Why do so many Buffalo nickels have no date?

The date sits on the mound under the portrait, which is a high point. It wears off in pockets. A dateless Buffalo is wear, not a mint error, and acid or a scrub will not make it a better coin.

Are Buffalo nickels the silver ones?

No. They are the usual five-cent alloy, 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. Silver nickels are Jeffersons from 1942 through 1945, and they have their own page.

What is the difference between a 1913 Type 1 and Type 2?

Type 1 keeps the bison on a raised mound. Type 2 recuts that mound so the line under the animal is straighter. It is a design change in one year, not a later restrike.

Is every worn bison a three-legged nickel?

No. The 1937-D three-legged coin is a named variety where the front leg was polished off the die. A buffalo that is just flat from wear is a worn Buffalo.

A Buffalo nickel is the one with the bison, and the date wears off

Buffalo nickels are Fraser's 1913 through 1938 five-cent coins. The date sits on a mound and rubs away. They are cupronickel, not wartime silver.

The date on a Buffalo nickel is the part that disappears. James Earle Fraser's five-cent coin, 1913 through 1938, puts the date on the mound under the Native portrait. That spot is high. Pockets take it off. A smooth mound is wear. It is not a rare blank-date error, and a kitchen trick for "restoring" the date is how people ruin the coin they meant to save.

The Buffalo nickel page has the mintage chart, the 1913 mound change, and the named varieties. PCGS Photograde is the photo set for comparing what is left of the bison, the horn, and the braid. We do not host those plates.

Not the silver nickel

These are cupronickel. 31 U.S.C. § 5112 names the five-cent coin as 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. If someone in the family called every old nickel "silver," they were thinking of the wartime Jefferson, which is a different series. The alloy is not the same, so the price talk should not be either.

The coin this one replaced is the Liberty Head nickel. A Roman V on the back means you have left the Buffalo series.

A missing leg is one Denver coin

The three-legged piece people mean is the 1937-D, where the bison's front leg was polished off the die. PCGS CoinFacts lists that variety under the Buffalo category. A bison that looks weak because the whole coin is slick is not that variety.

1913 has two reverses. Type 1 stands on a raised mound. Type 2 has the mound recut to a flatter line. Look at that line before you pick a type. Then, if you want a second pair of eyes, use the dealer directory. Leave the date alone until then.