Buffalo Nickel Models

[Diane Merkel]

Americans loved the Buffalo nickel from the start. The Treasury immediately began receiving questions as to the identity of the models for the design. Fraser for his part was apparently better with art than with names. He knew that it was in fact a composite using three models. He knew two of the three.

One of the models was a Cheyenne by the name of Two Moons. As it turned out, Two Moons had excellent credentials as he had participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn against Gen. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry.

Iron Tail, an Oglala Sioux chief, was another model. He, too, had credentials, having been a friend of Buffalo Bill Cody and a member of the group that traveled to Europe in 1889 with Cody's Wild West Show.

The third model, however, was the problem. Coins Magazine editor Robert Van Ryzin does an excellent job of tracing precisely who was the most likely third model in his book Twisted Tails. It is not an easy task as there were a number of people who would have liked that spot as the third model - there was something of a living to be made by being the model for the famous Buffalo nickel. There were public appearances and even TV shows. It might have been a small bit of fame, but it was still fame and a number were happy to claim they were the one on the nickel. As it turns out, the most likely individual is one who never sought fame. Kiowa Adoeette was quietly living out his life as a deacon at the Rainy Day Mission. That was quite a change for Adoeette, who in his younger days had led an 1871 raid on an Army supply train, which saw him convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to hang. Van Ryzin, however traces the evidence and makes a compelling case that, while not certain, Adoeette was probably the third model.

Article: www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=4215

[BrokenSword]

There was a popular TV show in the 1950s named 'I've Got A Secret' that my parents watched every week.

It had a panel of celebrities, and their role was to guess the secret of each guest. The guest could only answer their questions with a 'yes' or a 'no'.

I clearly remember an elderly (everyone was elderly to me when I was a pre-teen) Indian that appeared on the show and who claimed to have been (I suppose) the third model. His explanation was that US law forbade a likeness of any living person on US coins or currency, so he was one of three models.

Of course, I can't remember his name, but do recall that he said he was used for the portion of the bust from the top of the nose up. Basically the forehead and top of the head.

He showed his profile at the end of the segment and it matched (how hard is that?), which naturally brought applause from the live audience. Can't remember if his secret was guessed or not.

Interesting that he may have been a faker. Wonder if the producers would want any prize money back?

M

[BrokenSword]

Good Lord, Larry. I remember seeing that one at the time!

I also remember (very faintly) one 'Secret' where the guest, a REALLY old geezer, was the last living person who was in Ford's theater when Lincoln was shot. I mostly remember the panel and audience being absolutely stunned when his secret was revealed.

Signed,
Antique

[BrokenSword]

Larry- "...The episode with the man who was at Ford's theater when Lincoln was shot is like a legend!..."

Really? Does that make ME a part of history? My autographed photos are now available. $$$$$$

Good luck with your job. Better you than me.

B(orn) S(lothful)

[crzhrs]

I thought Big Tree was the 3rd Indian and a compilation of 3 Indians were used to come up with the profile.

And the buffalo image was supposedly from a zoo animal.

How come Custer didn't make any currency? Maybe the Arrow Shirt was in his honor!

[BrokenSword]

crzhrs - "...How come Custer didn't make any currency?..."

The 'plug nickel' was for him, right? I think they originally called it a plugged nickel.

M

[crzhrs]

May 2, 2008 12:15:39 GMT -6 BrokenSword said:

Good Lord, Larry. I remember seeing that one at the time!

I also remember (very faintly) one 'Secret' where the guest, a REALLY old geezer, was the last living person who was in Ford's theater when Lincoln was shot. I mostly remember the panel and audience being absolutely stunned when his secret was revealed.

Signed,
Antique

Let's see, Lincoln was shot in April 1865. I Got A Secret started sometime in the mid-50s(?)

Say 1955. The person who says he was at Ford's Theater would have to be well over 100 to have any memory of the assassination. Not impossible, but shouldn't that have been a segment of Ripley's Believe It or Not?

[BrokenSword]

crzhrs- "... The person who says he was at Ford's Theater would have to be well over 100 to have any memory of the assassination. Not impossible, but shouldn't that have been a segment of Ripley's Believe It or Not?..."

