3 Legged Buffalo question-

ms70

I've heard many times that the 3 Legged Buffalo was created by die polishing. How can that be if the leg is recessed on the die? To take
out that much material on the die wouldn't it have to had been a huge amount of polishing? I would have guessed that it would have
resulted in more detail loss than just the one leg & left a deformity in the area. To me it would almost seem to be more of a filled die error.

Comments? Links to resources? Thanks!

mgoodm3

They wiped out a mintmark and portions of the date on '22 cents with die polishing.

Placid

I belive the die was already pretty worn when it was over polished.

Merc

There is lots of detail lossed in the 1937-D 3 legged buffalo nickel. This came from the die pollishing. The part of the leg that was lost was the least recessed part of the reverse die. The hoof was deeper so it remained. Overall, the buffalo is smaller from the pollishing. The motto E Pluribus Unum is farther away from the buffalo's back. Also the last back leg is very ragged and weak. A bit more pollishing would have made a 2 legged buffalo!

LanLord

As has already been stated above,

the part of the leg that is missing was indeed polished away, due to a clashed die.

The part of the leg that is missing is the shallowest area of the leg, therefore with enough energy on the part of the die polisher, it was the part that went missing first.

ms70

Has anyone ever reported finding a clashed die 37-D? It would be cool to have both in a collection.

BillJones

The drastic repolishing was due to rust, not clash marks. While it's true that dies were often repolished to remove clash marks, a large amount of rust prompted the work the on the 1937-D dies that were used for the three legged buffalo.

Shamika

"I believe the die was already pretty worn when it was over polished."

It certainly was. If you look at other portions of the coin (both obverse and reverse) you'll see some pretty crappy details. The fields look lousy and the indian's neck appears to be eaten away.

ms70

Any good books on Indian Head Nickels?

EvilMCT

<< <i>Any good books on Indian Head Nickels? >>



The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels by David W. Lange. This is a great resource. It gives you all the standard stat's by date, mm, et al., but also includes the history behind the nickel.

Treasure Hunting Buffalo Nickels by John A. Wexler, Ron Pope and Kevin Flynn covers the different varieties.

Ken