Shouldn't it be the Bison Nickel and not Buffalo Nickel?

pcgs69

The animal on the reverse of the nickel minted from 1913-1938 is a bison.

Or is it one of those situations where it's just accepted because it's been known by that name for quite some time?

MasonG

Are you familiar with the Mercury Dime?

leothelyon

We got standing Liberty quarters, seated Liberty everything, walking Liberty halves. But when we see Liberty wearing a indian chief headdress, suddenly everyone thinks it's an Indian head cent. lol

Leo

MFeld

Yes.

jesbroken

About one hundred and nine years late for that argument. But oh yes, let's change it, shouldn't upset either one, the buff or the bison.
Jim

JBK

@pcgs69 said:

Or is it one of those situations where it's just accepted because it's been known by that name for quite some time?

This.

And by the way, while you're deciding between Buffalo nickel and Bison nickel, you might ask yourself why you call it a "nickel". No such denomination (officially) exists.

It's a "five cents" piece - it says so right on the reverse.

Of course, it's universally known as a nickel and the mint/government uses the term too, but that denomination does not appear on any US Coin.

element159

And it also is just 25% nickel. Ought to be a bison cupro-nickel. But that doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely.

jesbroken

It's a proven fact that you can't make a 5 cent piece mad.
Jim

BryceM

This, of course, is a true buffalo, courtesy of a South African 100 Rand note. Please don't call it a water buffalo. While water buffalo are also true buffalo, they were domesticated eons ago and hail from Asia. They're generally observed lazily pulling a plow. This nasty critter is a Cape Buffalo, one of Africa's big five, and by many accounts, the one most likely to kill you. He resists all attempts at domestication and was seemingly assembled from equal parts irritability, nastiness, and vengeance:

Here's the water buffalo:

Estil

@MasonG said:
Are you familiar with the Mercury Dime?

@JBK said:

It's a "five cents" piece - it says so right on the reverse.

It doesn't say anything! You have to read it! Coins can't talk!

And while we're on the subject of buffalos, I thought they were an endangered species? So why are people eating their wings? And how do they fly with those little wings anyway?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEiHGoc9ceY

lunagately

It is a Bison but I will always love it as The Buffalo Nickel ! Also, I can't stand he term "Buffalo Head Nickel"

savitale

Once a Buffalo, always a Buffalo.

From "The Times", Clay Center Kansas, March 13, 1913

MarkKelley

Yes, it should be. But everyone calls a cent a penny and a doubled die a double die, so what are you gonna do?

Jzyskowski1

Poe- tah- toe
Poe- ta tow. 😁

2windy2fish

Black Diamond!
Perhaps the most iconic US coin ever struck?!?!

Barberian

@element159 said:
And it also is just 25% nickel. Ought to be a bison cupro-nickel. But that doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely.

Should be called a Bison copro-nickel.

@2windy2fish said:
Black Diamond!
Perhaps the most iconic US coin ever struck?!?!

Never mind...

daltex

@lunagately said:
It is a Bison but I will always love it as The Buffalo Nickel ! Also, I can't stand he term "Buffalo Head Nickel"

I've never heard that. I've heard "Indian Head Nickel".

PerryHall

@MasonG said:
Are you familiar with the Mercury Dime?

Also, should the Indian cent be called the Native American cent?

gumby1234

Maybe it should be called a Tatanka nickel.

As for IHC that's not an Indian on it. Just a model that someone put a headress on.

dcarr

"Buffalo" is incorrect, in my opinion. "Bison" should be the correct term.
But also, "Indian" Head is not entirely appropriate either.

So that is why I call them "Native-Head/Bison" nickels.

P0CKETCHANGE

@BryceM said:
This nasty critter is a Cape Buffalo, one of Africa's big five, and by many accounts, the one most likely to kill you. >He resists all attempts at domestication and was seemingly assembled from equal parts irritability, nastiness, and >vengeance:

Sounds like my mother-in-law. Looks like her too!

ricko

Valid point regarding the true identity of the creature depicted. However, after a century plus of the 'Buffalo nickel' term in the common lexicon, pursuit of change will be fruitless. Cheers, RickO

jmlanzaf

@jesbroken said:
About one hundred and nine years late for that argument. But oh yes, let's change it, shouldn't upset either one, the buff or the bison.
Jim

At one time, they were referred to as Indian Head nickels

Onastone

@pcgs69 said:
The animal on the reverse of the nickel minted from 1913-1938 is a bison.

