All Buffalo nickel dates

1931-S Buffalo Nickel

Semi-key

The only Buffalo nickel struck in 1931, and the only one struck anywhere between 1930 and 1934. Its low mintage was widely publicised at the time and many were saved, so it is more available in mint state than the figure suggests.

Obverse and reverse of a 1913 Type 1 Buffalo nickel
Representative image of the series, not of this date or mintmark. Verify the exact date, mintmark and variety on the coin you are considering.

Mintage

Business strikes
1,200,000
Mint
San Francisco (S)
Mintage rank
2 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

Among the 22 San Francisco issues in the series it is the 2nd smallest. It is the only issue of the series struck in 1931. The series median is 9,418,000, so fewer than half as many of these were struck as a typical date. Series-wide output fell that year: 1,200,000 against 28,284,000 in 1930. 1931 was the smallest production year of the entire series. In 1931 the coin was struck at San Francisco; Philadelphia and Denver struck none.

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 14, 2026

What certified 1931-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.

Very Fine to XF

VF20 to XF45

$35

Median of 6 sales

Lowest
$17
Highest
$165
The 4 most recent sales

Seller titles, verbatim. An ended eBay listing stays readable for about 90 days, so older links will expire.

About Uncirculated

AU50 to AU58

$50

Median of 3 sales

Lowest
$36
Highest
$89
The 3 most recent sales

Seller titles, verbatim. An ended eBay listing stays readable for about 90 days, so older links will expire.

Mint State

MS60 and above

$296

Median of 31 sales

Lowest
$97
Highest
$585
The 4 most recent sales

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

Nothing about this date calls for a check beyond the ones that apply to any certified coin.

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 1931-S certification 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 1931-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.

Search eBay for 1931-S

Common questions

How many 1931-S Buffalo nickels were minted?

The San Francisco Mint struck 1,200,000 1931-S Buffalo nickels for circulation. That is the 2nd lowest business-strike mintage of the 64 date and mintmark combinations in the series.

Is the 1931-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 only Buffalo nickel struck in 1931, and the only one struck anywhere between 1930 and 1934. Its low mintage was widely publicised at the time and many were saved, so it is more available in mint state than the figure suggests.

What should I check before buying a 1931-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.

Related dates

1930-S5,435,0001929-S7,754,0001928-S6,936,0001927-S3,430,0001935-S10,300,0001926-S970,000

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 readEducation

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 readBuying Guide

MS-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 readEducation

PCGS vs NGC vs ANACS: Which Grading Service for Coins?

Compare PCGS, NGC, and ANACS by current service terms, holder and guarantee limitations, verification tools, and the needs of the particular coin.

1 min read

Mintage 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.

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