$50 American Buffalo Gold Coin

$50 American Buffalo Reverse




$50 American Buffalo Obverse

$50 American Buffalo Gold Coin or a Gold Buffalo is a 24-karat bullion gold coin containing 1 troy ounce of pure gold and first minted by the US Mint in 2006. $50 American Buffalo gold coin is the first coin with 24-karat (99.99%) gold composition that US government minted for the public. The original issue of 2006 was priced at $800 but as the time goes, these coins are getting certified and cost much more as "The First Strike" issue, selling for up to $1,200 and sometimes more.

The coin specification is as follows:

The design of the $50 American Buffalo gold coin repeats the design of the famous Buffalo nickel by James Earle Fraser, minted in early 1913. There is a little story behind this design: a native Indian depicted on the obverse of the coin was a combination of features from three American Indians: John Big Tree, Iron Tail, and Two Moons, chiefs of different tribes. A bison depicted on the reverse of the coin is believed to be American Bison "Black Diamond", who resided in New York City's Central Park Zoo in 1910s. It's said that Fraser had to hire a help to distract the animal while drawing its profile as otherwise it was staring directly at him.

The American Buffalo design is considered to be amongst the best designs of all US coins. Before this design made its way on the $50 American Buffalo gold coin, it was also used on the Smithsonian commemorative coin minted in 2001.

The American Buffalo gold coin was initially minted only in one size and one denomination of 50 dollars, but later in 2008 US Mint issued fractional sizes as well.

You can see individual pages for each year of issue of the $50 American Buffalo Gold Coin here:

• 2006 American Buffalo Gold Coins
• 2007 American Buffalo Gold Coins
• 2008 American Buffalo Gold Coins

You can see some current listings for $50 American Buffalo gold coins below: