The Forgotten Nickel - The Story of the 1924-D Buffalo
BuffaloIronTail
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During the end of 1920 and into 1921, The United States suffered a short but severe recession. The end of Word War I saw the Country starting to wind down from a wartime footing. The prosperity of the period saw an increase in demand for minor coinage, and the mints dutifully pumped out the coins needed for commerce.
In the years 1918 to 1920, The Denver Mint coined 25,786,000 nickels. When the Recession hit, there was more than an ample supply available in the area that Denver served. This resulted in there being no new Five Cent pieces needed. The period from 1921 to 1923 - three years - saw no production of Buffalo Nickels.
The Recession hit different parts of the Country more severely than others, and in 1924 the Denver Mint was gearing up for its' first production of Nickels.
The year 1924 was to see a minting of 5,258,000 new Buffalo Nickels.
The Buffalo Nickel series has more than its' fair share of low mintages, key and semi key dates, and striking problems to keep collectors of this coin very busy sorting through a landscape of tough dates. One of the keys in the Series, the 1924-S with a mintage of 1,437,000 deflected a lot of interest away from the 1924-D.
As collectors concentrated on finding all the Keys Dates and better struck examples from other dates and Mints in the Series, the 1924-D was overlooked and not avidly sought out.
The 1924-D was better struck than a lot of other dates and Mints in the period it was produced. The Mints did a lot of sloppy work during the mid 1920 period. The 1924-D, albeit with problems of its' own, had fewer striking problems with clash marks and worn dies than a majority of other dates.
The major problem with the 1924-D revolved around a weakness in detail at the bottom of the top feather. This weakness varies, but is seen on most, if not all of the coins minted. The worse coins exhibit a perfectly flat tip, with no detail at all.
The tip of the feather is directly opposite the head of the buffalo, and 1924-D coins show an incompleteness in head detail that affected the all important horn, which is often incomplete and shallow even on uncirculated specimens. It seems that the set distance of the dies was backed off to reduce wear for the total mintage of this date.
1924-D also shows an incompleteness in the centers. On the obverse, the hair braid detail in and around the knot is shallow, and on the reverse the center portion of the Buffalo in and around the hair near the neck.
There are no fully struck 1924-D Nickels found to date. Coins grading XF-40 are surprisingly difficult to locate due to horn incompleteness. Coins grading MS-65 are also difficult to locate - specimens that do attain a 65 have incomplete head and feather detail. (see pics). The two top grades from submissions are VF and 64. This shows the futility that collectors encounter in trying to holder XF and 65 coins. And by the way, the difference in price for a VF (about $75.00) compared to the XF (about $215.00) also confirm the scarcity between grades.
Strangely enough, the 1924-S features at least two coins with a full to almost full feather detail. These coins prove that the detail was there on the Master Die, and not properly rendered on the coins themselves. (see pics).
In summary, when you get around to shopping for this coin, Extremely Fine specimens with a full horn should be considered. They are around, but their price confirms their "elite" status. As far as 65 or better, a slabbed coin will set you back around $2,000 (more or less). An MS-66 sold for over $4000.00. (Heritage)
Remember - Knowledge is power.
Pete
Comments
Very interesting write-up. Thank-you!
Whit
Nice information to know. It's an issue I never paid much attention to but now know something about.
Excellent work BuffaloIronTail!!
Great information about this coin. Thank you.
Quality post, thanks for sharing.
Great and interesting post! I learned a few new things reading it.
Knowledge is power!
Thanks for the teaching
@BuffaloIronTail ....excellent and informative post... Thank you. That explains a lot.. it is interesting how other dated Buffs are fairly common in higher grades ... I now understand better why my '24 selections seem inferior to other dates.... Cheers, RickO