Years
Designer
James Earle Fraser
Composition
75% copper, 25% nickel
Diameter
21.2 mm
Mass
5 g
Thickness
1.9 mm
Edge
Plain
Mints
Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco
Metal
Nickel
Design
Composite Native portrait (Iron Tail, Two Moons, John Big Tree are the usual names) and an American bison modeled on Black Diamond of the Central Park Zoo. Type 1 (1913) places FIVE CENTS on a raised mound; Type 2 recesses it because the mound wore off in circulation.
History
Fraser’s design is the great American coin of the West — struck while the last wild bison herds were already gone and the Indian Citizenship Act was still a decade away. High points (horn, braid, date) wear quickly, so full-horn and sharp-date pieces carry premiums. The 1937-D three-legged buffalo, from an over-polished reverse die, is the popular error. 1918/7-D and 1916 doubled die are true keys. The type ended as the country climbed out of the Depression.
Key dates
Varieties
1916-P · 1916 doubled die obverse
doubled die · key
1918-D · 1918/7-D overdate
overdate · key
1937-D · 1937-D three-legged
die polish · key
1938-D · 1938-D/S
overmintmark · scarce
1913-S · 1913-S Type 2
design · key
61 issues