The American Buffalo gold coin happens to be the first pure gold bullion coin to be minted by the United States Mint and offered up for sale. Often simply known as the buffalo coin, the American Buffalo is a 24-karat gold coin minted at the one ounce size. The buffalo coin was originally authorized in 2005 through the Presidential $1 Coin Act and was first offered for sale in June of 2006.
The $50 Buffalo was created to fulfill the demand for gold coins from investors. Though the American Eagle a 22-karat gold coin is popular with investors, a pure gold coin was preferred and with the creation of the buffalo coin, the American government was hoping to increase their gold sales in the world market.
The American Buffalo coin features the design first used in the Indian Head or Buffalo nickel first released in 1913. The Indian Head is considered one of the best American coin designs and stands as a symbol of the American West. The Indian Head was created by noted American sculpture, James Earle Fraser.
The front of the $50 Buffalo features the profile of an American Indian and Fraser based the design on three different Indian chiefs who posed for him. Most notably is Iron Tail of the Lakota tribe and Two Moon of the Cheyenne who both fought in the Battle of Little Bighorn. The third model who posed for Fraser is believed to be Big Tree of the Kiowa tribe. The back of the coin features an American Bison which is widely believed to be Black Diamond a buffalo who lived at the New York Zoo during the early part of the 1900s when the design for the coin was made.
Offered as legal tender by the government, each $50 Buffalo contains pure .9999 fine gold that is mined from American gold sources and the coins are struck at the West Point Mint in New York. The government also guarantees the coins gold content and purity as well as its weight. The American Buffalo gold coin has a face value of $50. In 2008, for the first time purchasers could buy different sizes of the coin a 1/10 oz coin worth $5, a 1/4 oz coin valued at $10 and a $25 coin made of ½ oz of gold. Temporarily sale of the coins was halted in September of 2008, due to soaring demand exceeding the supply, thanks to a worldwide economic downturn.
Over 168,000 buffalo coins were sold in 2008 before the United States Mint halted sales. The American Buffalo gold coin can still be purchased from big name banks, brokerage firms and major coin and gold dealers. A proof version of the buffalo coin has also been minted and was made available to collectors in limited qualities in 2006 and 2007. The proof versions feature raised softly frosted surfaces and extremely detailed mirror like fields to make them more attractive. The proof buffalo coins for 2006 initially sold at $800 while the 2007 version fetched just five cents short of $900. The value of a gold buffalo coin held by a collector or investor will depend on the current market price for gold.
GoldProofSets.com provides information on the gold buffalo coin. For more information visit Buffalo Gold Coins.
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