Buffalo Nickel Mintage

As one of the most popular series for collectors, the mintage figures for the Buffalo Nickel deserve some attention. Unlike the previous two series for the denomination—the Shield Nickel and Liberty Nickel—the United States Mint did not strike any issues with prohibitively low mintages. The factor in making many issues of the series scarce was the impact of circulation, which wore away the identifying date on many coins.

1937 Buffalo Nickel
1937 Buffalo Nickel

The design of the Buffalo Nickel features a Native American on the obverse. The placement of the date on the raised area of his shoulder caused it to wear quickly within circulation. The reverse features the American Bison, or buffalo, after which the series takes its common name. Initially, the denomination was on a raised area of the mound, but this was quickly corrected. Despite the awareness of the impacts of circulation on raised inscriptions, James Earle Fraser, the coin’s designer, did not attempt to preserve the date.

Buffalo Nickel Notes:

  • There are 64 different issues across all dates, mint marks and major varieties. This number does not include the scarce varieties such as the 1916 Double Die or the 1937 Three Legged Buffalo Nickel.
  • Total mintage across the all dates and mints is 1,212,995,919. Production took place at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints for nearly all years of issue.
  • Average mintage for a Buffalo Nickel is 18,953,061.
  • The highest mintage is for the 1936 Buffalo Nickel at 119,001,420.
  • On one occasion the mintage level dipped below the one million mark, to make the lowest mintage issue of the series, the 1926-S Buffalo Nickel at 970,000 pieces.

Buffalo Nickel Mintages:

IssueMintage
1913 Variety 130,993,520
1913 Proof Variety 11,520
1913-D Variety 15,337,000
1913-S Variety 12,105,000
1913 Variety 229,858,700
1913 Proof Variety 21,514
1913-D Variety 24,156,000
1913-S Variety 21,290,000
191420,665,738
1914 Proof1,275
1914-D3,912,000
1914-S3,470,000
191520,987,270
1915 Proof1,050
1915-D7,569,000
1915-S1,505,000
191663,498,066
1916 Proof600
1916-D13,333,000
1916-S11,860,000
191751,424,019
1917-D9,910,000
1917-S4,193,000
191832,086,314
1918-D8,362,000
1918-S4,882,000
191960,868,000
1919-D8,006,000
1919-S7,521,000
192063,093,000
1920-D9,418,000
1920-S9,689,000
192110,663,000
1921-S1,557,000

Buffalo Nickel Mintages Continued:

IssueMintage
192335,715,000
1923-S6,142,000
192421,620,000
1924-D5,258,000
1924-S1,437,000
192535,565,100
1925-D4,450,000
1925-S6,256,000
192644,693,000
1926-D5,638,000
1926-S970,000
192737,981,000
1927-D5,730,000
1927-S3,430,000
192823,411,000
1928-D6,436,000
1928-S6,936,000
192936,446,000
1929-D8,370,000
1929-S7,754,000
193022,849,000
1930-S5,435,000
1931-S1,200,000
193420,213,003
1934-D7,480,000
193558,264,000
1935-D12,092,000
1935-S10,300,000
1936119,001,420
1936 Proof4,420
1936-D24,814,000
1936-S14,930,000
193779,485,769
1937 Proof5,769
1937-D17,826,000
1937-S5,635,000
1938-D7,020,000
Source: BuffaloNickel.org