1913-S 5C Type 1 MS(PCGS#3917)

1913-S 5C Type 1 MS (PCGS#3917)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Lot Description: Superb quality surfaces exhibit delicate iridescent gold highlights on the reverse and intense mint luster throughout. The texture is both satin and frosty, resulting in a highly attractive Buffalo nickel. The strike is full throughout, even the Native American's hair above the ribbon knot and the bison's shoulder and tail are crisp. This is a virtually pristine coin that will please quality-conscious numismatists. The 1913-S is the scarcest of the three circulation strike Buffalo nickels of the Type I design and in Superb Gem Mint State, as here, the issue is rare and seldom offered.Designed by James Earle Fraser, the obverse features the portrait of an Indian taken from life, with three Native Americans posing as subjects. The reverse has a bison facing right, commonly called a "buffalo." The fields of both sides are quite unlike the smooth fields used on earlier coinage. The Type I Buffalo nickel featured the bison standing on a mound on which was found the denomination FIVE CENTS. It was felt that the raised denomination would wear off quickly and within the year the Mint modified the design to lower the ground below the bison and replace the mound with a flat line. The Type II design, with FIVE CENTS recessed, was used through the end of the series in 1938.