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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,300 |
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Valued Member
United States
440 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
Neat link, and a great little numismatic fact. Thanks for posting that  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1152 Posts |
hehe! neat link, thanks for postin that
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2269 Posts |
I thought the buffalo was named Black Diamond and resided at the Central Park Zoo in NYC, during the early part of the 20th century?
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Valued Member
United States
342 Posts |
The model for the "tail's" side of the coin was a buffalo named Black Diamond, a resident of New York's Bronx Zoo. He was born of stock donated by the Barnum and Bailey circus. In his prime, Black Diamond's coat was unusually dark, and he weighed more than 1500 pounds. James Earle Fraser stood for hours, trying to catch his form and mood in clay. But Black Diamond stubbornly refused to show his side view, and faced the artist most of the time. Only by bribing a zoo attendant to distract the animal was Fraser finally able to capture the likeness he wanted. http://goldmountainmining.com/inbufnic.html |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1091 Posts |
The first story said Big Bull was killed and stuffed in 1886.
While Black Diamond was alive and well in 1911, the time of the design.
I have often heard of Black Diamond, but this is the first time I heard of Big Bull...The writer of the article (Heather from VA) is a 19-year-old Civil War re-enactor from Central Virginia. I'm not sure what her interests in coin history is.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
Sounds like the Big Bull story is fulla bull.
Never heard that one before.
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Moderator
 Australia
16816 Posts |
Hmmm, two myths about the same coin. Sounds like a job for Mythbusters...  Or maybe we can resolve this. Big Bull's picture, according to the linked site, was also used on American postage stamps. If so, then the picture thus generated would also be applicable to banknotes. Maybe Big Bull really appears on the "Buffalo Bills", the $10 notes of the early 1900's. Here's the stamp (I think), issued 1922-1935:  Here's the note, issued 1901:  They look the same to me... and distinctly different from the Buffalo nickel. Maybe the author of the site linked in the OP merely misread the plaque attached to the dead beast, and it was old banknotes, not old coins, Big Bull resides on? Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1541 Posts |
When did Black diamond die?
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,300 |
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Posted 01/15/2007 8:44 pm
