James Fraser designed the nickel known variously as the Buffalo, Indian Head, or Bison Nickel. It was issued between 1913 and 1938.
The buffalo was modeled after Black Diamond, a buffalo in the New York Zoological Garden. Fraser indicated that the indian on the front is only a representative profile, no specific indian. Nonetheless tradition says it is a composite of three different indians: Two Moons, a Cheyenne; Adoeette, or Big Tree, a Kiowa; and Iron Trail, an Ogalala Sioux. The indian wears two or three feathers pointed downward, the symbol of the peaceful warrior....