Coin collecting is a serious pastime for some people and a casual hobby for others, but it can also be an investment with high returns. Most of the coins you come across in daily life are worth only their face value. Some rare nickels from the past, though, could fetch sky-high prices.
Below are four of the most valuable nickels, all 100 years old or older.
1913 Liberty Head V Nickel
Luxe Digital calls this the most valuable U.S. nickel in existence. Only five examples are known to have been made, and just three of them sit in private collectors’ hands.
One of these coins, graded PR66, sold for $4.56 million in 2018, according to USA Today. Another, graded PR63, sold for $4.2 million in 2022. Condition almost certainly played a role in the price gap between the two sales, despite inflation, since high-end coin auctions are subject to a great degree of volatility.
1918/7-D Buffalo Nickel Doubled Die Obverse
You’re unlikely to find this error coin in the wild, but anything is possible. The mint first struck this Buffalo nickel with a 1917 date, then struck it again with a 1918 date, so the 7 still shows beneath the 8.
As Luxe Digital pointed out, a finer example of this coin sold for $350,750 in 2006. That equals $549,202 in 2024.
1926-S Buffalo Nickel
The S shows that the San Francisco Mint struck this variety of Buffalo nickel. The mint produced only 970,000 of them, while other mints turned out millions of examples by comparison. Finding one in mint condition could fetch you a princely sum.
According to the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), a particularly impressive example of this coin, graded MS66 by competing grading service Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), sold at a 2008 Bowers and Merena auction for $322,000. That equals $472,096 in 2024’s currency.
1867 Shield Nickel With Rays (Proof)
1867 is a key date for shield nickels, which the mint produced from 1866 to 1883. When the mint prepared to issue the 1867 coin, it planned to remove the rays surrounding the numeral five on the reverse. Some coins escaped this removal while keeping the 1867 date intact, and these are the most valuable.
According to PCGS, an NGC-graded PR66 example sold through Heritage Auctions in 2004 and netted the seller a cool $132,250, which is about $220,998 in today’s value.
Other Modern (and More Common) Nickels
Most extremely valuable nickels are quite a bit older than the average coin, but you can find some more recent examples in circulation. Watch out for the silver war nickels mentioned above, and for shield nickels, which start at around $16 in value, according to The Spruce Crafts.
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