AH HA! I'm not as nuts, senile OR gulible, as many believe! From Wikipedia's entry for 'I've Got A Secret':

"Some were historical secrets, such as the one told by Samuel J. Seymour, who appeared shortly before his death in 1956. Seymour was the last surviving person who had been at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Garry Moore did most of the talking for Seymour, whose secret was guessed by Jayne Meadows. After Meadows' win, Moore said on the air that the five-year-old Seymour, witnessing John Wilkes Booth's famously miscalculated jump from the presidential box to the stage, felt sorry for the injured actor, not realizing that he was responsible for the president's death."

Signed,
Totally Vindicated, or TV - Get it?

[Scout]

Found this in a 1937 Bismarck Tribune:

"Jacob Horner, Bismarck, and Chief White Bull, two survivors of Custer's ill-fated Little Big Horn campaign of June 1876 have been invited to participate in one of Robert L. Ripley's "Believe it or Not" radio programs over the NBC network. J.L. Simpson, business manager for Ripley, has written both of the elderly men asking them to appear sometime in the later summer or early fall.
...(Bismarck) Tribune had written Ripley last spring suggesting that he build one of his dramatic episodes about the adventures of those two men who fought in the Little Big Horn campaign."

Horner was on detached service at the time of the battle but, still would have been a great show although I don't have any information if it ever was pulled off. If it was I would love to hear it.

[crzhrs]

Isn't the Wiki the site where people can input their own info, even if it's not accurate?

Just asking?

PS: 5 years old? What a memory for such a young kid!

[clw]

I have memories from my fifth year. But last week is sketchy.

[BrokenSword]

Nominees for the prestigious DC Cynical Skeptic Award are:

1. "....Let's see, Lincoln was shot in April 1865. I Got A Secret started sometime in the mid-50s(?)..."

2. "...Isn't the Wiki the site where people can input their own info, even if it's not accurate?..."

3. "...5 years old? What a memory ..."

May I have the envelope please. AND, the winner is...!

M

[crzhrs]

Me, me, me, I win!!

My other aka is Doubting Thomas.

[BrokenSword]

crzhrs- "...Me, me, me, I win!!

Congratulations! Please keep in mind that this is a 'prestigious' award, and no actual cash or trophy accompanies it. Merely our affection.

"...My other aka is Doubting Thomas...."

Not a bad way to be in life, actually, unless of course you are doubting me, but I know you would NEVER do that. Frankly, I have no doubts about it.

M(aster of Ceremonies)

[HinTamaheca]

May 2, 2008 7:48:07 GMT -6 Diane Merkel said:

...One of the models was a Cheyenne by the name of Two Moons
...Iron Tail, an Oglala Sioux chief, was another model.
...Adoeette was probably the third model.

The one Indian originally believed to be the third model used to create the Indian head profile on the Buffalo Nickel used from 1913-1938, was Two Guns White Calf, a Blackfoot. However, James Earle Fraser denied having used him as a model in a letter from Fraser to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of Interior, dated 10 June 1931. Fraser is quoted as saying in the letter:

“The Indian head on the Buffalo nickel is not a direct portrait of any particular Indian, but was made from several portrait busts which I did not Indians. As a matter of fact, I used three different Indian heads; I remember two of the men. One was Irontail, the best Indian head I can remember; the other one was Two Moons, and the third I cannot recall. I have never seen Two Guns Whitecalf nor used him in any way, although he has a magnificent head. I can easily understand how he was mistaken in thinking that he posed for me. A great many artists have modeled and drawn him, and it was only natural for him to believe that one of them was the designer of the nickel...”

Through the years the search for the third model continued. John Big Tree, a Seneca, presented himself to the public as the unknown third model. This at first seemed plausible, since Fraser recalled using an Indian model of that name, but it turns out that there were many inconsistencies in his story/claim, and the Seneca, John Big Tree, like several other pretenders, was a fraud.

Fraser finally recalled that his model was a Kiowa.

Adoeette, a Kiowa who died in 1929 and whose name translates as "Big Tree," is now believed to have been the third model.




IRON TAIL (aka "Dewey Beard") - Oglala


TWO MOONS - Cheyenne


BIG TREE - Kiowa