United States: 1915 copper-nickel 5-cents, Buffalo type

United States: 1915 copper-nickel 5-cents, Buffalo type

PCGS MS63. Cert. #49268767.

Numista-1109, Krause-Mishler-134.

Mintage: 20,986,220.

Ex-Don Rupp ("ajaan") on Collectors Universe; date of acquisition unrecorded (circa early 2020s).

I acquired this in a multi-coin lot, as sort of an afterthought in a wider swap deal. At the time, I was without a Type 2 Buffalo nickel in my certified collection, so I adopted this piece as my type example. If one is doing a type set, then MS63 is a somewhat modest Mint State grade for a Buffalo nickel type coin, since coins with Gem grades of MS65 and higher are readily available, particularly for the later dates in the series. Despite that, this is a nice earlier date example and it has good eye appeal, so it will continue to serve as my type coin until I get around to upgrading it later.

The price (in barter) was also reasonable. Don Rupp, the former owner, has been a coin trading partner of mine for a quarter of a century now. Coincidentally, he lives in Buffalo, New York, so you could say this Buffalo came from Buffalo.



015000

 

Considering that these pic are TrueViews, done pre-slab at PCGS, they must be on the coin. So maybe that’s it. Still looks pretty sharp for a 63, I reckon. Not that this series is one of my stronger suits, when it comes to grading them myself.