It ain't easy being an American "Star"!

Millions of buffalo once roamed America's western plains. But by the late 1800s they had been hunted and slaughtered to the brink of extinction. A new nickel helped raise awareness of the plight of the buffalo, even if that wasn't the coin's designer-James Fraser's intention. For him, the buffalo symbolized the "winning of the West," and provided a "perfect unity of theme" with the Native American chief on the other side of the coin. Nostalgia may have also been a factor.

About 1911, Fraser had developed a reputation as a numismatist, creating his best-known and certainly his most circulated work -- the Indian Head or "Buffalo" nickel. Almost as well known as Frasier and the nickel in its day, but largely overlooked now, was his model, Black Diamond who was born in 1893, a hybrid bull and cow given to the Central Park Zoo (in NYC) by Barnum and Bailey. His coat was unusually dark, and in his prime weighed more than 1,500 pounds, and was a most popular attraction at the zoo. Despite his size, he was quite docile, a virtue that made him the perfect model. But not everyone was impressed with his appearance. The director of the Zoo called the bison on the nickel "a sad failure," with its head drooped as if it had lost all hope in the world. Legend has it that Old "BD" refused to pose! He kept turning to watch Fraser draw instead of standing sideways. Fraser had to get a zookeeper to catch the animal's eye while Fraser snuck around for a side view.

The first Buffalo nickels were first struck in 1913, and pictured Black Diamond standing on a mound above the words "Five Cents." When Mint officials decided the inscription wouldn't hold up in circulation, the design was changed to show the buffalo standing on level ground. Discontinued in 1938, the images from both sides of the nickel have since been reprised in 2001 on the 1-oz .999-pure Silver Buffalo MS and Proof US commemorative $1 coin, and since 2006 on the MS and Proof Buffalo $50 .9999 pure Gold 1-oz., and the 1/2, 1/4, & 1/10th-oz. fractional gold bullion coins.

Sadly, sick and disabled at age 22, Black Diamond was put up for auction June 28, 1915. However, no bids were received. He was purchased for slaughter in a private sale for $300 by A. Silz, inc., a game and poultry dealer. He was slaughtered (ultimately yielding 750 pounds of usable meat). November 17 and "Black Diamond Steaks" were sold for $2 a pound. Fred Santer, a New York taxidermist, mounted Black Diamond's head, and turned his hide into a then-fashionable 13-foot automobile robe.