Not your father's pocket change, Scarce Coins to Collect contains an Indian Head Penny, Lincoln Steel Penny, Liberty Nickel and Buffalo Nickel. The Indian Head penny was minted from 1859 to 1909 and is composed of copper. It was designed by James B. Longacre. Legend has it, his daughter Sarah was the inspiration modeling a headdress given to the White House from a chief. No one knows if Sarah was the model as James B. Longacre once stated Venus, a Greek statue, was his inspiration for the design. The reverse was first designed to resemble laurel and then was changed to oak. The Indian Head penny was only minted in Philadelphia (which bears no mint mark) until production began at the San Francisco Mint in 1908. The Lincoln Steel Penny was only minted in one year 1943 due to the shortage of copper during World War II. The steel penny is the only regular-issue United States coin that can be picked up with a magnet. The Liberty Nickel was minted from 1883 to 1912 and is composed of copper nickel. It is sometimes referred to as the V nickel due to the Roman numeral 5 on the reverse of the coin. The obverse features Lady Liberty designed by Charles Barber. The Liberty Nickel first appeared without the word cents but because of fraud it was added in a later minting in 1883. Con men were trying to pass it off as the 5 dollar gold piece by dipping the coin in a thin layer of gold. The word cents was added so the public would be able to distinguish the difference between the coins. The Buffalo Nickel was first released into circulation on March 4, 1913 and composed of copper and nickel. The design was created to enhance the beauty of American coinage. The designer James Earle Fraser wanted to create something totally American and therefore decided upon the Buffalo which was unique and a large part of our western states heritage. The Native American Indian also fit right into his idea. Fraser claims he used several composites to draw the portrait of the Native American Indian Head which is on the obverse of the coin. Fraser said the reverse design was modeled after Black Diamond, a bison at the Bronx Zoo. But historians claim Black Diamond was never at the Bronx Zoo but was housed at the Central Park Zoo. Another bison, Bronx, was the leader of the herd at the Bronx Zoo. The placement of the horns on the nickel differ greatly from that of Black Diamond leaving one to wonder if he was the model. The American public deemed to call it the Buffalo Nickel since its first release in 1913. The four coins are displayed in a wallet style portfolio. A Certificate of Authenticity is included.
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