The Buffalo Nickel, often referred to as an Indian Head Nickel was minted from 1913 to 1938. The Buffalo Nickel was designed by James Earle Fraser. The coin features a picture of a Native American on the front and a Buffalo on the reverse. The coin was a replacement for the Liberty Head Nickel.
The Indian Head Nickel did have some problems. It was discovered soon after production began that the "FIVE CENTS" inscription on the reverse was the highest point on the coin and therefore wore away very quickly. The coin was quickly redesigned by Charles Barber. Unfortunately, Barber did not fix all the coin's problems. The date on the front suffered the same problem as evidenced by many of the remaining coins today which have no date.
Most Buffalo Nickels were removed from circulation during the 1950s and 60s. Approximately one out of every 25,000 Nickels still in circulation is a Buffalo Nickel. Most, if not all of their dates have been completely worn off.
Indian Head Nickels were minted in Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco. You can identify where they were minted by a small D, S or no mark for Philadelphia below "FIVE CENTS" on the reverse side of the coin.
Notable Buffalo Nickels
- 1917 / 1918 series saw an overdate from the Denver mint, the error was not caught until 1931
- 1937-D series, called the "three legged" nickel, features a buffalo missing a leg
- 1938-D/S series features a S mintmark pressed over a D mintmark, this mistake wasn't discovered until 1962
