The 1920-S Buffalo nickel is another scarce San Francisco Mint issue, of similar rarity to other early entries in the series. Fewer than 9.7 million were minted, making this one of the lower-mintage issues in the series. But that alone doesn’t tell the whole tale behind the rarity of this coin. It is a truly difficult coin in uncirculated grade and exceptionally rare in Gem levels, perhaps one of the rarest, if not the rarest in that grade range besides the elusive the 1926-S Buffalo nickel. This fact is borne out in the population stats, with around 50 examples available in MS65 or higher, just one MS66 having been slabbed by NGC.