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Buffalo Nickel
Home » Coin Collecting » Popular Coins » Buffalo NickelIf you’ve ever claimed that something wasn’t worth a buffalo nickel, you were referring the nickel that preceded the current Thomas Jefferson nickel in American coinage. The buffalo nickel replaced the Liberty Head nickel until 1913 and was the nickel of choice in America until 1938.
The buffalo nickel portrays an Indian head on the front and a buffalo on the reverse. The Indian profile was taken from a comparison of several Native Americans, while the buffalo was modeled after the buffalo that resided in New York’s Central Park Zoo. The buffalo nickel is also the only U.S. coin that has featured an animal other than the eagle and is widely considered one of the most distinctive and appealing coins in United States history.
Buffalo nickels are popular because of their age and distinctiveness, but for the most part, they are not very valuable. If you want a standard buffalo nickel, there are many inexpensive versions on the market. Valuable buffalo nickels, however, are “error” nickels, such as the 1937 coin that displays a three-legged buffalo and the 1918 nickel that was minted from a redated 1917 cast.
Related Popular Coins Articles
- Introduction to Popular Coins
- Buffalo Nickel
- Wheat Pennies
- State Quarters
- Kennedy Half-Dollars
- Eisenhower Dollars
- Mercury Dimes
- Morgan Dollars
- Proof Sets