1913 5C Type 1 MS67 Certification #72912475, PCGS #3915

1913 5C Type 1, MS67. The 1913 Type One Buffalo nickel is always in great demand as a first-year-of-issue date and a one-year type coin. David Lange (2000) writes that: "The changeover to the Type 2 reverse was ordered on May 6, [1913] and coinage of the revised nickels commenced four days later." The present coin is a high-end example of this popular one-year type, strongly lustrous beneath pleasing gold and iridescent toning. Sharply struck and showing the rugged detail that makes the variety so prized, even LIBERTY and the obverse rim portray relatively nice detail, these features usually showing weakness on this issue. Each side has a pronounced matte-like texture, typical of all Type One nickels (David Lange, The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels). Noted sculptor James E. Fraser designed the Buffalo nickel. The first type, issued only in 1913, featured a textured field and a raised mound beneath the bison. Since the mound allowed the denomination to wear, it was recessed for the Type Two design, issued later in 1913. But the Mint neglected to recess the Indian's shoulder, where the date is, and well-circulated examples of either type are often dateless. This piece displays powder blue and light gold toning over vibrant luster, which combines with the finely granular surfaces to give each side a shimmering quality. The fields of all Type One Buffalo nickels, not just the proof coins, show the textured fields as on James Earle Fraser's original models, and therefore they give the coins' luster a "shimmering quality, particularly on unworn dies," according to Lange. In fact, "first strikes from unworn dies are easily mistaken for proofs and vice versa."

David Hall

The first year of issue for the extremely popular Buffalo nickel series. the original mintage was huge, 30,992,000 coins. In 1913, there were two types of Buffalo nickels struck. With this, the first type, the Buffalo on the reverse stands on a mound with the words "FIVE CENTS" on the mound below the Buffalo. But the "FIVE CENTS" was high in the design relief and it was quickly noted that the inscription of the denomination wore down very quickly. The Mint then changed the reverse design, keeping the Buffalo on the mound, but sinking the "FIVE CENTS" inscription into a depressed area in the design below a straight line below a much smaller mound. Thus we have 1913 Type 1 and 1913 Type 2 Buffalo nickels.

The 1913 Type 1 Buffalo nickel is by far the most common of the early (pre-1934) Buffalo nickels. Several thousand Gem MS65 and better examples survive. This issue is typically well struck. Luster is usually satiny and good. While this is not a particularly rare coin, it does have two things going for it. It is the first year of issue and it is a one-year-only type coin.