1926-S Buffalo Nickel

Semi-key

The lowest mintage of the entire series at 970,000, and the date most collectors treat as its key. It was struck late in the year from worn dies, circulated immediately, and is rare in mint state in a way the mintage alone understates.

Mintage

Business strikes: 970,000
Mint: San Francisco (S)
Mintage rank: 1 of 64

Rank 1 is the lowest business-strike mintage in the series. Mintage is what the Mint produced, not what survives. These circulated for decades as everyday money, and on this design the date wore off before almost anything else, so a large share of what survives cannot be attributed to a year at all.

Reading the figure

It is the smallest of the 22 San Francisco issues in the series. Of the 51,301,000 struck across all mints in 1926, this issue accounts for 2%. Philadelphia struck 46 times as many that year. The 1926 split ran Philadelphia 44,693,000, Denver 5,638,000 and San Francisco 970,000. The series median is 9,418,000, so fewer than half as many of these were struck as a typical date.

Every sentence above is computed from the mintage table on this page, not asserted separately.

Scarcity tier

Semi-key

Assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 is a key date, under 2,500,000 is a semi-key.

This is a reproducible label derived from the mintage column, not a market valuation and not a Coin Curator price opinion. The same thresholds apply to every series on this site. Several dates are far harder or far easier to obtain than their mintage implies; where that is true, it is stated above.

The date wears off first. Fraser placed the date on a raised shoulder of the obverse, where it took the full force of circulation. Read the full note on the series page.

What to check before buying

Specific to the 1926-S:

1This is the most valuable regular-issue date in the series and is correspondingly counterfeited, including by adding an S mintmark to a Philadelphia coin. Verify the certification record.
2The date sits on a raised shoulder that wore away faster than anything else on the coin, so dateless Buffalo nickels are extremely common. Confirm the date is genuinely struck and readable rather than restored with acid, which leaves a pitted, dull patch around the digits.

And for any certified coin

Verify the certification number on the grading service’s own lookup rather than from a photograph of the label, match the listing images to the certification record including grade and any variety attribution, look for cleaning, compare the mintmark against published photographs of the genuine issue, and read the return policy before buying. The grading guide covers each of these in full.

Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and publishes no price or population data. These are verification steps, not a valuation.

Verify a certification number

Look a 1926-Scertification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.

PCGS cert lookup NGC cert lookup ANACS cert lookup

Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.

Find a 1926-S for sale

Opens an eBay search for this exact date and mint. Coin Curator does not list inventory, hold stock, or quote prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.

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Common questions

How many 1926-S Buffalo nickels were minted?

The San Francisco Mint struck 970,000 1926-S Buffalo nickels for circulation. That is the 1st lowest business-strike mintage of the 64 date and mintmark combinations in the series.

Is the 1926-S Buffalo nickel a key date?

Coin Curator labels it a semi-key, assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 struck is a key date and under 2,500,000 is a semi-key. The same thresholds are used for every series on this site, so the tiers are comparable between them. That label describes production, not market value or how hard the coin is to find today. The lowest mintage of the entire series at 970,000, and the date most collectors treat as its key. It was struck late in the year from worn dies, circulated immediately, and is rare in mint state in a way the mintage alone understates.

What should I check before buying a 1926-S Buffalo nickel?

Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, match the listing photographs to the certification record, check for cleaning, and compare the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue. This is the most valuable regular-issue date in the series and is correspondingly counterfeited, including by adding an S mintmark to a Philadelphia coin. Verify the certification record.

Guides for this coin

All guides →

Vintage Guide

Buffalo Nickel Key Dates & Varieties

1913-1938. James Earle Fraser design. Half a dozen famous key dates, two iconic die varieties (Three-Legged Buffalo, Two-Feathers), and one of the most beloved aesthetics in US coinage.

2 min read Education

Error Coins: Types, Attribution, and Verification

Learn the difference between off-center strikes, doubled dies, mules, broadstrikes, and post-mint damage, plus the records to check before buying.

1 min read Buying Guide

How to Spot a Counterfeit or Doctored Coin

Use weight, dimensions, surfaces, mintmark details, holder inspection, and certification records as screening checks. Learn the warning signs of altered coins and fake slabs.