1924-S Buffalo Nickel

Specifications

Denomination: 5c
Series: Buffalo nickel (1913-1938)
Designer: James Earle Fraser
Years of issue: 1924
Composition: 75% Copper, 25% Nickel
Weight: 5 g
Diameter: 21.2 mm
Edge: Plain
Mintage: 1437000
Key mintages: 1,437,000 (PCGS CoinFacts) — verified

Melt value: $0.05copper $0.44/ozt · prices as of Sep 16, 2026

Smithsonian National Numismatic Collection (photograph by Jaclyn Nash), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1,437,000 struck, only ~500 in Mint State — the 1920s S-mint key almost nobody saved.

History

Only 1,437,000 were struck at San Francisco, and Heritage calls it a rare, key date issue in the Buffalo nickel series (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Striking was usually light in some areas — Q. David Bowers noted that Full Details coins are few, saying ‘Although some may exist, I have never seen one’ (Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-16)
Despite the low mintage, the real problem is survival: few examples were kept from circulation, so Heritage describes a near-Gem survivor as generating ‘plenty of bidder interest’ (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
PCGS estimates only about 500 survivors in MS60 or better and about 60 in MS65 or better, making it nearly as rare as the 1926-S in all Mint State grades (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
The PCGS CoinFacts auction record stands at $105,750 for an MS66+ example sold by Stack’s Bowers in November 2016 (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)

Key dates and varieties

Key date: 1,437,000 struck at San Francisco (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
Survival estimate: 6,000 all grades; 500 in MS60 or better (R-6.0); 60 in MS65 or better (R-8.4) (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
APMEX price context: MS-60 lists around $3,875, MS-65 around $12,000, and MS-66 around $47,500 (APMEX; accessed 2026-09-16)

Specifications

composition
designers
diameter
edge
mint
weight

Certified populations: PCGS survival est. 6,000 all grades; 500 in MS60+; 60 in MS65+; auction record $105,750 in MS66+ (Stack's Bowers, 11/2016) (PCGS CoinFacts)

Collector notes

Horn rule: this issue often has weakness on the reverse, and David Lange cautions that many coins certified VF and XF lack the full length of the bison’s horn — ‘determining the value of hornless VF-XF-AU nickels is a guessing game,’ so pay for strike, not just grade (Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-16)
A key date in the series ‘especially in Mint State’ — sharply defined survivors with above-average detail for a San Francisco Buffalo carry the real premium (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
As with other S-mint keys, beware added or altered mintmarks; buy certified examples from PCGS or NGC (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)