1937 Buffalo Nickel Value: 1937-D Three-Legged and Mint Marks

A worn 1937 buffalo nickel from any mint is worth about $3 to $10 as of October 2026, and PCGS lists uncirculated examples at $42 in MS63 and $75 to $110 in MS65. The exception is the 1937-D three-legged, a Denver coin whose front right leg was polished off the die. In 2026 it sold at Heritage and Stack's Bowers for $600-610 in Fine, $976-1,037 in VF, $1,586-2,928 in AU and $26,840 in NGC MS66, and the record is $99,875 for a PCGS MS66+ at Legend in October 2021.

The buffalo nickel is copper-nickel, not silver, so the metal in a worn 1937 is worth very little. The three mints are easy to separate: no mint mark for Philadelphia, a D for Denver and an S for San Francisco, all on the back under FIVE CENTS. Only one of them carries a famous variety, and it is worth checking every 1937-D you find.

Quick answer

• 1937 (Philadelphia, no mint mark): 79,480,000 minted. PCGS guide $3 in Good, $9 in XF, $42 in MS63, $75 in MS65; MS67 coins sold for $264-342 in 2025-2026.
• 1937-D: 17,826,000 minted. PCGS guide $3 in Good, $42 in MS63, $110 in MS65, $625 in MS67; MS67 coins sold for $1,140-1,440 in 2025.
• 1937-S: 5,635,000 minted. PCGS guide $3 in Good, $42 in MS63, $110 in MS65, $700 in MS67; MS67+ coins sold for $2,684-4,800 in 2024-2026.
• 1937-D three-legged, FS-901: 2026 sales of $600-610 in Fine, $976-1,037 in VF, $1,068 in XF40, $1,586-2,928 in AU, $3,782 in MS62 and $13,420 in MS64+ (Greysheet auction records).
• Top mint state three-legged: $99,875 for a PCGS MS66+ CAC at Legend in October 2021; $88,125 at Legend in December 2025; $84,000 at Stack's Bowers in August 2023.

How do you check a 1937 buffalo nickel, step by step?

Read the mint mark first, then look for the variety, then judge the condition.

1. Read the mint mark. It sits on the back, centered under FIVE CENTS. A Philadelphia coin has none, a D is Denver and an S is San Francisco. Only a 1937-D can be the three-legged variety.
2. Look at the bison's front right leg. The bison faces left, so its right legs are the near ones. On the three-legged coin the near front leg is gone from the hoof up to the body; PCGS describes the polishing as removing "almost all of the bison's front right foreleg, leaving only the hoof." The far front leg remains.
3. Check the hoof. A genuine three-legged coin keeps the hoof floating under the chest with no leg above it. A coin with the hoof missing too is damage or wear, not the variety.
4. Look for the stream under the belly. Between the bison's hind leg and the missing foreleg, genuine coins show a line of raised dots running down from the belly, which collectors call the "pee stream." PCGS says all genuine examples show this stream, which is a remnant of the damaged die surface.
5. Check the rear right leg. On genuine examples it looks rough or pock-marked, according to PCGS and CoinWeek, because the polishing attacked that part of the die too. CoinWeek also notes a raised die-rust line between the legs. Because the whole reverse die was heavily polished, the back of the coin often looks softer and more worn than the front; a sharp reverse with a missing leg is a warning sign.
6. Compare with a normal 1937-D. Under the same light, a regular Denver coin shows four clearly separated legs. Put the two side by side.
7. Be suspicious of smooth or odd legs. If the leg area looks unnaturally smooth, cut or filled, or if the die-rust line is missing, do not rely on your eye. CoinWeek warns that counterfeits and altered coins exist, so a specialist or grading service should make the call.
8. Judge the wear. On the bison side, a full horn with its tip visible points to Fine or better, and a flat horn with no tip means heavy wear. Wear matters a great deal for the three-legged coin.
9. Price from sold results for the same mint, variety and grade.

Where does the 1937 nickel fit in the series?

The buffalo nickel was struck from 1913 to 1938. It was hard to coin, because the design broke dies at a high rate, and after 25 years the Secretary of the Treasury could replace it without Congress. The Mint moved quickly: the Jefferson nickel design competition was announced in January 1938, Felix Schlag was named the winner in April 1938, and production began on October 3, 1938. The 1937 coins are therefore part of the last full years of the buffalo.

What is the 1937-D three-legged nickel?

It is a Denver coin struck from a reverse die that was damaged and polished. The die was worn and clashing, and rather than retire it, workers polished it heavily, which removed most of the bison's front right leg. CoinWeek describes it as an abraded die reverse, classed by PCGS as FS-901. Every genuine example comes from that one reverse die.

