Buffalo nickels hold historic, monetary value for collector
Staff Photo: Carlton Fletcher
By Carlton Fletcher
carlton.fletcher
@albanyherald.com
ALBANY — When George Anderson was 10 years old, his dad brought home a Kennedy Bicentennial half-dollar. That one coin sparked something in Anderson that has survived to this day … many years and many coins later.
Anderson, the chief appraiser in the Dougherty County tax office, will join other members of the Southwest Georgia Coin Club Friday and Saturday at the 13th annual Albany Coin Show, which will be held at the Gillionville Banquet Hall at 1009 Gillionville Road.
Anderson, it turns out, will be looking for Buffalo nickels at the coin show.
“I collect other kinds of coins, but I got into the Buffalo nickels about five years or so ago,” Anderson said. “I really like exploring the history of coins, and there’s a lot of history associated with this particular coin.”
Indeed. As Anderson lays out the facts on the five-cent piece, it’s clear he’s something of an expert on the coin. Some of the facts he offers:
♦ The Buffalo nickel was minted from 1913 to 1938, replacing the Liberty Head nickel that was minted from 1883-1913.
♦ Buffalo nickels were minted at all three U.S. mints, in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver.
♦ The coins are 75% copper and 25% nickel.
♦ The lowest minting of the Buffalo nickel was the 1920 S series minted in San Francisco, during which 970,000 coins were minted; the largest minting was in 1936, when 119 million were minted.
♦ James Earle Fraser designed the front (obverse) and back (reverse) of the coin, a Native American Indian on the former and a buffalo on the latter.
♦ The buffalo on the reverse of the coin is modeled after “Black Diamond,” a buffalo that resided for years in the Bronx Zoo.
♦ The story of the obverse is more compelling.
“James Fraser said he used three Native Americans as models and created a composite from the three,” Anderson said. “One was Two Moons, a Cheyenne who fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn and traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The second was Iron Tail, a Sioux, but there is not much known about him.
“Fraser said he couldn’t remember who the third Native American was, but several claimed the honor. One was Chief John Big Tree a Seneca, who was a Hollywood actor. But his story was inconsistent, so the U.S. mint took the stance that the design was based on a composite. That ended the claims, plus it held to the mint’s stance of not putting a living person on a circulated coin.”
Anderson offers more fascinating tidbits about the five-cent piece.
“There are three very rare and valuable Buffalo nickels,” he said. “The 1916 ‘double die’ was date-stamped twice. One in good condition — where you can read the date because the date wore off on these coins pretty easily — is worth around $5,400. One in mint condition is worth around $145,000.”
The other rare nickels: a 1918 “overdate” in which the “8” in the year is stamped over the “7” from the year before: good condition worth around $700; mint condition worth around $250,000. The 1936 D printed in Denver that has a three-legged buffalo because of an “over-repair of a damaged stamp: good condition, worth $300; mint condition, worth around $30,000.
For Anderson, and most other collectors, though, the coin shows are not about searching for these rare, valuable coins.
“That usually doesn’t happen,” he said. “A lot of people might inherit old coins from grandma or grandpa and they bring them in to find out what they’re worth. For someone like me who collects coins, it’s about filling a hole in an album.”
Anderson allows that his collection of nickels in good condition range in value from $50 to $400. The coins of lesser grade are worth from $5 to $10.
Dealers from throughout the Southeast will be at the coin show, which will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. both days. Collectors or people who have what they consider rare coins or currency can buy, sell or trade with some 20 dealers who will have 40 tables set up. Admission is $1, and parking is free. Food and beverage concessions will be available, and security will be on site throughout the show.
“I recommend that anyone looking to buy or sell (coins) see all of the dealers,” Anderson said. “What people are willing to buy or sell — and the price they’re willing to give — will usually depend on what they’re looking for. Talk to all of them before buying or selling.”
Gold and silver coins will be prizes in raffles held during the show.
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