An Introduction to the Buffalo Nickel

The Buffalo Nickel is an iconic American nickel that was minted form 1913-1938. Many collectors often refer to this coin as the Indian Head Nickel. This coin is iconic because of its renowned design that consisted of a heavily detailed right-facing Native American Man. The man had been drawn to include qualities of multiple different men that could be connected to several different Native American tribes. The reverse of the coin is where the nickel got its name. It depicts a full-bodied American Buffalo famed to be named Black Diamond. The Buffalo Nickel was designed by James Earl Fraser, and the design was loved so much it was used time and time again in the design of future coins. Some of the coins it was used for was the American Gold Buffalo and the 2001 Silver Buffalo. Many silver bullion and copper bullion coins feature an adaptation of this coin's design. There was also one instance where there was an error with the mint and they produced a 3 legged Buffalo Nickel. This coin is exactly what it sounds like. It is a Buffalo Nickel in which the buffalo only has three legs. This coin is the only one of its kind and is extremely rare. The error has only been found on 1937 Buffalo Nickels. This error occurred as a U.S. Mint employee over polished the die, which removed the detail from the coin.

The coin itself was just as popular as its design. The Buffalo Nickel is held very high in the eyes of coin collectors. This love comes from its design which was the last United States coin minted with a Native American Indian on it. These rare pieces are not just rare because of design errors such as the 1937 3 Legged Buffalo Nickel, some of the rare dates come from low mintages, some of these coins are the 1915-S Buffalo Nickel, and the 1921-S Buffalo Nickel. Only 1,505,000 and 1,557,000 of these were minted respectively. This is a tiny number considering the 1936 Buffalo Nickel saw 118,997,000 minted. 

There are multiple ways to collect Buffalo Nickels. Some buy circulated Buffalo Nickel Rolls while others buy individual coins to put together a complete set. Some of these pieces will cost thousands of dollars. These coins are often graded by NGC and PCGS, the two leaders of coin authentication and grading.

The Buffalo Nickel is composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel, it weighs 5 grams and has a diameter of 21 mm. The Indian Head Nickel has a face value of five cents and it was minted from the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints. Learn more about the Buffalo Nickel on our coin values resource center.