To paraphrase Horace Greeley "Go West, young man, go West and grow your coin collection with Buffalo Nickels"

Hi Friends,I have just kicked off a new series for my Somerville Set Collection, as I begin my pursuit of Buffalo Nickels.

The challenge and excitement of starting a new set opens up great opportunities for expanding my numismatic knowledge while pursuing a registry set that I can take great pride in assembling.

Buffalo Nickels, with their differences by date in striking quality offer a tremendous challenge, and with gained series and market knowledge, hopefully success will follow.

Like many collectors in my age group, I fondly remember collecting Buffalos as a kid, and recall that you could still find a few in pocket change in the mid 1960s. This piece of personal nostalgia certainly played a part in choosing to collect the series.

As a checklist, before making the commitment to collect Buffalos, specific criteria that I made sure the set met included:

1-My overall aesthetic like and appreciation of the coin's design.

2-The overall "collectability" and challenge of the series

3-The availability of research books , auction results, articles, etc to use as a reference guide

4-The overall financial resources and time period needed to put together a high grade set

5-How the set "fits' with the rest of my collection

6-The potential achievement of a Top 25 NGC registry set for the category

I give very high marks to the Buffalo coin design; both the obverse and reverse of Fraser's coin are beautiful to my eye. I'm amazed that the Buffalo design only ran for a 25 year period and that the Mint was so apparently anxious to find a replacement. My general understanding is that the mint's striking issues with the high relief design played a part in the discontinuation of the design. I also give high marks for "collectability", starting with the fact that the Philadelphia mintages are all readily available and that there are no "game stoppers" for most of the D and S mints. I also like the fact that the 37D 3-legged variety is highly sought but available, and other varieties such as the 1938D/D can also be obtained.

Regarding references, I already have in my coin library the Whitman specialty Redbook for Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels written by David Bowers along with Michael Wescott's Nickel Five Cent Piece work. Both publications provide good detail regarding strike and grading by both date and mintmark.

Up until now, the focus of my collection has been the small denomination 19th Century pieces which I define for my own set as half cents thru half dimes. With the first 1913 Buffalos now minted 100 years ago, and the final 1938D issue now 75 years old, the set meets my "classic coin" collection criteria.. Another nice fit is that the Buffalo Nickel's small denomination plays nicely with my current coin holdings.

As for the NGC ranking, .I use this only as a benchmark. I do believe that if you choose your coins wisely you can purchase for example, nicer 64's than 65's while at the same time saving money, creating value, and eventually, earn a better return when the time comes to sell. Opportunities await !!!!

This being said, my collecting strategy is to:

1- 1st read as much as possible

2- look at as many graded Buffalos at shows as possible, and

3- begin with purchases of the lower valued pieces to reduce costly mistakes.

Armed with this strategy I have made my 1st purchase after careful review of grade, strike, populations, eye appeal and price. It is a 1938D graded MS67 by PCGS and CAC'd. I will be attending the Baltimore Whitman Show next week, it is my favorite show of the year and I will be searching the floor for hopefully my next addition (s) to this set. I have much pre study to do this week in advance of the show, mostly analyzing population reports by grade in relation to strike. It can be very easy to get caught up at shows, so I must remember to take my time and make sure to compare options at multiple tables before making any new purchases.

Thanks for reading and much collecting success to all !!

RichH

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