The variety was publicized soon after it was made. CoinWeek and PCGS credit Montana dealer C.L. "Cowboy" Franzen with finding examples in late 1937 and marketing them through The Numismatic Scrapbook; early finds clustered around Bozeman. Experts long estimated that about 20,000 were struck, out of the 17,826,000 1937-D nickels, though PCGS notes that grading totals suggest the number may be too low. PCGS estimates about 10,000 survive in all grades, about 1,400 in mint state and about 100 in MS65 or better, and Greysheet says fewer than 15 percent are uncirculated. The price is set by grade on a coin that is already scarce.

What is a 1937 buffalo nickel worth?

The standard 1937 coins are common in every grade. Guide figures below are PCGS CoinFacts price guide values as of October 2026, and the sales are PCGS-recorded auction results from Heritage and Stack's Bowers.

Below MS65 the three mints are priced alike, and a worn coin of any mint is a $3 to $10 coin. The 1937-S, with the lowest mintage, pulls ahead only at MS66 and above, and the 1937-D is the hardest of the three in MS67. A full horn and sharp tail on the bison are what separate the $9 XF coin from the $3 Good one.

What is the three-legged nickel worth by grade?

Values for the 1937-D three-legged variety are high enough that grade changes everything. The sales below are 2026 auction results recorded by Greysheet, with PCGS guide values and the Gainesville Coins guide alongside for comparison. Guide figures are not sales.

Cleaned or scratched coins sell for far less: PCGS "EF Details" examples brought $671 and $763 at Stack's Bowers in 2026, about half the price of an undamaged XF. Use sold results for the exact grade, and remember that every sale above is for a coin in a PCGS, NGC or ANACS holder; a raw coin invites a discount for doubt.

Common mistakes

• Reading wear as the variety. A flat, worn or damaged leg can look missing. Compare the hoof and the die-rust line before you decide.
• Confusing the three-legged coin with a plain 1937-D. Only the variety carries the high figures. A plain 1937-D is a $3-10 coin worn and $42-110 in MS63 to MS65.
• Buying a "three-legged" coin with a sharp reverse and no stream. The genuine die was heavily polished, so the back looks soft and the dotted stream under the belly is always there. Altered coins with a leg tooled off lack it.
• Looking for silver. Buffalo nickels are 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel, so there is no silver melt. Buffalo nickel value covers the common dates and the metal question.
• Pricing a circulated three-legged coin from the uncirculated column. Condition moves the price a long way at both ends.
• Buying a raw coin on looks alone. Altered coins exist. A coin that will change hands for four figures should be checked by a specialist first.
• Cleaning. Cleaning removes the original surface and lowers the grade. See should you clean old coins.

How WorthPic reads 1937 buffalo nickel photos

WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From photos of both sides it reads the mint mark under FIVE CENTS, checks the bison's legs, the floating hoof and the dotted stream under the belly for the 1937-D three-legged variety, and judges wear on the horn and the bison's hump. It gives an honest value range in US dollars with a most likely figure, and it says which close-up would settle a variety question. It cannot confirm the three-legged variety from a dim or angled photo, and it cannot grade a coin like a specialist would. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise.

What to photograph

• The back straight on, in even light, with the whole bison in the frame.
• The mint mark under FIVE CENTS, close up.
• The front leg area and the hoof, close up, in raking light from one side.
• The belly between the legs, close up, for the dotted stream.
• The rear right leg, close up, for the roughness that genuine examples show.
• The front with the horn, straight on, so the wear can be judged.

When to get it looked at in person

A worn 1937 Philadelphia or Denver coin needs no expert. If the coin shows the three-legged look, show it to a specialist dealer or a coin club before you do anything else, since a variety this valuable is worth an attribution and grading by PCGS or NGC. Ask the dealer for a written offer and compare two. How to sell coins compares the options. For the other buffalo dates and the key varieties, see buffalo nickel value and Jefferson nickel value, which covers the nickels that followed.

Sources

• CoinWeek: 1937-D three-legged buffalo nickel, a collector's guide: the story of the variety, the FS-901 classification, the 17,826,000 standard mintage, the diagnostics and the sales records.
• PCGS CoinFacts: 1937-D 5C 3 Legs: survival estimates, the hoof, pock-marked rear leg and stream diagnostics, the Mr. Young account, AU guide values and the $99,875 record.
• Greysheet: 1937-D 3 Legs nickel: the 2026 auction results by grade and the uncirculated share.
• PCGS CoinFacts: 1937 5C, 1937-D 5C and 1937-S 5C: mintages, guide values by grade and recent MS65 to MS68 sales.
• Gainesville Coins: 1937-D three-leg buffalo nickel: the guide values from VF to MS65.
• Wikipedia: Buffalo nickel: the 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel composition, the 5.000 gram weight, and the reverse mint mark position under FIVE CENTS.