1913 Indian Head Buffalo Nickel - Town celebrates antique coin mold
Arizona Coin Collector
Interesting story. Would have love to see more images
other than the large clay-brick display.
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FROM:
http://ws.gmnews.com/news/2008/1223/front_page/004.html
Town celebrates antique coin mold
BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer
December23, 2008
The original clay mold used to mint the first 1913
Indian Head Buffalo nickel designed by sculptor
James Earle Fraser has found its way back home
after approximately 80 years.
---------------------------------------------
(Story Image Photo - Large)
http://ws.gmnews.com/news/2008/1223/front_page/004p1_xlg.jpg
KATHY CHANG The original clay mold used to mint
the first 1913 Indian Head Buffalo nickel
designed by sculptor James Earle Fraser. The
nickel will be displayed at Town Hall until the
end of December.
---------------------------------------------
The thick, clay nickel made of terra cotta was
unveiled in front of township officials and members
of the Historical Association of Woodbridge
Township and the township Historical Preservation
Commission earlier this month.
The exhibit at town hall also includes
artifacts of the storied Woodbridge brick and
clay industry,
including Salamander Works, the Federal Terra Cotta
Co., and the M.D. Valentine Brick Co., that
flourished for nearly a century.
According to the U.S. Mint, the Indian Head Buffalo
nickel was minted from 1913 to 1938. The American
Indian depiction in the nickel design is believed
to be based on three different Indian chiefs. The
reverse design of the coin features the American
bison.
The exhibit included a terra cotta bomb from World
War I, Nancy China pottery, a terra cotta plaque
removed from the Route 9 bridge that passed over
Route 1 north displaying the word "Jersey," and
doorknobs that are 120-plus years old.
The owner of the historic nickel, Gordon Henderson,
let the township borrow the piece to allow township
residents and visitors to observe a piece of history.
"It's still my piece," Gordon Henderson reminded
township officials at the unveiling.
Henderson, a third-generation stained-glass artist,
said he could have sold the piece along the way, but
had realized the importance of the terra cotta
industry in Woodbridge.
The township, which is the fifth largest in the
state, is known for its clay history.
"The Woodbridge Community Center was built on clay
pits," said Mayor John E. McCormac.
In "The Making of America Series - Woodbridge, New
Jersey's Oldest Township," by Robert J. McEwen, who
died in September 2007, and Virginia Bergen Troeger,
a whole chapter is dedicated to the clay industry.
"If there is one word to describe nineteenth and
early-twentieth-century Woodbridge, that word would
have to be 'clay,' " wrote McEwen.
The book quotes John M. Kreger, a ceramic
consultant: "Clay was the business of our
township . never again will Woodbridge be blessed
with a single industry that employed such a large
percentage of its population as did clay."
Before McEwen passed away, he was working on a
fourth book about the clay industry.
Henderson, who will turn 90 years old in January,
said he remembers seeing the original 1913 Indian
Head Buffalo nickel, which he has held onto all
these years, when he was a young boy.
"It was always around the house on the shelves,"
said Henderson, who grew up in Rutherford. "My
father had acquired it around 1929 and I have kept
it in storage all these years."
Henderson said he became a collector like his
father.
"I displayed my work and the coin at the [Jane
Voorhees] Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers
University in New Brunswick," he said.
Anna M. Aschkenes, executive director of the
Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission,
made a call to township officials informing them
of the nickel.
Dr. Dolores Gioffre, president of the township
Historical Preservation Commission, said that when
she heard about the nickel, she was thrilled.
Jeff Huber, president of the township Historical
Association, also expressed his elation about
the nickel.
"It's wonderful that we get back the [Indian Head
Buffalo] nickel that was originally made here,"
he said.
Anthony Poos, 81, who has lived in Woodbridge all
his life, contributed a clay brick to the exhibit.
"I remember bringing lunch to my older brother at
the [Mutton Hollow Fire Brick] factory that was
behind the parking lot of the Hess building,"
he said.
Longtime Fords resident Andrew Nagy, 73, remembers
his days as an apprentice architectural draftsman at
the now-defunct Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Corp.
in Perth Amboy.
"I had just graduated from Woodbridge High School
in 1952 at the age of 16," he said. "The work
[done at the corporation] was outstanding . the
façade of the old Woodbridge National Bank on Main
Street was made of terra cotta."
The coin mold, unveiled Dec. 2, will be on display
until the end of December.
Contact Kathy Chang at kch...@gmnews.com .
..
Jud
the image actually used. They say it is a 'mold'. OK, not a
galvano...but is it THE example used to create the coin? I don't think
so.
mazorj
"Jud" <numis...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:c2a45bce-9619-4e11...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
It may have been an early "draft" version? The mint sometimes asks
the artist for revisions, and often reworks the originals to meet its
own standards and technical needs.
The author of a book on the American buffalo was on a local NPR
station yesterday. He said that the buffalo used as the model for the
reverse was one being kept in New York City - Central Park, IIRC. It
eventually was sold and yielded nearly half a ton of meat. The head
was mounted and hung in an office there for years but it has gone
missing.
There was no word on whether the Indian chief(s) suffered a similar
fate after modeling the obverse.
Arizona Coin Collector
"mazorj" <maz...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Ffs4l.885$BC4...@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...
Hello
I happen to listen to that same story on NPR as well. I thouth it was
interesting,
yet sad to what happen to that buffalo. I think that buffalo head may have
ended up in some sports bar. There is one down the street from me that has
two of them. Hummmmm?
.
Frank Provasek
architectural ornament, and is completely unlike the design of the
nickel.
These coin-like images were used often for bank buildings. Here is a
similar one on the B. Max Mehl coin dealer building:
http://www.frankcoins.com/mehl4.jpg
Fraser's nickel model is shown on this page:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSEUM/Armory/primitivism.html
--
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http://myworld.ebay.com/frankcoins Texas Auction License
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Member TNA, ANA, PCGS, NGC - Full Time Since 1991
Edwin Johnston
> This claimed model for the Fraser's buffalo nickel is actually a
> architectural ornament, and is completely unlike the design of the
> nickel.
> These coin-like images were used often for bank buildings. Here is a
> similar one on the B. Max Mehl coin dealer building:
>
> http://www.frankcoins.com/mehl4.jpg
>
> Fraser's nickel model is shown on this page:
>
> http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSEUM/Armory/primitivism.html
>
>
Here's a bank coin in stone featuring Fraser's design:
http://www.hobonickels.org/news.htm#589
and here's Fraser's Indian Head design, circa 1911, as an electrotype,
along with his Lincoln "nickel" design:
http://www.hobonickels.org/scraps19.htm#508
Mike Marotta
> This claimed model for the Fraser's buffalo nickel is actually a
> These coin-like images were used often for bank buildings.
Some time online was unproductive, but I have snapshots of a bank
building in Columbus, Ohio, with coin-like ornaments. If I recall
correctly, the erroneous details include the dates. I remember the
Walking Liberty, but the others I forget. Perhaps someone in Ahia
might know ...
One fact that surfaced, speaking of coins and bank buildings, is that
SIDNEY, OHIO, has a bank designed by Louis Sullivan. I wish I had
known.
Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
"Banking on architecture, as the architecture of banking has failed."
Mark B.
designed by Louis Sullivan. I wish I had
known.
My saintly mother was born in Sidney. Don't ever mention that town again or
the Curse of 1000 Screams will befall you.