Would have thought of James Earl Frasier, Black Diamond and Buffalo Nickels when this guy was staring at me last night as I and my family waited for our table at Texas Road House? For me Buffalo nickels are a coin that I like to see in UNC condition. It's a deparure from my norm with the older coinage, which I usually like in XF or low AU. I've not started to collect them because I have several other collecting goals to complete. But one day I will have a Dansco full of'em.
I think of the nickels any time I see any buffalo, (bison). Heck, any time I read about any history, US Civil war, war of the roses, Roman, I immediately think of coins of the period and what they looked like.
I would appear that I have select appropriate company. same here, it's a sickness I guess, but I like it.
I've driven across South Dakota several times. On one occasion I came up on a pick-up truck. I couldn't figure out what he had in the bed of that thing. That rancher was going as fast as I was and it took 50 miles for me to catch up to him. The closer I got the difficult it was to know what his load was. I finally got up to him and it was the head of a Buffalo. He pulled over and we got out so the kids got to touch it. Big thrill for them. It was just the head and it was in a claw foot cast iron bathtub to catch the blood. He had just shot it on his ranch a few hours ago and was heading to Rapid City to have it mounted. The horns stuck out on both sides of the truck. Biggest damn Buffalo I've ever seen and having lived in Montana, near Yellowstone National Park and not too far from a guy who made his living with trophy Elk and Buffalo, I've seen a lot of Buffalos. I was in Yellowstone on one of the boardwalks when it started to hail. Golf ball size and it hurt so we ran for the car. I stopped dead in my tracks as a Buffalo had his 2 from hoofs on the boardwalk. We got past him and made it back to the car just as the hail stopped. We had numerous cuts and bruises afterwards. That buffalo wasn't all that big but that close to him, he was huge. If I saw that on the wall, and he's small compared to others I've seen, I'd think the same thing I do every time I see one, What's the date and mintmark on that baby?
Whenever I see a buffalo, I instantly think of the American Plains Indian. Although they depended on them for survival, they held great admiration of the spirit of the herd. It is truly a majestic animal, and deserves way more respect than it has attained from the modern public. The Indian head or buffalo nickel was and still is a beautiful design that in a way recognized the special relationship that once endured between them. I only wish that type of design was used more often in our culture and currency.
When I was in high school marching band we competed in an international field show in Calgary Stampede, Alberta, Canada. It was something like 33 hours one way on the big charter bus. On the way there we stopped at a place called "Smashed In Head Buffalo Drop" which, as one might infer from the name, was a Native American heritage site. There was a guided tour and the guide told the history of the ancient method of hunting buffalo his ancestors relied upon that is the namesake of the site. The tour ended in a dining area where you could eat a bison burger. (Personally I didn't have one, but only because I thought they were too expensive to be unsure of whether I was really getting bison.) [ Side story: I once attended an event where bear burgers were advertised. They sold out of bear burgers and just used beef but sold them as bear. I and several others heard a pair of idiots talking when they had sold out. It went like this. One guy: "We're out of bear. We should have planned for more people!" Other guy: "They'll never know the difference." And that is why I'd rather kill it and butcher it myself. End. ]
Ha, funny. I have never thought of buffalo nickels when ever I see buffalo, but of course now, I can't avoid connecting the 2 now that I have read this thread. I remember when I was in CA as a Marine 30 years ago, I actually saw 4-5 of these ugly looking creatures grazing in the field. I was fascinated to see them since I believed they were/are so rare. However, the buffalo nickel is in my top 5 favorite U.S. type coins.
I am the only numis-nerd who... ...had just received his RAF Lakenheath trade token, that was in his pocket, and then found himself in the RAF Lakenheath club; from which that token once circulated in, and derived a sense of pleasure? Probably.
Why have I not earned a like??? I must conclude my post here is irrelevant, thus unworthy of reading. Oh well, sorry to bore you. Ha, ha!
