Nickels
The Buffalo Nickel: A Collector's Guide
1913 to 1938. A composite portrait, a Bronx Zoo bison, and dates that wore away.
Reviewed July 2026
The Buffalo nickel is the most admired and least practical coin the United States ever put into general circulation. James Earle Fraser designed both faces, a Native American in right profile and an American bison, and struck them into a coin that wore out its dies three times faster than the design it replaced and lost its own date in people's pockets. Collectors have loved it for a century anyway.
Specifications
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Years struck | 1913-1938 |
| Designer | James Earle Fraser |
| Mass | 5.000 g |
| Diameter | 21.21 mm (0.8350 in) |
| Edge | Plain |
| Composition | 75% copper, 25% nickel |
| Mint marks | D, S, centered under FIVE CENTS on the reverse |
| Replaced by | Jefferson nickel, designed by Felix Schlag |
Note the composition. Despite the name, a nickel is three-quarters copper. The numismatist Stuart Mosher grumbled in the 1940s that he was uncertain why it is called a Buffalo nickel, although the name is preferable to "Bison copper."
Who is on it
Fraser was asked repeatedly for forty years and never gave a fully consistent answer, because there was not one to give. In December 1913 he wrote that he had done portraits of several Native Americans, "among them Iron Tail, Two Moons, and one or two others, and probably got characteristics from those men in the head on the coins, but my purpose was not to make a portrait but a type." By 1938 he named three: Iron Tail, a Sioux; Big Tree, a Kiowa; and Two Moons, a Cheyenne.
Claimants appeared regardless, and one of them, the Seneca actor John Big Tree, made a career of it, appearing at coin conventions as "the nickel Indian" into the 1960s. The Mint's position was consistent: the portrait is a composite, and the many claimants are all sincere.
The bison is disputed too. Fraser later said his model was Black Diamond, "the contrariest animal in the Bronx Zoo," which is memorable and cannot be right, because Black Diamond lived at the Central Park Zoo. The horns do not match either.
Type I and Type II
The coin was in trouble within weeks of release. On 11 March 1913, engraver Charles Barber wrote that dies were being used up three times faster than with the Liberty Head nickel, and the Philadelphia superintendent feared the denomination would wear off the coin entirely.
Barber's fix, which Fraser approved, enlarged the legend FIVE CENTS and changed the ground under the bison from a raised mound to flat ground. Coins with the mound are Type I, the flat-ground coins Type II, and both were struck in 1913. Ironically, data compiled from the National Archives suggests the change actually decreased die life. The date numerals were thickened over the years and the problem was never fully solved, which is why dateless Buffalo nickels remain common today.
The varieties collectors chase
1937-D three-legged
A pressman at the Denver Mint, seeking to remove marks from a reverse die caused by the dies making contact with each other, accidentally removed or greatly weakened one of the bison's legs. Thousands of coins were struck and mixed with others before Mint inspectors discovered and condemned the die.
1938-D/S
Dies bearing an S mint mark were repunched with a D and used at Denver. No San Francisco Buffalo nickels were struck in 1938 but Denver's were, and a new design was already coming, so the dies were repurposed rather than wasted. It was the first repunched mint mark discovered on any US coin, causing great excitement when it came to light in 1962.
Mintages, and why they mislead
The lowest mintage in the series is the 1926-S at 970,000, the only date-mint combination under a million. The 1931-S was struck to just 194,000 early in the year, and then Acting Mint Director Mary Margaret O'Reilly, worried that so few would be hoarded, asked San Francisco to strike more; melting down worn-out nickels, the mint found enough metal for a million more. Large quantities were saved by speculators hoping they would rise in price. They did not: the coin is not particularly rare today.
This is the clearest lesson in the series. Mintage is not scarcity. See key date coins and nickels.
Source: Buffalo nickel, which collects the Bowers, Breen, Burdette and Lange scholarship cited above.
Frequently asked questions
What years were Buffalo nickels made?
From 1913 to 1938. The design replaced the Liberty Head nickel and was itself replaced by the Jefferson nickel, designed by Felix Schlag, whose production began in October 1938.
Who is the Native American on the Buffalo nickel?
Nobody in particular. James Earle Fraser said his purpose was to make a type rather than a portrait, and that the head was a composite. In 1938 he named three models: Iron Tail, a Sioux; Big Tree, a Kiowa; and Two Moons, a Cheyenne. Many others have claimed the honor over the years.
Why are Buffalo nickel dates worn away?
Because the date sat on a high point of the design and wore off in circulation. Mint officials worried about this from the start, and the thickness of the date numerals was gradually increased, but the problem was never solved. Dateless Buffalo nickels are common.
What is the three-legged Buffalo nickel?
A well-known 1937-D variety on which one of the bison's legs is missing. A pressman at the Denver Mint, trying to remove marks from a reverse die caused by the dies striking each other, accidentally removed or greatly weakened one of the animal's legs. Thousands were struck before inspectors condemned the die.
Where is the mint mark on a Buffalo nickel?
Centered under FIVE CENTS on the reverse. Philadelphia specimens carry no mint mark at all.
The Coin Register is an independent educational resource. It is not affiliated with the United States Mint, the American Numismatic Association, any grading service, any dealer, or any site previously published on this domain. Nothing here is an appraisal, a price quote, or investment advice. Coin values change constantly; check a current price guide and a reputable dealer before you buy or sell.