Buffalo Gold Coin: A Coin Of Many Firsts

One of the popular gold bullion coins released for sale to general public by the United States Mint is the Buffalo Gold coin. This a 24 karat gold coin which has a face value of 50USD but an actual market price as high as $800. It is also the first 24 karat gold coin that has been minted by the United States Mint for sale to the public. The coin was introduced on June 22, 206 and the first shipment was ready by July 13 of the same year.

The Buffalo gold coin forms an important part of the Presidential Dollar Coin series. Another reason to bring out the coin was to fulfil the requirement of a 1 ounce coin. This requirement was set forward by the Presidential $1 Coin Act, 2005. Another limit imposed by the said act was that no more than 300,000 coins are to be minted in an year.

Design of the Buffalo gold coin:

The Buffalo gold coin sports a modified design from the one that has adorned the Buffalo nickel. A Native American male face is depicted on the obverse side of the coin. The word LIBERTY is engraved as well as the year in which the coin was minted. The face of the native American is designed in such manner that it has become a mixture of the faces of three of the most famous native men of the country.

The reverse side of the coin is the place from where it draws the name of Buffalo gold coin. This face features an American Bison which is popularly known as a buffalo, hence the name. It has been speculated that the particular buffalo was housed in a zoo in New York city. The buffalo was not very keen about being featured on the bullion and kept staring the coin designer in the face, until arrangements were made to keep it distracted.

Apart from this the face value of the coin ($50), the name United States of America as well the motto of United States, In God We Trust is engraved on the coin.

The main reason behind the introduction of this coin was that people preferred to buy the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, instead of the American Eagle coin as the former has 99.99% pure gold as opposed to the 91.67 % of the American Gold Eagle. It is expected that with the launch of this coin, the share of US gold sales and cash in the 24 karat market shall go higher.

Another interesting thing to know about the coins is that when the Congress of United States decided to release the Buffalo Gold Coin as a bullion issue, they decided to put it in protective encapsulation, as is done by the Perth mint. This is also a first of its kind decision.