Mint’s inventories of 2005 Bison nickel are gone

The buffalo is a majestic, magnificent beast.

Viewed close up, you can see the power and strength of the animal in its rippling muscles. And when herds of buffalo run across the plains, the thunder of their hooves can be deafening.

The depiction of the animal on the 2005 American Bison nickel really does the beast justice, capturing its nobility and grace. However, there are exceptions.
Lately, I’ve received a slew of phone calls and e-mails regarding errors people have noticed on the nickel that makes the buffalo look ... well, less than noble.

One caller told me he had a Bison nickel that appeared to show the buffalo actually spitting. And of course there’s the three-legged buffalo detailed in Numismatic News months ago by Kenneth Potter.

It’s yet to be seen whether or not these possible errors are anything to get excited about. I have forwarded these reports on to Potter, our error expert, for examination. No news yet on whether or not they are indeed errors of any significance, but isn’t it fun to imagine what they might look like? I haven’t seen the pieces in question, but they sure sound interesting.

More reports such as these could come in as 2005 draws to a close. But one thing’s for sure: there won’t be any more 2005 American Bison nickel errors made at any of the mints this year, as all bags and rolls of the coin have now gone off sale.

Both the Philadelphia and Denver 500-coin bags went off sale on Nov. 1 due to exhausted inventory. According to the Mint, the last known sales of the 500-coin bags break down this way: 15,719 for the bags from Philly and 14,863 for the bags from Denver. That calculates to a total of 30,266.
As for the 1,000-coin bags, the Philadelphia bags sold out weeks before Nov. 1, the day the Denver bags sold out. In fact, they sold way back in August.

Like a little brother trailing behind an older sibling who’s on his way to meet his friends, the Denver 1,000-coin bags finally are gone. A total of 10,991 Denver 1,000-coin bags were sold. In all, 22,102 1,000-coin bags were bought by Mint costumers.

With regards to the Philadelphia and Denver two-roll sets, the Mint is now out of them as well. A final sales tally of 756,137 was reported by the Mint on Nov. 1.

So, if you didn’t already get yours and you were hoping to buy one or two as Christmas presents, you’re out of luck. The cupboard is now bare.

We here at Numismatic News should be receiving more news like this as the end of the year approaches.

It’s hard to imagine the Mint exhausting its John Marshall inventory, however. Which is too bad because we did receive a report from one reader recently who loved the Coin & Chronicles Set.

Have a question? E-mail me at peter.lindblad@fwpubs.com.