It was a tricky time for Charles Barber, chief engraver of the United States Mint. Although Theodore Roosevelt was no longer in staff, his entreat to have more classical designs on our coins, as expressed to Augustus Saint-Gaudens over feast in 1905, was very much bustling.
Barber's uninspired Liberty Headed nickel had been in production since 1883. Under the Coinage Act of 1890, a change in the, its construct was allowable after 25 time. Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh, originally a Roosevelt appointee, wasn't about to outdo up the opportunity. Reminding by his son in May, 1911 that a new nickel would be "A permanent memento of the most attractive mixture," MacVeagh, pointedly bypassing the competent but middling Barber, happening the manage for a new invent.
The Buffalo nickel became an actuality minus than two existence later. On March 4, 1913, coins from the first bag to go into circulation were unfilled to outgoing President Taft and 33 Indian chiefs at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the National Memorial to the North American Indian at Fort Wadsworth, New York.
James Earle Fraser, a past junior to Saint-Gaudens and a plentiful dancer best known for his monumental "End of the Trail" Indian figurine, twisted a rightly sole object for the new coin. Up pending that time, excluding for Bela Lyon Pratt's matter and the eagle of 1908, the "Indians" portrayed on U.S. coins were primarily Caucasian with an Indian headress, epitomized by Saint Gauden's Greek Nike control on the 1907 Indian eagle. Fraser's proposal accurately portrays a gentleman Native American, and the face image was a composite of three chiefs who had posed for him living previous. Keeping with the distinctly American theme, he depicted an American bison on the reorder. The inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and E PLURIBUS UNUM are sneakily placed over the threaten, with the denomination FIVE CENTS below. The legend LIBERTY and the meeting are likewise well executed on the coin's face.
Fraser's outline was medallic and striking, and for secretary favored that purpose MacVeagh. Its charisma seemed completely to dodge Barber, who complained that the intention basics were too large and didn't tolerate for the polite post of inscriptions. Barber didn't get very far with this, as the goal remained unchanged over his objections.
Reservations also came from the vending machinery interest, whose campaign were planned primarily for accepting cents and nickels. Particularly persistent was the Hobbs Manufacturing Company, which marketed an android for detecting counterfeit coins. Mr. Hobbs was certain that Fraser's draft would not work in his mechanism, and he asked that significant changes be made to the models. After much bickering over this, Secretary MacVeagh instructed the Mint to proceed with the inventive fabricate and let the vending engine companies adapt their mechanisms to the coin.
Over 1.2 billion Buffalo Nickels were minted from 1913 through 1938 at three mints; Philadelphia (no mintmark), San Francisco (S), and Denver (D). The mintmark can be found on the reversal under the denomination, while the designer's early "F" is below the year.
There were two varieties made. Type 1 nickels, minted only during the first few months of 1913, had the denomination FIVE CENTS on a raised stack. As early as April, brisk erosion in this area became evident on the coins in circulation, so Barber finally got his chance to transform Fraser's intend. He cut away the mountain, creating an exergue into which the denomination was set. This solved the change abrasion conundrum, but then he reserved leaving. He smoothed out much of the designate and granularity in both the Indian's portrait and the bison's withhold. The ensuing Type 2, however, lacked much of the artistic contact of the initial.
Barber again made small modifications in 1916, and some specialists think this a third subtype, but most enter collectors only consider the Type 1 and 2 coins as actual varieties. It is foreign that during all his modifications, Barber never addressed the snag of the meeting bearing down too hastily.
No Buffalo nickels were made in 1922, 1932 and 1933. Some 5,967 dull proofs were made from 1913 through 1916, and 10,189 brilliant proofs in 1936 and 1937. Strike was an inherent trouble with this coin from the start, and many deceptively well struck business strikes have been incorrect for the matte proofs and associate versa. Many mintmarked coins, especially from 1918 through 1934, are almost unavailable well struck.
When grading these coins of this print, you must take the external into account, as many plump shine pieces will not show rounded relief specify on the high points of the horn or the fringe on the tail. Generally, the date and LIBERTY will be faint on feebly struck pieces. The points on the coin that clothes most willingly are the high instant of the Indian's cheekbone and the fleece near the part. On the reverse, the bison's hip, the fringe on its tail and the horn are the first areas to show scuffing.
Collectors of this string have a fascinating array of "tough" dates and rarities to pursue. The most intricate coin to gain is the very atypical 1918/7-D overdate. Another overdate exists for both the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints-the subtle 1914/3. Scarce to singular dates in high grade include all the San Francisco coins from 1913 through 1928, with 1918, 1920 and 1924 through 1927 being the rarest. Denver coins are generally weaker strikes than San Francisco pieces. The gift the aerial with challenges like the 1918 through 1920 issues and the 1925 and 1926 coins, along with the prominent 1937-D 3-legged Buffalo. This awfully current variety (caused by excessive die-polishing to eradicate clash-marks) was not discovered awaiting most of the coins had reached circulation, making well-struck gem specimens very uncommon today. Particularly in the holder of the "3-legger" or the overdates, authentication by experts is advised, as many counterfeits survive.
Recent time had witnessed renewed collector interest in the Buffalo series, no mistrust stimulated by the wealth of new inquiries untaken by nickel specialists. An ever-budding number of numismatists are assembling finish sets of Buffaloes by date and mintmark. Demand is also clear from kind collectors, all whom seek this goal for their 20th Century-or more comprehensive-lettering sets. Although well struck, inexpensive nature examples such as 1938-D are available, many collectors wish to pursue one of the scarcer dates.
By the end of 1937 planning for the Buffalo nickel's successor was well under way, as the figure's mandatory 25 years would end the following year. It was to be replaced by the third coin to stand a likeness of one of our presidents, Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson nickel continues in production to this day.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 21.2 millimeters Weight: 5 grams Composition: .750 copper.250 nickel Edge: Plain
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I.Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Cohen, Annette R. and Druley, Ray M. The Buffalo Nickel, Potomac Enterprises, Arlington, VA, 1979. Lange, David W. The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1992. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Wescott, Michael, with Keck, Kendall, The United States Nickel Five-Cent Piece, Bowers and Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1991.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
