1919 Nickel Value — Free Buffalo Nickel Price Guide & Calculator

The 1919 DDO FS-101 is the flagship variety of the entire 1919 Buffalo Nickel series and one of the most prized doubled dies in the complete Buffalo Nickel run from 1913 to 1938. This variety arose during the die-manufacturing process when the master hub impressed the working die more than once, with a slight misalignment between impressions — an event that reproduces on every coin struck from that die, unlike a one-off planchet or mechanical error.

The doubling on the FS-101 concentrates most heavily on the date numerals and the LIBERTY inscription. Under a 10× loupe, genuine hub doubling presents as raised, rounded secondary elements clearly offset and distinct from the primary design — a key distinction from the far more common mechanical doubling, which produces a flat, shelf-like shadow carrying no collector premium. Three CONECA-catalogued DDO varieties exist for 1919 (DDO-001, DDO-002, DDO-003), with FS-101 being the most dramatic and most widely traded.

Greysheet prices this variety between $10,000 and $14,500 in mint state conditions. The premium reflects its genuine rarity — only a fraction of the original 60,868,000 Philadelphia coins were struck from the affected die — combined with strong demand from advanced Buffalo Nickel specialists. Professional certification from PCGS or NGC is strongly recommended before any transaction involving this variety, as authentication protects both buyer and seller from misidentified mechanical doubling examples.

The Two Feathers FS-401 is one of the most visually distinctive and accessible die varieties in the entire Buffalo Nickel series. It exists across all three 1919 mints — Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco — and arises from a specific event in the die's service life: Mint employees overzealously polished the working die in the zone between the back of the Native American's neck and the longest outer feather of the headdress, erasing the third innermost feather.

The diagnostic is straightforward: a normal 1919 Buffalo Nickel shows three feathers — a long outer feather, a medium middle feather, and a shorter innermost feather nestled close to the neck. On Two Feathers specimens, that third innermost feather is absent, reduced to a slight remnant, or entirely polished away. The most collectible examples are those where no trace of the third feather remains; coins showing even a small nub are still significant but command a lower premium within the variety tier.

PCGS recognizes 27 distinct Two Feathers varieties across the Buffalo Nickel series, all confined to the 1913–1930 production window. Values differ meaningfully by mint: the Philadelphia FS-401 is the most prized, with an auction record of $5,581 for an MS64 at Heritage Auctions in 2013. The 1919-D Two Feathers reached $432 for an XF40 and the 1919-S peaked at $660 for a VF35, both at Heritage Auctions in 2019. Greysheet quotes $30–$1,500 for the Philadelphia variety across grades.

An off-center strike occurs when the coin planchet fails to seat correctly between the obverse and reverse dies before the press fires. Instead of the design centering over the coin, it lands offset — leaving a visible crescent of blank planchet metal at one or more sides. On Buffalo Nickels, off-center strikes were not caught by quality control at the rate they would be in modern production, allowing a small number of dramatically misaligned examples to enter circulation.

The visual presentation of a 1919 off-center strike is immediate and unmistakable: the Indian head portrait or the bison may be partially cropped, and blank metal occupies a curved arc on the opposite side. Severity is measured in percentages — a 10% off-center coin has a narrow blank sliver, while a 50% off-center shows half the die image missing. The most sought-after examples for collectors are those where the date remains fully visible despite the offset, because the date's legibility confirms the year and thus the value premium.

Values for 1919 off-center strikes depend heavily on the degree of misalignment and whether the date remains readable. Minor off-center examples (5–10%) bring modest premiums of $75–$150 over a normal circulated example. Dramatic strikes (25–50%) with a clear, visible date are genuinely rare and can reach $300–$500 or more for choice examples. All three 1919 mints have documented off-center strikes, though confirmed examples with intact mint marks at the D and S are particularly desirable.

A clipped planchet error results from an upstream problem in the planchet blanking process. The metal strip fed into the cutting machine overlaps a previously punched hole, causing the cutting die to remove a portion of a hole that already exists. The result is a coin blank — and subsequently a struck coin — with a curved (or occasionally straight) section missing from its rim before it ever enters a coinage press. The 1919-S Buffalo Nickel is particularly noted in numismatic literature for having documented clipped planchet examples from the San Francisco Mint.

On a curved clipped planchet, the missing section follows the arc of a previously punched hole, creating a neat semi-circular bite out of the coin's edge. Straight clips follow a different geometry and are less common. The Blakesley effect — a flattening of the design directly opposite the clip — serves as an authentication tool for distinguishing genuine clips from post-mint damage. A genuine clip will show a weak or missing design element at the 180-degree position opposite the missing section.

Value depends on the clip's size, location, and whether the date and mint mark remain clear. Small clips (5–10% of the planchet) add $50–$100 over normal circulated values. Large, dramatic clips affecting 15–25% of the coin's circumference can reach $200–$300 or more for mint-state examples. Collectors particularly prize 1919-S clipped planchet specimens because the mint mark (S) remains visible below the clip on many pieces, providing both the date identification and the added rarity of a branch mint attribution.

Before the U.S. Mint adopted hub-punched mint marks in the 1980s and 1990s, each mint mark was punched individually into the working die by hand using a separate punch tool. This manual process inevitably introduced small positional variations — and sometimes the punch was applied more than once in slightly different positions, creating what collectors call a Repunched Mint Mark (RPM). On 1919 Buffalo Nickels, both the Denver D and the San Francisco S mint marks are known to exist in repunched varieties documented by CONECA and Variety Vista as RPM-001.

Under magnification, an RPM shows the primary mint mark letter with a secondary, slightly offset impression of the same letter visible alongside or overlapping it. The offset can be north, south, east, west, or rotational. On a 1919-D RPM, the secondary D impression may appear tilted or shifted, while a 1919-S RPM typically shows the S punched at a slightly different angle or height relative to the primary punch. Because the mint mark sits in a specific, expected position below FIVE CENTS, even small deviations are apparent to a trained eye under a loupe.

RPMs on Buffalo Nickels occupy a more accessible tier of the variety market than the DDO FS-101 or Two Feathers — they appeal to variety specialists and cherrypickers rather than general collectors willing to pay significant premiums. Typical circulated RPM examples bring $20–$50 over a normal coin of the same grade. Mint-state RPMs, particularly well-struck ones, can reach $100–$150 in MS63–MS64 grades. No specific public auction records are documented for the 1919 RPMs at this time; values are based on guide estimates from CONECA and Variety Vista attributions.