in 1937 excessive polishing of a Denver mint die following a die clash removed most of the right foreleg, leading to the famous "three legged" variety. One estimate is that the number released may be only about 20,000, and specimens in higher grades are particularly valuable. Collectors should be cautious when purchasing this variety since counterfeits have been extensively produced. A 1936-D "3½ leg" variety also exists. However, the most valuable is the 1916 doubled die. The most well preserved examples of this variety trade for between $250,000 and $500,000 when they appear at public auction.

Some 1.2 billion buffalo nickels were issued during the coin's 26-year lifespan, and only one date/mintmark combination (the 1926-S) had a mintage of less than 1 million. No buffalo nickels were made in 1922, 1932, or 1933. The lack of 1922 nickels, as well as some other denominations, resulted from the Mint's placing a priority on silver dollar production due to an economic recession that year, and no nickels — and many other denominations — were issued in 1932 or 1933 due to the Great Depression.

Because some people consider this design to be one of the best ever used on American coinage, the Mint has reused the design on the 2001 commemorative buffalo dollar and the American Buffalo gold bullion coin, a series that began in 2006.


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