The structures and compositions of the Nd-rich phases in the sintered Nd15Fe77B8 magnets have been investigated. Two different Nd-rich phases of the fcc and dhcp (double hexagonal close packed) structures were present. Microstructural examinations revealed that oxygen played an important role in the structure of the Nd-rich phase. Wavelength Dispersive Spectrometry (WDS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) analyses showed that the fcc Nd-rich phase contained a considerable amount of oxygen (about 20 at%), but the dhcp Nd-rich phase had a much lower amount of oxygen.