Just found out some old Buffalo nickels are worth crazy money and now I'm paranoid I threw away a fortune. Like apparently which Buffalo nickels are worth money comes down to mint errors and condition - some go for over $100k. The 1937-D three-legged version alone is worth like $150,000 because the buffalo's front leg is missing from die polishing. There's also the 1935 double die that goes for over $100k if you look closely at the doubled lettering.

The wild part is most of these which Buffalo nickels are worth money involve minting mistakes - they got struck on wrong planchets or had over-polished dies that messed up the design. Even the 1914 uncirculated ones fetch $15k just because they're in perfect condition. Apparently you need to check the date, mint mark, and look for those polishing errors to spot which ones have actual value.

So yeah if you've got any old nickels lying around, especially from the 1910s-1930s, might be worth examining them closer. The rarer dates with errors are what collectors actually hunt for. Still wild that which Buffalo nickels are worth money can literally be thousands of dollars depending on the year and what went wrong during minting. Makes me want to go through my grandma's old coin collection now lol