Mint Will Strike a Silver Dollar Version of Classic Buffalo Nickel

The classic buffalo nickel will be celebrated by the U.S. Mint--88 years after it was first circulated--as a new commemorative silver dollar benefiting the National Museum of the American Indian, which is under construction on the Mall.

The Commission of Fine Arts unanimously approved the design Thursday, which resembles the nickel designed by James Earle Fraser, showing a profile of an American Indian on one side and a buffalo on the other.

Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill must approve the design before the coin can be produced, Mint spokeswoman Ellen Gano said.

Mint representative Josie Harreston told the commissioners that the motto “In God we trust” was added to the original design.

Gano said Congress required that the phrase be on all new coinage after July 11, 1955. The following year, Congress made “In God we trust” the national motto, she said.

The U.S. Mint will produce only 500,000 of the coins. They usually sell well to collectors and supporters of the memorial benefiting from the sales.

The Indian museum will receive $10 from the sale of each coin, which will sell for about $33.

Gano said the coin is expected to be available to the public beginning in June.