One of just 600 Proofs of the date produced, far and away the lowest Proof mintage of the series; indeed, one must go back to the first few years of the Shield nickel series to find a nickel five-cent piece of any design type with a lower Proof mintage. Definitely the key date among Proof Buffalo nickels – as David Lange wrote, “The Proof nickels of 1916 represent the very pinnacle of quality for this coin type.”
With the lowest mintage of its type, it should come as no surprise that the 1916 is the rarest Proof Buffalo nickel. Survivors are even more elusive than a delivery of 600 pieces might imply, for many unsold examples are believed to have been destroyed through melting when the Mint suspended Proof coin sales at the end of that year.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the March 2018 Baltimore Auction, where it realized $12,600.