Why are buffalo Nickels worth less than Indian head cents?

DanM55

Hi, Thanks for stopping by. I was just curious about why Indian head pennys are worth more than buffalo nickels? I tried Looking online but couldnt find any info. I, myself have lots of indian pennys but not many buffalo nickels. I was thinking about grabbing some more nickels but i find myself gravitating more towards the pennys. Are the indian cents just more sought after?

Stingray63

I have no complete set of either and by no means an expert but various factors must be involved like age/year, mintage, grade, BN, RB, RD.

124Spider

Like any commodity, the price is driven by the demand vs. supply (well, ignoring melt value, which is not relevant to either of the series in question). If it is true that IHCs are, on average more expensive that Buffalo nickels (I don't know that that's true, since I don't collect IHC), that would be because the market makes it that way.

The fact that all IHC are older than all Buffalo nickels would play a part.

Namvet69

Welcome. For me, mintage and grade are important factors when considering either. Good luck. Peace Roy

Glen2022

I like both IHCs and Buffaloes. Maybe if we referred to Buffaloes as Indian Head Nickels their value would increase.

hfjacinto

I believe that (on average) Indian Head Cents are worth more than Bison nickels due to the following reasons:
1) IHC are older, the youngest IHC is older than the oldest Bison Nickel
2) IHC have several dates that are rarer than Bison nickels. In IHC you have 2 key dates (1877 and 1909 S) and several rare dates including 1869, 1870, 1871 and 1872.
3) Bison nickels only have 1 truly rare date (1913 S type 2). The other rare dates are more common than IHC.
4) In the higher grades both can become expensive but you have 2 key dates in IHC while you have 1 in Bison Nickels
5) You can do a circulated Bison Nickel set for under $300, while a circulated IHC set will be from a low of $800 to $1000.

But as to collectability, Bison Nickels seem to be collected more as there are ~1300 Bison Nickel Registry sets compared to ~ 700 IHC sets (NGC Registry).

I have both in circulated sets.

Bison Nickels

And IHC.

JWP

The date on a lot of the buffalo nickels wear so easily and just end up in a cull status. The IHC's seem to retain their date much better and are more collectable. Just my opinion.