Is that a real Indian on the obverse of the Buffalo Nickels struck from 1913 'til 1938? Who is it? Click here for coinpage.com photo James Earl Fraser designed the nickel. Being an artisan of the highest order, he felt that the task of designing the new Nickel required him to place a figure on the coin's obverse that would be representative of the entire Native-American people. You know the world reknown Trail of Tears sculpture was created by Fraser? He spent weeks on the new Nickel project to create the perfect representation which is a composite portrait of three separate Native-American Indian chiefs: Two Moons of the Cheyenne, Click for photo John Big Tree of the Seneca: Click for Seneca Nation's Chief John Big Tree's photo Click for wikipedia photo of Fraser's End of the Trail Statue modeled by Chief John Big Tree and Iron Hail (a.k.a. Iron Tail) of the Souix Nation (Lakota Tribe). Click for Flickr photo Did you know? Clinker
The obverse is modeled after three different individuals. Dewey Beard, Two Moons and Big Tree. The bison on the reverse was reportedly Black Diamond from the central park zoo in NYC. ( Half the answer is in the red book.)
Fraser said that three models were used. He initially identified Two Moons and Iron Tail as being used for models for the nickel but was not able to remember the name of the third model. John Big Tree was self proclaimed as the third model, but Fraser did not remember ever having used him as a model. (Although he said he could have used him at one time and that he "Had a magnificent head".) Another thing that adds confusion is that Fraser did use at one time a model named Big Tree (At one time Fraser did say that he could have been the third model.). This was not the same person as John Big Tree. While these Indians were used for the models, none of them actually posed for it. They had been used by Fraser previously and he used features from his previous works to create the composite portrait. And the correct name of the statue mentioned earlier for which Fraser is so well known is End of the Trail, not Trail of Tears.
I knew the statue was named "End of Trail". Also that either 2 or 3 models were used for the Indian head. But didn't know the names or that of the buffalo. Although I have read the information previously, retaining it is another matter. lol The older I get, the more I forget.
For anyone who is at all confused, this is the statue - http://nationalcowboymuseum.org/collections/PermanentCollections.aspx Yes, it is "End of the Trail". It is about 10 miles down the road.
For anyone interested in reading an in-depth discussion of Fraser's design and models for the design, both obverse and reverse, I would highly recommend Lange's book on Buffalo nickels. Roger Burdette's second volume of Renaissance of American Coinage contains much of the same information. Great resources.
A big THANKS to all who read this trivia and a special THANKS to all who commented, pointed out errors, posted corrections and added info including links... Clinker
