1938-D Buffalo Nickel

Common date

The last Buffalo nickel. Only Denver struck them in 1938 before the Jefferson nickel replaced the design partway through the year, and large numbers were saved as the final issue, which makes it the easiest date in the series to find in high grade.

Mintage

Business strikes: 7,020,000
Mint: Denver (D)
Mintage rank: 25 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.

Scarcity tier

Common date

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.

Documented varieties

D over S

A D mintmark punched over an S, from dies originally prepared for San Francisco. Several distinct pairs are catalogued.

Widely recognised varieties only. The VAM reference catalogs thousands of die marriages across these series; the absence of a variety here does not mean none is documented elsewhere.

The date wears off first

Fraser placed the date on a raised shoulder of the obverse, where it took the full force of circulation. On Buffalo nickels the date wears away before almost anything else, which is why dateless examples are so common and why grades below Fine are often unattributable to a year at all. Two consequences follow for buyers: a readable date on a heavily worn coin is worth confirming rather than assuming, and acid-restored dates, which leave a dull pitted patch around the digits, are widespread. The grading services will not certify an acid-treated coin, so on scarce dates the certification record is doing real work.

What to check before buying

1Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, not on the listing. A photograph of a label is not verification.
2Match the coin in the listing photographs to the coin described on the certification record, including the grade and any variety attribution.
3Look for cleaning: unnatural brightness, fine parallel hairlines in the fields, and a flat, lifeless surface under angled light.
4Check the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue. Added and altered mintmarks are the most common silver dollar alteration.
5Read the seller's return policy before bidding or buying, and confirm it covers authenticity and grade disputes.

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

Verify a certification number

If a 1938-Dis offered as certified, look the number up on the grading service’s own site and confirm the date, mintmark, grade, and any variety attribution match the listing. A photograph of a label proves nothing on its own.

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 1938-D 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 1938-D Buffalo nickels were minted?

The Denver Mint struck 7,020,000 1938-D Buffalo nickels for circulation. That is the 25th lowest business-strike mintage of the 64 date and mintmark combinations in the series.

Is the 1938-D Buffalo nickel a key date?

Coin Curator labels it a common date, 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 last Buffalo nickel. Only Denver struck them in 1938 before the Jefferson nickel replaced the design partway through the year, and large numbers were saved as the final issue, which makes it the easiest date in the series to find in high grade.

What varieties exist for the 1938-D Buffalo nickel?

Widely recognised varieties for this issue include D over S. A D mintmark punched over an S, from dies originally prepared for San Francisco. Several distinct pairs are catalogued. Variety attributions should appear on the certification label rather than only in a seller's description.

What should I check before buying a 1938-D 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.

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.

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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