[68bird400HO]

Originally Posted by Forrest

Ohh!! that "s" would have made a BIGGG! difference!$$$ Yep..I find mostly the old nichols and dimes some wheat pennies ,,not any old "silver" quarters though!

I have a 1909 S without the VDB.

[GRX]

Have a bunch of those old ones in a box somewhere. Only buffalo nickles I see in change are the new ones.

Thought it was interesting they omitted the Indian, and reversed the Buffalo. Back in the day facing to the left was a symbol of manifest destiny and westward expansion.

As an aside, sports teams have also changed their mascot to face rightward. Looking at older memorabilia most were facing left.

[Jonsie]

Both the 1909 VDB and '09S (no VDB) are somewhat rare in their own right, with value depending on condition

[Ed Fitzgerald]

My dad also said it was a 4 cent nickel as it took a scent to smell the buffalo's azz

[68bird400HO]

Originally Posted by Jonsie

Both the 1909 VDB and '09S (no VDB) are somewhat rare in their own right, with value depending on condition

The 09 VDB without the S are more common.

[rustedgoat]

I bought some stuff from goodwill and when they gave me change I heard a different sound when the coins were dropped in my hand. Just as I suspected, a couple of silver quarters. I then asked for a extra dollars worth, nope 4 regular. Out of habit I always check the edges of quarters and dimes if its all silver its silver.

[chevymad]

Dad had a 1909 S VDB he loaned my grandmother to complete her penny collection. He found it in his change as a kid. I think it ended up disappearing though. I used to count all the concession money back in high school. Every so often some kid would get into their parents collections and I'd find old coins or silver certificates. If I had the $$ in my pocket i'd swap them out.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by rustedgoat

I bought some stuff from goodwill and when they gave me change I heard a different sound when the coins were dropped in my hand. Just as I suspected, a couple of silver quarters. I then asked for a extra dollars worth, nope 4 regular. Out of habit I always check the edges of quarters and dimes if its all silver its silver.

When I used to maintain faregates at the transit system, there was an 80-ish year old retired trolley driver that worked as a faregate attendant. He could hear a silver quarter hit the change pocket from 50 feet away. The machine would reject them due to lack of copper. He'd be over in a flash saying, "You got a bad coin. Let me swap it out for you"..lol
He's the guy I got my buffalo nickels from actually. This was 30 years ago.

[John V.]

Back in the late '60s, I saved every Wheat Penny, Indian Head Nickel, and silver coin I received while collecting for my paper route. Plus a couple Silver Certificate bucks and anything else that seemed unusual.

I've long assumed that they were worth little more than face value. They are all worn, nothing pristine.

I've assumed that any such coin that I've found in more recent years was evidence that a guy like me had gone to a coin shop and was told his well worn collection of coins was of little collector value so simply started spending them. I figured I'd eventually get around to doing the same.

This thread is an eye opener for me. Maybe my coins have appreciated more than I would have thought.

According to one source I checked, a '28 S Nickel in similar condition (well worn and considered "good") might sell for about a buck (I assume that is retail value).

I wouldn't be able to fund my retirement if my collection was valued at 20 times face value. But even at 5 times face value it would be worth more than I would have guessed. Sweet! Someday I'll have to spend some time to see what I have.

[64speed]

My mother used to have a ton of silver certificates but they have been lost to the ages.

[Transamric]

Locally, a couple years back, we had a rash of very old coins showing up in peoples change. I got a few myself. A police story in the local paper told of a couple meth-heads who'd burglarized homes where they'd stolen coin collections. Rather than trying to fence them for collectible value, they simply used them as face value to buy "necessities". Sad but true.

[Pecosbill]

That must be Chief Pontiac on the head side of that nickel, and just like our cars, they ain't makin' them anymore.

[unruhjonny]

circulation finds are the best!!

[66Mutt]

I think the last Buffalo Head Nickel I saw was as a kid in the early 1970's. We were at my Dad's bowling league a Fazzio's Bridge Bowl and he gave me a nickel to play a pin ball machine. I remember looking at it and think it looked different, right before I proceeded to put it in the coin slot.
Wish I had kept it. Didn't know I would not get another one in the nearly 50 years that have passed.
Doug

[TAKerry]

Pretty cool find, and quite rare today. Wheat pennies were abundant when I was a kid, I havent seen one for years now. My grandmother collected coins for my oldest brother when he was very young (early-mid fifties) in blue coin books. I remember them being full of buffalo nickles, mercury dimes, lady liberty coins etc. Every once in awhile I wonder if he still has them. At one time you could fill a wheelbarrow with all of them.

[Stuart]

When I was a kid in the 1960s we'd periodically get rolls of pennies from the bank and sort through them for our collections. At that time wheat pennies were common but occasionally there would be a few old ones, I remember finding a couple wartime steel pennies and even a few from 1909 (although no S or VDB). There was one time we got an entire roll of pre-1909 Indian pennies, that was pretty fun.

[bird72]

Still get a wheat penny every year or two now. Silver and nickels way more rare to get. Like many here, I have a handful of old coins ratholed from the years. Most are not collector grade. I actually like the semi worn ones (but not bad) because they have the mojo of all the people over the years that had them. Pocketful of Americana. I keep 1972 coins in my in Bird for good luck.

[GTOnly70]

I started collecting coins in the mid-70's (great hobby, btw), and was an avid change searcher. Wheat pennies were still fairly common and I still find them occasionally to this day. Silver coins were already mostly removed from circulation by this time. I also used to exchange rolls of pennies with our bank on a weekly basis - found a 1909 VDB once and a few steelies. Old Jefferson nickles are still fairly common, though most are not typically worth more than face value.

When I worked at Woolworth's in the mid '80s, I would always have some pocket change to exchange with anything interesting I found in the register. Don't remember finding much more than wheaties, though.

[unruhjonny]

I have been a collector as far back as I can remeber, and up until the last decade, 98% of my collection was gleaned from pocket change - either mine, or a family members.

I found my first wartime penny in the 1980's and thought it was an error penny until a while later someone told me that's the way they were made in the 'States during the war;
My first buffalo nickle, and mercury dime were given to me by my great aunt;
My first (and only) american silver change find was on my honeymoon in July 2013 - were were at the dole factory, and were getting quarters from the change machine to make crushed pennies for my nephews and nieces - and low and behold I got a silver quarter!!
the people who really "cheat" are the ones who go the the bank every week, and buy a box full of rolled coins to search through for silver ect...
I primarily just pay attention to my pocket change.

[DANTIP]

I know a pharmacist that swapped out a bunch of 1920's vintage silver dollars out of the cash register years ago. He later learned from a parent of a sticky-finger kid, that the kid was stealing the coins to buy what he wanted at the drug store. Those were expensive sticks of gum!