From a Q & A book; Q: Is the Indian on the Indian Head or Buffalo nickel a real person? A: 3 of them. It is generally agreed that Chief Two Moons, a Cheyenne, modeled the forehead; Chief John Big Tree, an Iroquois, the nose and mouth; Chief Iron Tail, a Sioux, the chin and throat. Black Diamond, a bison living at the New York Zoological Gardens, served as the model for the "buffalo" on the coin. I thought this was pretty cool info...
Abe, Thats interesting. Who da thunk, three indians in one. I think the mint coin designers or artiest's, can be characterized as strange, or maybe the director of the mint was demanding his idea of a perfect indian. Steve
I think the subject has been debated from day one on who the model or models were for the Buffalo nickel obverse. Every book on the coin I've ever read has given multiple guesses, but nothing conclusive. As for the bison the reverse, you are correct, it was Black Diamond. Guy~
Three rolled into one to make the perfect looking Indian. I hope nobody takes this the wrong way but back in them days I would think that's a very logical train of thought to go with. In other words the White man really thought like that back in that time period. That's cool because I've never seen a better looking coin or Indian!! Oh yeah I did but she was drinking too much fire water!!
A very good story from the days of ole. Black Diamond died and his head was mounted and displayed in the local butcher shop for years and today is safely kept by a private collector. It is kinda funny why they would use 3 indians though aint it?
As I recall, the design limitations set by legislation is that no living person may occur on a coin. By using a composite, the government doesn't have to be concerned about copyright ownership. Animals don't count.
i seen that a few months ago on a website for buffalo nickels. found it very interesting. wonder if the person that owns the head of black diamond is a coin collector or just an american history collector. i am going to do some google research and see what i can find.
The coin was not design by a Mint Employee and the portait was strictly Frasers. When doing an idealized portrait most artists will create a composite image. There is nothing unusual about it. There was no such restriction. Other than the very recent coinage legislation for the state quarters and the President dollars there have never been a restriction against a living person on the coinage. In fact there is no such restriction written into the First Spouse legislation. When they get to the Carter, Reagan, and George Bush dollars if their wives are still alive they will appear on their coins while living. Fraser himself identified Two Moons and Iron Tail as being two of the three models. The problem comes with the third model. Fraser couldn't remember who the third model was. There was also the problem that there were two indian chiefs with similar names One was Chief Big Tree who Fraser DID creates sketches and a portrait of, and there was Chief John Big Tree who MAY have posed for Fraser but Fraser was not sure if he had sketched him or not. Last i knew Black Diamonds head was owned by Bill Fivaz. What I would like to know is what ever became of the Automobile robe that was made out of his hide. (An automobile robe was a heavy covering that could be worn over the legs, lap, and arms of a person riding in the rumble seat of a car to help keep them warm in cold weather. I'll leave it up to the youngsters to figure out what a rumble seat was.)