Guess we've all been buffaloed.

Jzyskowski1

Googles opinion 😁

1Bufffan

Whatever you like to call them go ahead and say it, I like them either way!

LanceNewmanOCC

@BryceM said:
This, of course, is a true buffalo, courtesy of a South African 100 Rand note. Please don't call it a water buffalo. While water buffalo are also true buffalo, they were domesticated eons ago and hail from Asia. They're generally observed lazily pulling a plow. This nasty critter is a Cape Buffalo, one of Africa's big five, and by many accounts, the one most likely to kill you. He resists all attempts at domestication and was seemingly assembled from equal parts irritability, nastiness, and vengeance:

.
lovely description!

i've watched MANY a cape fend off lions/hyenas and anyone that can fend off a male lion(s) or pack of females if it is dead-set on killing is one bad mutha indeed! also seen capes send male/female lions FLYING through the air like rag dolls with some nasty injuries to show for it. yikes!

even the hyenas harassing an animal for days on end would be tough to survive, even in a pack. (almost like wolves to a bear)

i've seen some "ambitious" lions, even lionesses take on the leader of a pack of capes, usually to their peril.

WillieBoyd2

Biffalo

1630Boston

Before we discuss the Buffalo Nickels of 1938, here is a little background of the Buffalo Nickel design. James Earle Fraser was the designer of the Buffalo Nickel. Mr. Fraser used a composite of three Indian chiefs for the obverse design. The three Indians used for the composite were Two Moons, John Big Tree and Iron Tail, an opponent of General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

It is commonly agreed that Fraser used an American bison by the name of Black Diamond for his reverse design. Black Diamond lived in the Central Park Zoo of New York City.Except for zoologists, most people do not know the difference be- tween a buffalo and a bison; but the coin has been known as the Buffalo Nickel.

oldabeintx

I remember some years ago QDB was pushing for more "correct" nomenclature. I'm glad he failed, I prefer the old terms, but then I'm old.

Maywood

You guys get all whipped up into a frothy frenzy about a Buffalo and keep calling the person on the obverse of the coin an Indian, but I digress. Apparently everything about this coin is wrongly worded or described.

fathom

@dcarr said:
"Buffalo" is incorrect, in my opinion. "Bison" should be the correct term.
But also, "Indian" Head is not entirely appropriate either.

So that is why I call them "Native-Head/Bison" nickels.

Many Native Americans refer to themselves as Indians. foregoing the 'Native" and association with "American". Preferentially most would like to be specifically associated with an individual tribe.

1630Boston

This guy may care
.
.

Black Diamond was a buffalo or North American bison, housed at Central Park Menagerie (Central Park Zoo); according to legend, he was the model for the US buffalo nickel coin introduced in 1913, designed and sculpted by American sculptor James Earle Fraser in 1911.
.

Black Diamond was born in 1893 of a bull and cow given to the zoo by Barnum and Bailey. He weighed 1550 pounds (ultimately yielding 750 pounds of usable meat). He was a popular attraction at the zoo.

Sick and disabled at age 22, Black Diamond was put up for auction June 28, 1915. However, no bids were received. He was purchased for slaughter in a private sale for $300 by A. Silz, inc., a game and poultry dealer. He was slaughtered November 17 and "Black Diamond Steaks" were sold for $2 a pound. Fred Santer, a New York taxidermist, mounted Black Diamond's head and turned his hide into a then-fashionable 13-foot automobile robe.
.
He is also reported to have been the model for the back of the 1901 series $10 note.

dcarr

@fathom said:

@dcarr said:
"Buffalo" is incorrect, in my opinion. "Bison" should be the correct term.
But also, "Indian" Head is not entirely appropriate either.

So that is why I call them "Native-Head/Bison" nickels.

