1915 Buffalo Nickel

For those collecting 1915 Buffalo nickels, there is some monetary challenge for those buying specimens from that year. What’s more, there is the added difficulty of finding well-struck examples, which is the case for virtually all Buffalo nickels, most particularly those minted during the earliest years of the series. While the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints all struck nickels in 1915, only the Philadelphia mint examples are considered common (at least in relative terms). 20,986,220 nickels were struck at the main mint in 1915, but Denver produced only 7,569,000 and San Francisco far fewer still, at only 1,505,000. 

The result of these lower mintage numbers was the creation of at least two semi-key issues: the 1915-D and 1915-S. The ’15-D Buffalo nickel has a price tag of around $20 for examples in the lowest circulated grades, while the ’15-S comes in at around $60 for coins in well-worn grades. Meanwhile, the ’15 can be had for as little as $5 in Good-4. While there were no major die variations to note for 1915, those who want to add a little flash to their Buffalo nickel collections might enjoy the 1915 matte proof version of the coin, which starts at around $1,100 in PF-63.