Buffalo Nickel Valued : In 2007, a teenager in Pennsylvania scraped together spare change to pay for a late-night pizza delivery. Among the coins was a worn-out Buffalo Nickel—just another piece of small change, or so it seemed. Little did anyone know, that nickel would one day be worth over half a million dollars.
The pizza delivery driver took the coin without a second thought, and it eventually made its way into circulation, passing from hand to hand. But fate had other plans for this humble nickel.
A Coin Shop Owner Spots Something Extraordinary
Years later, the nickel ended up in a local coin shop, mixed in with other old coins. The shop owner, an experienced collector, noticed something unusual—the date looked slightly off. Upon closer inspection, they spotted a faint doubling on the buffalo design.
This wasn’t just any Buffalo Nickel. It was one of the rarest error coins in U.S. history: the 1918/7-D Overdate Nickel, created when the Denver Mint accidentally stamped a 1918 date over a 1917 die.
The Rarity That Made It Worth a Fortune
Only about 200 of these overdate nickels are known to exist today, making them a holy grail for collectors. Despite its worn condition—after all, it had been used to buy pizza—the coin’s historical significance and extreme rarity made it incredibly valuable.
When it went up for auction at Stack’s Bowers Galleries in 2024, collectors fiercely competed for it. The final bid? $601,000—an astonishing sum for a coin that once bought a single pizza.
From Auction Block to Museum Display
The winning bidder chose to remain anonymous but made a surprising and generous decision: donating the coin to the American Numismatic Museum in Colorado Springs. Now, instead of sitting in a private collection, this once-forgotten nickel is displayed for the public, complete with a plaque telling its incredible story.
A Reminder That Treasure Can Be Hiding in Plain Sight
The Buffalo Nickel has always been a beloved piece of American coinage, featuring a Native American chief on the obverse and a majestic buffalo on the reverse. But the 1918/7-D overdate is in a class of its own—a rare mistake that turned an ordinary coin into a numismatic legend.
This story is a powerful reminder that history and value can be found in the most unexpected places. That jar of spare change on your dresser? The coins in your car’s cupholder? They might just hold a hidden treasure.
Could Your Pocket Change Be Worth a Fortune?
Next time you handle loose change, take a closer look. You never know—you might be holding a piece of history worth more than you could imagine. After all, if a beat-up nickel used to buy pizza can become a museum-worthy artifact, what else might be out there waiting to be discovered?