Last Decade of the Wild West - Indian Cents & Buffalo Nickels

A few will say the “Indian Head” cent is actually not an Indian … and they are correct. It was actually a representation of Lady Liberty wearing an Indian headdress … but we still call it the “Indian head cent”. It was introduced in 1859 .. over 150 years ago … and prior to the introduction of the Nickel as a denomination in 1866 this new small cent was referred to as a “nicks”. The series lasted 50 years until 1909 when the Lincolns cent was introduced to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. We’ve assembled a collection of the last 10 years the Indian was in circulation .. 1900 to 1909. Each circulated coin hand selected for quality and detail, is encapsulated and in a custom display.

When released it was actually called the “Indian head nickel” but it didn’t take long for the public to throw in their two cents .. they were calling it the “buffalo” nickel .. and the name stuck. In an interview in the late 1940’s the designer, James Fraser, said “when I was asked to do a nickel, I felt I wanted to do something totally American - a coin that could not be mistaken for any other country's coin”. It also had it’s controversy … who was actually on the coin … Two Guns White Calf, son of the last Blackfoot tribal chief, said it was him; John Big Tree, a Seneca, also claimed to be a model for Fraser's coin. In 1938, the last year in service Fraser finally reveled it was a compilation of three … "Iron Tail, a Sioux, Big Tree, a Kiowa, and Two Moons, a Cheyenne. But I don’t think that one will ever be settled. No matter who is on it .. it is considered by many the true coin of the wild west. Like the cent above we’ve assembled a collection for the last decade .. but the US Mint didn’t strike the buffalo every year … so our 10 coin collection is the last 10 years it was actually struck … 1927 to 1931 and then 1934 to 1938. Each is a hand selected circulated coin, encapsulated and presented with the cents above.