A little rant about Buffalo Nickels.

The low relief on Liberty nickels definitely looks more modern, but the design still has a human quality about it. You can see that the coins were actually drawn and engraved by men. That element is gone now.

The coins in my pocket are dull and lifeless: calibrated to the micron by unfeeling machines - coins made by robots for a post-Orwellian society. The mint even managed to sanitize Fraser's designs on the silver and gold commemorative issues, because of course, there's nothing a computer can't do better than a man.

 

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I know a woman that differs.

 

I like them both. I think I would appreciate the buffalo nickel more if I owned a high quality one. The ones I have are all from roll hunting, but some of the buffs I've seen in pictures on here look simply amazing.

What I like about the V nickel is that to me it has an older almost colonial appearance to it. Gives it more of an historical feel in my opinion.

 

The only reason I bothered to put together a set of Buffalos was because I had already finished sets of Jefferson, V, and Shield nickels. I had all the rest of the nickels so I might as well finish it and have all of them. Besides it was such a simple set to put together.

 

You will need to come up with a better reason than that to avoid mandatory counseling

 

Ok. I'm embarrassed to even ask this question, but may I have a thorough answer about the differences between high and low relief. It's something I've struggled to 'see' on coins for a while now. I even tried comparing the 21 peace dollar to others in the series and I just can't distinguish the difference that much. So i put it to the experts for clarification.

Oh and I was/am a Liberty nickel fan myself. The buffaloes have grown on me lately and if it is struck well it is beyond a beautiful coin, but I don't pay much attention to worn examples.

The silver dollar buffalo commems were nice too.

 

I found a V nickel in circulation a few weeks ago.

 

If I had a choice between a worn Buffalo and worn Liberty, I'd choose the Buffalo all day long.

But that's just me.

 

V nickels are of a classic late Victorian design. Buffalo nickles are of a modernist design, like Lincoln cents. In 1913, the V nickel design would be seen as stuffy and old fashioned. The Buffalo nickel would be seen as novel and emblematic of the age.

As the world was engulfed in the carnage of World War I, modernism got a bad name, and the coin designs of that time (Mercury dimes, Standing Liberty Quarters, Walking Liberty Halves) are neoclassical, attempting to invoke a bygone era of timeless values and artistic sentiments.

Ironically, after the war had ended and the Roaring 20's gave way to the Great Depression, the neoclassical designs of the 1910's were seen as old fashioned, and modernist sentiments again came to the fore, as personified in the Washington quarter, which is aesthetically similar to the Lincoln cent and Buffalo nickel, and at the time could be seen as both modern and nostalgic.

 

Give me the neoclassical designs any day! They spark the imagination and enthrall you with their beauty.