Gold Buffalo

In June, 2006, the United States Mint commenced production of America’s first 24-karat, pure gold (.9999% fineness) one-ounce coin, the American Buffalo. This beautiful gold coin, nicknamed “The Buffalo,” is based upon American sculptor James Earle Fraser’s revered Buffalo Nickel of 1913.

The Buffalo displays Fraser’s classic design of an American Indian on the coin’s obverse and the renowned American bison on the reverse. The Native American depiction on the coin’s obverse (front) is believed to be based on three different American Indians. Two of the American Indians who modeled for Fraser, once a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, were named by the designer before his death as Chief Iron Tail of the Lakota Sioux and Chief Two Moons of the Cheyenne. The third person has yet to be definitively identified.