1926-S Buffalo Nickel
Semi-keyThe 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.
Recent sold prices
Last checked Sep 16, 2026 · most recent sale Sep 15, 2026What certified 1926-S Buffalo nickels actually sold for on eBay in the last 90 days, grouped by grade band. Every figure below is a completed sale of a PCGS, NGC or ANACS coin in a straight grade. This is a record of what changed hands, not a price guide, an appraisal, or a prediction of what yours is worth.
Good to Fine
PO1 to F15$92
Median of 13 sales
- Lowest
- $51
- Highest
- $224
The 4 most recent sales
- $115PCGS F15 · Sep 13, 20261926-S American Buffalo Nickel 5c PCGS F15 14716951
- $125PCGS F12 · Sep 10, 20261926-S Key date Buffalo nickel, PCGS F12 choice original DKRC
- $140PCGS F15 · Sep 7, 20261926 S Buffalo Nickel 5C Coin United States PCGS F15 F 15 Fine
- $80NGC F12 · Sep 1, 20261926-S 5C NGC F12 Buffalo Nickel - Tough S-Mint
Seller titles, verbatim. An ended eBay listing stays readable for about 90 days, so older links will expire.
Very Fine to XF
VF20 to XF45$219
Median of 12 sales
- Lowest
- $143
- Highest
- $2,950
The 4 most recent sales
- $1,787PCGS XF45 · Sep 15, 20261926-S Buffalo Nickel - PCGS XF 45 - Gold Shield
- $187PCGS VF20 · Aug 30, 20261926 S Buffalo Nickel PCGS VF-20
- $219ANACS VF25 · Aug 30, 20261926-S BUFFALO NICKEL ANACS VF25 *OLD SOAPBOX SLAB*
- $221PCGS VF20 · Aug 29, 20261926-S Buffalo Nickel VF20 PCGS
Seller titles, verbatim. An ended eBay listing stays readable for about 90 days, so older links will expire.
How to read these
- The median is the middle sale after removing outliers. The range is every sale kept, including the outliers, so you can see how wide the market actually is.
- Grade drives most of the difference. A band with three sales tells you far less than a band with thirty, and the count is shown so you can weigh it.
- Sales of coins in “Details”, “Genuine” or cleaned holders are excluded, as are proofs, replicas, lots, and mounted coins. Those sell at prices that would not describe the coin on this page.
- So is any sale priced below what this same date fetches in a lower grade, which is impossible for a real coin and is how a counterfeit in a convincing holder gives itself away.
Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and holds no licensed price guide or population data. How this data is collected.
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 holds no licensed price guide or population data. Where this page shows recent sold prices, they are records of completed eBay sales, not a valuation of any particular coin. These are verification steps, not an appraisal.
Verify a certification number
Look a 1926-S certification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.
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 set prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.
Affiliate link: Coin Curator may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Disclosure.
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.
Related dates
Guides for this coin
All guides →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 readEducationError 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 readBuying GuideHow 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.
1 min readBuying GuideMS-63 vs MS-65 vs MS-67: Which Grade to Actually Buy
Adjacent grades can carry very different market evidence. Learn how to compare surfaces, eye appeal, population data, and current records before choosing a grade.
1 min readMintage sources
Mintage figures are U.S. Mint production records, cross-checked against the published tables below on 2026-08-01. Where those tables disagree, the disagreement is disclosed on the affected page rather than resolved silently.
- LandOfCoins, Buffalo nickel mintage — Business strikes and proofs in separate columns. Used as the business-strike figures here.
- CoinMintages.com, Buffalo nickel mintages — Agrees on every branch-mint issue except the 1913-S Type 2. Its Philadelphia figures include that year's proofs.
- PCGS CoinFacts and dealer references, 1913-S Type 2 — Consulted to break the one disagreement between the tables above.
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