Buffalo Head Nickel
- Buffalo Nickels
1899 P Liberty Nickel: Coin Value Prices, Price Chart, Coin Photos, Mintage Figures, Coin Melt Value, Metal Composition, Mint Mark Location, Statistics & Facts. Buy & Sell This Coin. This page also shows coins listed for sale so you can buy and sell. The Buffalo or Indian Head Nickel coins were minted from 1913 to 1938 and in good quantity. The Buffalo nickel would enjoy a good run, but would eventually be replaced by the United States current nickel, the Jefferson Nickel. These coins like the other nickels are 75% copper and contain 25% nickel. None were issued with any other intrinsic value based off silver or gold.
Buffalo nickel values reflect the huge demand for this highly popular coin. Minted from 1913 through 1938, the Buffalo nickel has a particularly romantic lore attached to it, largely due to the fact that the coin has a rugged, all-American design, which was created by James Earle Fraser. The obverse of the Buffalo nickel, values of which range from $1 to thousands of dollars, features an image of a Native American that is considered to be the composition of several individuals, including Two Moons, Iron Tail, and Big Tree, according to accounts from Fraser.
On the reverse is the coin’s famous bison – commonly referred to as a buffalo. The model for the beastly figure on the reverse of the coin was Black Diamond, an American bison that resided at the Central Park Zoo. Some numismatic scholars theorize that the bison model may have actually been a herd leader at the Bronx Zoo named, appropriately, Bronx.
Indian Head Nickels
Mint believes that the Native American figure depicted on the Buffalo Indian Head nickel is a composite image of Chief Iron Tail of the Lakota Sioux, Chief Two Moons of the Cheyenne and another unnamed American Indian. The coins were designed by James Earle Fraser. Mint produced Buffalo Indian Head nickels from 1913 to 1938. Undated Buffalo nickels are worth about ten cents each, but only because people use them for jewelry, shirt buttons, and a variety of other uses. All other types of nickels without dates are only worth face value.
No matter who the models were for the Buffalo nickel, what is known is this – these coins are highly popular among collectors. Buffalo nickel values are usually $1 to $3 for common, worn specimens. However some Buffalo nickels, such as the 1913-D Type II, 1913-S Type II, 1914-D, 1915-D, 1921-S, 1926-S, and 1937-D 3-legged variety are quite rare. Values for these key-date Buffalo nickels reach into the thousands of dollars.