The Buffalo Nickel arrived in 1913 with James Earle Fraser's bison standing on a raised mound, FIVE CENTS riding the highest part of the design. Within months the Mint could see the denomination wearing off, and the design was reworked mid-year: mound flattened, inscription sunk into a recess. Type 1 lasted five months; Type 2 ran for twenty-five years. Both types were struck at all three mints in 1913, which gives the series its only same-year type set - six coins, one year.
The fix protected FIVE CENTS and left the real flaw untouched: the date, riding the Native American's shoulder, wore away just as fast for the next quarter century. Millions of dateless Buffaloes are the result, and with them the acid date - a restored date etched back with nickel acid, collectible as a filler, worthless as a rarity.
Type 1 is the better-looking coin and everyone knows it, the mound giving the bison somewhere to stand. Common in Philadelphia, honest money in Denver and San Francisco, and the natural first page of a Buffalo collection.
| Issue | Mint | Mintage |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 Buffalo Nickel (Type 1) | Philadelphia | 30,992,000 |
| 1913 Buffalo Nickel (Type 2) | Philadelphia | 29,857,186 |
| 1913-S Buffalo Nickel (Type 1) | San Francisco | 2,105,000 |
| 1913-S Buffalo Nickel (Type 2) | San Francisco | 1,209,000 |
| 1913-D Buffalo Nickel (Type 1) | Denver | 5,337,000 |
| 1913-D Buffalo Nickel (Type 2) | Denver | 4,156,000 |
Mintage figures: United States Mint (Annual Report of the Director of the Mint), Royal Canadian Mint records, and — for the 1935 banknote issue — Bank of Canada printage records as published in the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money, cross-checked across independent published references. Specifications: United States Mint coin specifications.