1920 Buffalo Nickel Value, Features, Error, Types & Mint mark

In the 20th century, the 1920 buffalo nickel was a very important coin for regular use and collectors. These coins come in different grades and conditions, and each has a certain value. These coins are called buffalo nickels since they come with a photo of a buffalo in the design. In this post, we will cover details and features for finding the value of a 1920 nickel. So let’s get started with how much 1920 nickels are worth.

1920 Nickel value chart

	Good	Very Good	Fine	Very Fine	Extremely Fine	About Uncirculated (AU-50)	Uncirculated (MS-60)	Uncirculated (MS-63)
1920 Buffalo Nickels	$2.44	$3	$3.54	$8.45	$18	$37	$79	$174
1920 D Buffalo Nickels	$14	$24	$55	$144	$337	$428	$841	$1,709
1920 S Buffalo Nickels	$12	$18	$42	$120	$244	$398	$841	$1,988

1920 No Mint Mark Buffalo Nickel Value

The Philadelphia Mint made 63,093,000 buffalo nickels in 1920, and these coins did not have mint marks. These coins in about circulated conditions are 30 dollars. MS67 grade coins are about $12,000.

There are about 8000 coins that exist out of 63 million, and in different grades in circulated conditions and uncirculated conditions, about 2000 coins exist, and it’s not easy to find these coins. While MS65 or higher grades are about 300 coins.

The XF45 grades coins are about 30 dollars, and MS60 grades we can get up to 90 dollars, and MS65 grades are about 700 dollars.

MS67+ grade coins sold for $25,000.

1920 D Buffalo Nickel Value

The Denver mint made 0.5 million Buffalo nickel coins with a D mint mark, and these coins come with a D mint mark. Not many 1920 D buffalo nickels are in excellent grades. The value of MS66 to MS67 grades is thousands of dollars. Very fine grade 1920 D buffalo nickels are about 180 dollars. Now there are about 4500 coins that exist.

Uncirculated, about 800 1920 D nickels exist and are high value. The value of low-grade 1920 D nickels is from 4 to 20 dollars. XF45, we can get about 400 dollars.

Mint states, the 1920 Buffalo nickel is about 900 dollars, and the grades are 5750 dollars. In 2008, an MS67 grade sold for $138,000.

1920 S Buffalo Nickel Value

The San Franciso Mint made about 9.7 million buffalo nickles with the S mint mark. There are about 5500 coins for low grades, and about 30 exist for rare conditions.

The value of a 1920 S nickel for low grade is 3 to 9 dollars. Extra fine grades of S nickels are about 300 to 400 dollars. Uncirculated grade 1920 S nickels are about 980 dollars, and for MS65 we can get about 13000 dollars.

VF 30 grade coins are about 120 dollars, and MS65+ grades are about 42500 dollars.

1920 Buffalo Nickel History

The buffalo nickel was made as a replacement for the Liberty Head nickel that was made from 1883 to 1913. Liberty nickel coins are also called V nickels because the front side of the coins comes with a Roman V number, which is 5. The Liberty nickel was changed in series made from 1907 to 1911 for US coinages. The nickel is the 6th coin in this series.

The main reason for changing the design was President Theodore Roosevelt. Since 1908, which is 25 years, coin design has not varied without congressional authorization. The design of the coins was made by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, and he made coins with a photo of President George Washington.

It was thought that these coins were circulated and called Washington nickels. But released since Leach left working in mint, and Abrew Andrew started work that was not liked in the previous design. So the new design made by Frasers for nickel use comes with a Native American warrior on the front side and a USA buffalo on the back side.

The starting Buffalo nickels come with a denomination on the raising part of dirt below the buffalo on the coin reverse. That causes denomination removal. To solve it, James Earl Frasers changed the design in mid-1913 by removing dirt and using a denomination below it. The 1920 Buffalo nickels come with this same design, and these Buffalo nickels were made until 1938 and then replaced with Jefferson nickels.

Features of the 1920 Buffalo Nickel

The front side of the 1920 nickel comes with a photo of a Native American warrior that comes with feathers in their hair. So these coins are called Indian head nickels. The minting date is also seen on this side, and designer initials F for James Earle Fraser’s designer are also written. The photo of Native Americans is facing right, and the word LIBERTY was also written there.

 Reverse of the 1920 Buffalo Nickel

The backside of 1920 buffalo nickels comes with a photo of bison. That is also called a buffalo, and normally buffalo live in Africa and Asia, but it is different from bison that live in the USA. On this side, the country name UNITED STATES of AMERICA is also written, as the motto E Pluribus Unum.

The denomination of FIVE cents is also seen on this side.

Some other features of 1920 nickels are.

• The coins are called five-cent nickels, and these coins are made with copper, but one-quarter part of the coins is nickel. Nickel components make for colors.
• The diameter of the coins is 21.2 mm, the weight is five grams, and it come with a plain edge.
• The backside design of these coins is two types, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 was the first Buffalo nickel that struck in 1913, and after that, the same year’s design changed.
• The basic difference is the date; type 1 coins are mounted on a standing bison, and type 2 has a horizontal line and the date written.