this is for those that subscribe to COINS magazine. did anyone catch the article on buff nickels in
tahoe98
Posts: 11,388 ✭✭✭
...february 2011 issue? it was written by tom lamarre and was very interesting. it was mentioned that the design
had to be changed the first year it was issued due to rapid wear. i'm sure many know that. it also mentioned that
in march 1913, in an issue of the daily times which was published in a town called beaver, reprinted an article from
the new york world calling the buffalo nickel another ridiculous coin. can you imagine?
i thought that was funny. it also mentions that weeks after the first nickels went into circulation, secret service agent john henry arrested a
trio of buffalo counterfeiters in a new york city tenement. they were the first to make phony buffalo nickels. the article
goes on to say that in 1922, black diamond, the buffalo used to model the nickel, died as a result of wire in his hay.
if you get a chance give it a read, i think you'll enjoy it.
"government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is a force! like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." George Washington
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<< <i>Black Diamond was assassinated with grass from the Wiry Knoll. >>
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<< <i>Why did someone want Black Diamond dead?--------BigE >>
...your comment got me to thinking, so i did some googling and now i'm wondering about the wire in the hay
claim in the article. here is something from wikipedia:
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.[1] [2]
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.[3]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.
In the April 1952 issue of Natural History Magazine, George S. Goodwin, the Associate Curator of Mammals at the Museum of Natural History, wrote "(Black Diamond) was an excellent object for the artistic brush. ... Despite his size, he was quite docile. This virtue made him the perfect model." However, James Fraser never said that Black Diamond had been his model, and the Bureau of the Mint has doubts as to whether any specific bison was Fraser's model, their argument being that Fraser would have been well familiar with the species already.
He is also reported to have been the model for the back of the 1901 series $10 note.
Fraser was raised in the Dakotas and likely saw bison on many occasions. Also, some of his models were members of Wild West shows that camped in Connecticut during the off season. These shows also included bison (but no bison burgers!)
...have you any info on the 'wire in the hay' reference, roger? i wonder why the coins magazine is the only place
(so far) that i've seen it?