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1912-S Liberty Head nickel value guide -- the series' lowest mintage, and grade-by-grade prices.
Condition drives the price — full breakdown below.
238,000 struck — against the other key dates in the Liberty Head Nickel series.
Bars are scaled to keep the smallest mintages visible; the exact figure is printed on every row. Mintage is coins struck, not coins surviving — melting and circulation wear thin those numbers further.
Lowest-mintage business strike of the entire Liberty Nickel series and the first year San Francisco ever struck this denomination -- lower even than the famous 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent (484,000) or the 1916-D Mercury dime (264,000).
Despite the ultra-low mintage, prices remain well below those famous contemporaries at comparable grades, a quirk PCGS attributes to demand dynamics specific to Liberty Nickel collecting.
Other dates and varieties in this series
What to check before you pay, specific to this date and its 238,000-coin mintage.
The same date runs from about $163 worn to $2,257 at the top of the scale — a 14× spread. Nearly all of that gap is condition, not the date on the coin, so work out where an example sits on the table above before deciding whether its asking price is fair.
Every figure on this page depends on that S. The same year from another mint is a far more common coin, which is exactly why added and altered mint marks are the usual way this date gets faked. Ask for a close-up of the mark itself — a listing title claiming it is not evidence.
A PCGS or NGC holder settles authenticity and grade in one go, which is most of what you're actually paying for at this level. The premium it adds is small next to the cost of being wrong about either.
Every Liberty Head Nickel listed here is priced by an individual seller, so the same coin in the same grade can differ by a wide margin on any given day. Sort by price, check Metal Points and order history for a sense of the seller's record, and message them if the photos don't show enough to grade confidently.
About the 1912-S Liberty Head Nickel
Value depends heavily on condition. A well-worn example brings closer to $163, while an uncirculated one can reach $2,257 or more.
Lowest-mintage business strike of the entire Liberty Nickel series and the first year San Francisco ever struck this denomination -- lower even than the famous 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent (484,000) or the 1916-D Mercury dime (264,000).
For anything you believe is a key date or an error, professional grading protects both buyer and seller by settling condition and authenticity before money changes hands.
The rest of the series, with what each is worth at the top of the grade scale.
List it free on PeerMetals — flat 2.75% seller fee, zero listing fees, 1–3 day payouts.
