News You Might Have Missed : Put Your Nickel In The Nickelodeon

Seems that there is a new nickel on the way. The buffalo nickel is making a comeback.

The Mint powers that be unveiled their new masterpiece on Capitol Hill accompanied by Indian dancing, drum-beating and chanting and a bison named Cody.

Whoever threw this party had a weak grasp on history.

The first point is the original “buffalo” nickel featured a composite face of a Native American, and the back featured the “buffalo”. It was a stately showcase of the native beauty and lost past of the American West. It emphasized the symbiotic relationship the Native Americans had with the bison.

The new coin features a sharp-eyed profile of Thomas Jefferson, apparently whispering the word “Liberty”. Jefferson was responsible for the reconnaissance mission of Lewis and Clark. Following their explorations, the American West rapidly became settled, tamed, the Native Americans decimated and corralled onto reservations and the bison slaughtered almost to extinction.

So, whose Liberty do we celebrate?

And why do we have Indian dancing and drum beating? And a bison named Cody? Let's recall that Buffalo Bill Cody, great showman certainly, earned his moniker for his championship ability to kill buffalo, and as a guide, to lead foreign dignitaries on no-limits buffalo hunting trips.

The last time a bison was on currency was the nickel between 1913 and 1938, the same time as the last major stock crash. We'll see what Nostradamus has to say about this version...

One of the first folks to get the new nickel was quoted on MSNBC with this insightful comment,

“It's a nice looking nickel.”

That's America for you.