Many Native Americans refer to themselves as Indians. foregoing the 'Native" and association with "American". Preferentially most would like to be specifically associated with an individual tribe.

I'm not a Native American by heritage. But if I was, I don't think I would like being labeled as "Indian" simply because Columbus thought he had landed on the Indian subcontinent (in Asia).

Onastone

The story of the American Bison is one to learn from. We took them from a population of over 60 million down to a mere 300 in the 1800's. Almost extinct, barely saved, they are now back up to around 400,000. Seems Buffalo came about from French fur trappers calling the Bison- beef...or bœuf. Another factoid scouting around Google, Buffalo Bill killed about 8 Buffalo everyday for a year & 1/2 in the late 1800's.

Stingray63

I remember when I first got into collecting. My father brought out his coins and we sat down. I was immediately puzzled when he said Three Cent Nickel and Half Dime. My exact words, and I still remember that conversation were "How can a nickel be three cents" and if its a Half Dime why don't they call it a Nickel?" And then the Two Cent I thought was just a phrase. Right then and there is when the hobby really started for me.

Smudge

Leave well enough alone.

BuffaloIronTail

@pcgs69 said:
The animal on the reverse of the nickel minted from 1913-1938 is a bison.

Or is it one of those situations where it's just accepted because it's been known by that name for quite some time?

You answered your own question.

Pete

BuffaloIronTail

My namesake and his friend.

Pete

Che_Grapes

What is a bison?

lunagately

@daltex said:

@lunagately said:
It is a Bison but I will always love it as The Buffalo Nickel ! Also, I can't stand he term "Buffalo Head Nickel"

I've never heard that. I've heard "Indian Head Nickel".

Check out the CAC site

Sapyx

England doesn't have any native bison species, so there wasn't a "common English name" for the creatures; the English therefore always used names imported from foreign languages. "Buffalo" is French-derived, as noted above; "bison" is ancient Greek-derived, but probably arrived into English via German (from wisent, the German name for the European bison).

Both are considered "correct names" in American English for the species known as Bison bison, though only "bison" is used for the related species, the European bison Bison bonasus. Europeans always believed that Americans were both inaccurate and rather rude when they called their animal the "European buffalo"; preferring "wisent" or the Slavic-derived name, "zubr".

I assume that Americans only stopped calling them "buffaloes" after they became extinct in the wild, and the people responsible for preserving them preferred and promoted the "bison" name.

Connecticoin

While we are on the subject, how about reviving production of buffalo/bison nickels? Would have to be concurrent with the Jefferson Nickel (thanks, Virginia). That would certainly spur interest in coin collecting for the younger generations.

element159

@Connecticoin said:
While we are on the subject, how about reviving production of buffalo/bison nickels? Would have to be concurrent with the Jefferson Nickel (thanks, Virginia). That would certainly spur interest in coin collecting for the younger generations.

They did!
I got a 2005 nickel, with the bison reverse, in change today. It has Jefferson on the obverse to keep Virginia happy.

Joe_360

Surprised that we can still call it Indian Head...

DisneyFan

Bison Bill? I don't think so.

BuffaloIronTail

You people are really over analyzing it. Geeze. I know what it is, and I know the genus. I don't care. I'm stooped in tradition that goes back to my earliest collector days (circa 1966).

It's a BUFFALO. Always will be. (at least for me).

Pete

hfjacinto

I’ve always called it a bison/Native American nickel. But I’m kind of a strange collector.

Rollerman

Remember the famous Buffalo hunter, Bison Bill?

Connecticoin

@element159 said:

@Connecticoin said:
While we are on the subject, how about reviving production of buffalo/bison nickels? Would have to be concurrent with the Jefferson Nickel (thanks, Virginia). That would certainly spur interest in coin collecting for the younger generations.

They did!
I got a 2005 nickel, with the bison reverse, in change today. It has Jefferson on the obverse to keep Virginia happy.

No, I mean REAL Buffalo nickels like the 1913-38 ones.

pcgs69

@savitale said:
Once a Buffalo, always a Buffalo.

From "The Times", Clay Center Kansas, March 13, 1913

Just realized they spelled it as "nickle" in that article.