New Buffalo nickel causing craze

(OTTUMWA) Coin collectors have cleaned out supplies of the new Buffalo nickel at many banks across the Heartland. The coin is part of the Westward Journey nickel series, and so far the entire collection has been wildly popular, but for collectors the coins are worth more than money.

“After 70, almost 70 years, it’s kind of nice to see a change in the design,” Owen McKee from McKee Coins in Ottumwa said.

From 1938 to 2004, the nickle has not changed, but last year President Bush signed a law modifying the five-cent piece, creating the Westward Journey Series. The coins depict images of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

“They have just went so fast,” Julie Brown a teller from South Ottumwa Savings Banks said.

The Buffalo Nickel has been so widely popular that South Ottumwa Savings Bank has no more left, and they will not receive anymore because the coins have a limited distribution.

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