.999 Fine – 24 Karat Gold!

Better known as “The Buffalo”, the coin is made of 99.99% (24 karat) gold. The 24 karat quality makes it an attractive investment vehicle for both domestic and international investors, putting great pressure on the limited mintage.

In this fifth year of issue the 2010 American Buffalo Gold is the same size, weight and dimensions of the Gold American Eagle. There will be only a small number of proofs minted. We will offer, on a first come first served basis, the very small number of the Early Release American Buffalo Gold to our clients that take advantage of this special offer. First come – First served.

The Indian Head Buffalo design by James Earle Fraser has been a favorite of investors and collectors alike for decades since it debuted to the world in 1913.

Charles Barber was Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint in 1913 when the first Buffalo design was released into circulation. His desire to have more classical designs on our coins, as expressed to Augustus Saint-Gaudens over dinner in 1905, was very much alive.  Barber’s inspired Liberty Head nickel has been in production since 1883.Under the Coinage Act of 1890, it was time for a change, and Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh, originally a Franklin appointee, wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity. Reminded by his son in May 1911 that a new nickel would be “a permanent souvenir of the most attractive sort,” MacVeagh, pointedly bypassing the competent but mediocre Barber, started the process for a new design.

The Buffalo nickel became a reality less than two years later. On March 4, 1914, coins from the first bag to go into circulation were presented to outgoing President Taft as well as 33 Indian Chiefs at the groundbreaking for the National Memorial to the North American Indian at Fort Wadsworth, New York.

A DESIGN RICH IN AMERICAN HISTORY

James Earle Fraser, a former assistant to Saint-Gaudens and a prolific artist best known for his monumental “End of the Trail” Indian sculpture, created a truly unique design for the new coin. Up until that time, except for Bela Lyon Pratt’s $2 1/2 Indian quarter eagle and $5 Indian half eagle of 1908, the “Indians” portrayed on U.S. coins were primarily Caucasian with an Indian headdress, epitomized by Saint Gaudens’ Greek Nike head on the 1907 Indian eagle.

Fraser’s design accurately portrays Indians as they look and the obverse portrait was a composite of three chiefs that had posed for him. Keeping with the distinctly American theme, he depicted an American bison on the reverse. The inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and E PLURIBUS UNUM  are artfully placed over the buffalo. The legend LIBERTY and the date are similarly well executed on the coin’s obverse.

The past decade has witnessed renewed collector interest in the Buffalo series, no doubt stimulated by the wealth of newresearch published by nickel specialists. An ever-growing number of numismatists are assembling complete sets ofBuffalos by date and mintmark, but demand is also strong from investors and collectors. By the end of 1937, planning for the Buffalo nickel’s successor as well underway, as the design’s required 25 years would end the following year. It was to be replaced by the third coin to bear a likeness of one of our presidents, Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson nickel contains in production to this day.