1913 5C Buffalo Nickel, Type 2 PCGS PR66

1913 5C Buffalo Nickel, Type 1 NGC PR65 $3,325.

     We at AUCM are pleased to offer for your numismatic consideration a beautiful one-year type: a 1913 Buffalo Nickel, Type 1, graded NGC PR65. Considered among the most dramatic of all U.S. coin designs, this specimen would be the perfect addition to the collection of the Buffalo nickel specialist. For example, this piece would be perfect in an ambitious full set of both proof and mint state Buffalo nickels (1913-1938). It would also serve as a type coin in a set of the coins inspired by the artistic collaboration between President Theodore Roosevelt and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, both proof and mint state.

     It was in 1911 that renowned sculptor James Earle Fraser heard that a new nickel design was being sought by U.S. Treasury Secretary Franklin MacVeagh. Fraser contacted and later met with Mint Director George E. Roberts and other mint officials. “I realize that no definite commission has been given me in regard to the designs for the new coins,” wrote Fraser to MacVeagh, but nonetheless he acted as if it were a fait accompli. Continuing, the designer wrote that the "idea of the Indian and the buffalo on the same coin is without doubt, purely American and seems to be singularly appropriate to have on one of our national coins …Therefore, I should like to ask whether or not you would consider placing these designs on the new model."

     An overview of the development of Fraser’s nickel design was presented in a memorandum from Mint Director Roberts dated March 18, 1913. It read, in part: "Mr. Fraser was a pupil of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and is much interested in the latter’s work upon our gold coins. He agreed with Saint-Gaudens that our coins, besides being counters in trade, should be examples in art, exerting an influence upon the artistic taste of the people." MacVeagh never brought in other artists and “made up his mind that if any change was to be made he wanted the Fraser designs.” The artist was asked to lower the relief and make some other slight changes. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved the modified design, which was then signed off by the president.