Lot 2394
1913. Type 1. PCGS graded Proof 66. Well struck with lovely rainbow toning. Only 1520 proofs struck. Historical accounts says that even the artist who designed this piece, James Earle Fraser, preferred the familiar term "buffalo" to the more zoologically correct bison. Semantics aside, the model for the buffalo nickel's reverse is known to have been a bull named Black Diamond. This animal was then a resident of New York City's Central Park Zoo and was already about seventeen years old at the time. Fraser's own correspondence reveals his exasperation in attempting to keep this beast posed in profile as depicted on the coin. Evidently quite uncooperative, it insisted on confronting the artist head on and would return to this stance immediately after being corrected. Pop 89; 45 in PF 66; 3 in PF68 (PCGS # 3988) .
Estimated Value $2,600 - 2,800.
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| Realized $3,565 |
