Photos used with permission and courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries

You know you have too much time on your hands when you find yourself creating an Excel spreadsheet just to calculate the total number of Buffalo nickels minted from 1913 to 1938. But you can always defend yourself by telling the world you have a good excuse.

In this day and age of so much emphasis placed on perfection, what serious collector would turn down an opportunity to own an MS or PF-70 specimen if his or her checkbook would allow it? So, if you’re a Buffalo nickel fan and haven’t been exposed to the harsh reality, you incorrectly assume that out of over 1,200,000,000 nickels (yes, that’s Billion) minted in those 25 years, mathematical probability alone would predict at least a few MS-69 or 70 specimens, wouldn’t you conclude?

But as population report after population report of the major grading services are scanned in desperation, the Buffalo fanatic is sadly resigned to the fact that in countless decades of searching, not one MS-70 has yet been recorded. Does this mean that no such specimen exists? Probably an accurate assumption. But, if one were ever found some time in the future in an obscure safe deposit box and later assigned to a major auction, can you begin to imagine how spirited the bidding would be for that coin regardless of its date and mint mark? Seven figures has such a nice ring to it (okay, maybe six.)

On further examination of these population reports and coin publications, it’s made statistically obvious that there are many year/mint mark combinations of the Buffalo nickel where the highest grade recorded goes all the way “down” to MS-65 level. Having to sadly accept these realistic maximums is the source of the article’s title.

The only solace we can get is from at least knowing why our favorite coins were evidently “doomed” to less than a “perfect” strike even as the blank planchets were about to be hit by a die with tons of pressure behind it “back in the day”.

After contacting several sources who have bought, sold and graded high-end Buffalo nickels over many decades, the consensus of opinion is that there were three contributing factors explaining the complete absence of any recorded MS-70 “treasures”: One – Weakness of the strike partially contributed to by the design itself.

Two – The copper-nickel alloy hardness wasn’t as conducive to allowing the deep, defined strike so critical a requirement to an MS-70 specimen.

Three – The technology of the stamping machines themselves was as good as it could have been for that time. To compare those machines’ sophistication and preciseness capabilities to the machines of today that punch out MS-70s with relative ease is a battle lost.

So, let’s say you have unlimited funds and decide to build (or have been building) an uncirculated Buffalo collection to eventually be regarded as the fi nest known (the ultimate dream). Based on your research, pouring over auction catalogs, visiting coin shows and making your desires known to several dealers who specialize in buying and selling high-end specimens, you realize that, in many cases, the finest known Buffaloes are graded (sadly) no higher than MS-65 for certain year/mint combinations.

How difficult would it be (after years of searching and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested) to proudly add that last coin to your collection (probably the 18 over 17-D) and finally be able to proclaim to the numismatic world, “I have the finest Buffalo collection known.”? Probably very difficult if not impossible.

This article reprinted with Permission from The California Nunismatist - Official Publication of the California State Numismatic Association and the Numismatic Association of Southern California Fall 2007, Volume 4, Number 3

The California Numismatist is an educational journal published four times per year and distributed to all California State Numismatic Association (CSNA) and Numismatic Association of Southern California (NASC) members as a membership benefit. www.calnumismatist.com