2019 American Gold Buffalos

The American Gold Buffalo is a .9999 pure, 24-karat 1 ounce gold bullion coin, first offered for sale by the united states mint on June 22nd, 2006. prior to this, the only U.S. gold bullion coin was the American Gold Eagle which is 22 karats, with an alloy of copper and silver added for durability. This makes the American Gold Eagle coin larger and heavier than a comparable American Gold Buffalo. Realizing there was a demand for a 24-karat gold coin, the U.S. Government authorized the Gold Buffalo with the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005.

About James Earle Fraser

James Earle Fraser was born in Winona, Minnesota in 1876. When Fraser was four, his family moved to South Dakota where they lived, penniless, in a boxcar. While he lived and slept in the boxcar, he learned to make arrowheads from his Native American neighbors.

Fraser, most famous for his design of the Buffalo nickel and his End of the Trail sculpture, was a French-trained artist. He was able to earn a thousand dollars from the American Art Association of Paris. His worked earned him a reputation of a skilled sculptor and he was commissioned to work for the Supreme Court, the Department of Commerce buildings, and created historical, presidential, and military portraits.

The Gold Buffalo’s Design

The design of the American Buffalo gold coin is a modified version of the noted Buffalo nickel designed by James Earle Fraser and first issued in early 1913. The obverse of the coin depicts a Native American profile, and the reverse features an American Buffalo with inscriptions of weight, denomination and gold content.

The designer Fraser is said to have taken a composite of several Native American profiles to display on the coin. Many Native Americans claimed to have been the primary profile for the coin, but Fraser never officially named the main subject of his drawings. For the obverse, Fraser studied Black Diamond, an American bison in the Central Park Zoo. The bison is said to have been very docile, making him a good subject for Fraser to draw. Despite the buffalo’s gentle nature, Fraser still experienced complications in drawing the creature’s profile.

Each 2018 American Gold Buffalo weighs 31.108 grams, has a diameter of 32.7 millimeters., a thickness of 2.95 millimeters, and has reeded edges. Some American Gold Buffalo Bullion coins are eligible for precious metal IRAs.