American Buffalo Gold Bullion: 24 Karats of Perfection - By: Tony Tracy

Adding American Buffalo gold bullion to your portfolio is a safe and valuable investment. It is also known as the American Buffalo gold proof coin. This American Buffalo gold proof coin was first made available for public sale back in June 2006, which immediately made it the first government minted coin for public trading of pure 24 karat gold. American Buffalo gold proof at 24 karats is as pure as you can get.

On its initial year of debut, the2006 American Buffalo gold coin was valued at approximately 800 US dollars. Currently, the now famous gold buffalo has a face value of about 50 US dollars. This is due to the fact that in 2005 the Presidential One Dollar Coin Act was enacted and responsible for the production of this American Buffalo gold proof coin by requiring a coin be made with a face value of 50 US dollars and a content of 1 oz of 24-karat gold. Only 300,000 of these 2006 American Buffalo gold coins were ever minted. Furthermore, the government enforced another limit of only 10 coins per household allowed which instantly made them a highly sought after collector’s item.

The American Buffalo gold coin design was inspired from the well known Indian Head nickel, which was originally created in 1913 by James Earl Fraser. There were very minute changes made to the original nickel. For example, some of the mound of earth below the buffalo's hooves were decreased to give it a cleaner look. The conception of the Indian Head nickel is widely known as one of the most attractive creations to ever be used on any US government minted gold proof coins.

At the front of the coin you can see a picture of a Native American Indian. The head is facing the right side and he also has a feather on the top of his head. Imprinted on the upper right corner of the gold coin is the word “Liberty” and the date, that the coin was minted, can clearly be seen on the lower left side where his shoulder is. A little known fact about the model that was used for the 2006 American Buffalo gold coin by the artist James Fraser is that he actually had 3 different Native Indian Chiefs pose for him while he was in the process of designing the gold coin. The names of these three Native Indian Chiefs were Iron Tail, Big Tree, and Two Moons. James Earl Fraser borrowed features from all 3 of these great chiefs to complete his intricate design of the American Buffalo gold bullion coin.

On the flip side of the gold coin is a picture of an American Bison which did not require more than one model. History claims that the actual model was a Bison named Black Diamond located in the acclaimed New York City Central Park. Eye witnesses claim that the artist James Fraser had to have a person distract the Bison to make sure the animal was in the correct side position pose rather than just have the Bison face a completely different direction. Because of the incredible demand, recognition and investment value of the original Indian Head nickel, the American Buffalo gold bullion coin was born.

The American Buffalo gold bullion coin was conceived so that it could compete with foreign 24 karat gold bullion coins. Because countless investors prefer 99.99 percent pure American Buffalo gold proof over the 91.67 percent gold used in the also popular American Gold Eagle, many were choosing other countries gold coins to meet their bullion needs. One popular example would be the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf. With the introduction of the 2006 American Buffalo gold coin, the United States government aims to increase the amount of US gold sales so that they can take advantage of the growth in 24-karat sales. This is an ambitious endeavour since 24-karat sales makes up approximately 60 percent of the total world gold market.

During the month of September in 2008 the US Mint that it would cease sales of American Buffalo gold bullion, for an undetermined amount of time, because it cannot keep up with ever increasing demand as investors constantly desire the safety of gold amidst the economic turbulence of the current times, which has greatly affected the price of American Buffalo gold proof coins. That is why if you have an opportunity to add the highly sought after 2006 American Buffalo gold coin to your investment portfolio, do so as quickly as you can!

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