The United States Mint struck the first Buffalo nickels, but James Earle Fraser had to sell Treasury officials on an idea.
His solution did not involve conventional pattern coins.
Instead, Fraser turned to the Medallic Art Company. The firm transformed his preliminary models into coin-size electrotypes. These small pieces gave Treasury officials something tangible to examine. They also allowed Fraser to move his radical new nickel design forward without waiting for the Mint to prepare hubs, dies, and struck patterns.
More than a century later, two of those remarkable design artifacts have resurfaced together.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries will offer a two-piece set of 1912 Pattern Buffalo Nickel electrotrials as Lot 2048 in its Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction Rarities Night session on September 1.
Even more important, the pair traces directly to the estate of James Earle Fraser and his wife, sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser.
For advanced Buffalo nickel collectors, that provenance transforms an already unusual pair into something exceptional.
These Were More Than Patterns
The two pieces look like coins. However, they never functioned as coins.
Medallic Art Company created them at Fraser’s request during the development of the Buffalo nickel. Fraser wanted to demonstrate how his larger sketch models would appear at approximately coin size.
Numismatic researcher Roger W. Burdette documented this unusual process in his 2007 book Renaissance of American Coinage: 1909-1915.
Medallic Art reduced Fraser’s preliminary models and produced thin metal electroformed shells. Workers could then reinforce those shells with tin or type metal. They could also plate or color the surfaces so the pieces resembled the intended coinage metal.
In effect, Fraser created a shortcut.
The electrotypes performed much of the visual job of struck pattern coins. Yet Fraser did not need to involve the Mint in every experimental step.
That distinction matters.
These pieces capture Fraser’s Buffalo nickel while the design still existed as a work in progress.
A Radical Nickel Needed a Sales Pitch
Today, collectors regard the Buffalo nickel as one of the defining American coin designs of the 20th century. In 1912, however, Fraser proposed something dramatically different.
The Liberty Head nickel had carried Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber’s classical Liberty portrait since 1883. Fraser instead placed a Native American portrait on one side and an American bison on the other.
Treasury Secretary Franklin MacVeagh favored Fraser’s work. Mint Director George E. Roberts also participated in the development process. By January 1912, MacVeagh had chosen Fraser and the Native American-and-bison concept for the new five-cent piece.
Fraser then needed to keep the project moving.
According to Burdette, the electrotypes helped Fraser maintain MacVeagh’s interest while the sculptor refined the final models. They gave officials an immediate view of the proposed coin without the delays and complications that formal Mint patterns could create.
In other words, these little shells did more than preview a nickel.
They helped make the Buffalo nickel possible.
The 1912 Obverse Electrotrial
The first piece carries the obverse design and appears in the Judd pattern reference as Judd-1912-1.
It weighs 4.0 grams, or 61.74 grains.
The design already looks strikingly familiar. Fraser’s Native American portrait strongly resembles the image that reached American coinage in 1913.
However, several details reveal its experimental status.
The date uses smaller numerals than the adopted design. In addition, Fraser’s familiar designer’s initial does not appear on this early version.
Because Fraser based these electrotypes on sketch models rather than finished coinage models, collectors should not expect the sharp detail of a finished Mint product. Instead, the design displays the softer modeling that defines this stage of Fraser’s creative process.
That softness adds to the historical importance of the piece. Collectors can see an American coin design while it was still evolving.
The Reverse Shows an Earlier Buffalo
The companion reverse electrotrial carries the designation Judd-1912-2.
It weighs 4.096 grams, or 63.21 grains.
At first glance, the reverse closely resembles the Type I Buffalo nickel that entered production in 1913. Look more closely, though, and several differences emerge.
The words FIVE CENTS appear in smaller letters. Fraser also used hyphens rather than periods to separate the words in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Meanwhile, E PLURIBUS UNUM appears in unusually tiny lettering.
The bison itself also differs in several minor design details from the animal that collectors know from regular-issue Buffalo nickels.
Those differences provide a rare window into Fraser’s decision-making. Rather than showing only where the design ended, this electrotrial shows where it had been.
From Fraser’s Studio to the Auction Room
The provenance may represent the strongest evidence of all.
The two electrotrials came from the estate of James Earle and Laura Gardin Fraser before Bowers and Ruddy Galleries offered them in the July 1981 sale of the William R. Sieck Collection.
That direct connection provides compelling documentation that Fraser commissioned these pieces as part of the Buffalo nickel development process.
The obverse and reverse appeared separately as Lots 2421 and 2422 in the July 1981 William R. Sieck Collection sale.
They returned to auction through Stack’s in October 1988 as Lots 2610 and 2611.
Today, PCGS houses both electrotrials together in one double-size holder and certifies them MS-64.
Their surfaces show a deep pewter-gray appearance. Fraser or Medallic Art Company had the pieces plated or otherwise colored to suggest the appearance of nickel five-cent coinage.
That treatment reinforces their original purpose. These objects needed to look convincing in the hands of the Treasury officials whom Fraser hoped to win over.
From Electrotype to an American Classic
The Buffalo nickel finally entered production in 1913.
The design featured a Native American portrait on the obverse and an American bison on the reverse. The regular coin used the standard five-cent alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel. It weighed 5.0 grams, measured approximately 21.2 mm in diameter, and carried a plain edge.
Production began at the Philadelphia Mint on February 17, 1913.
However, even Fraser’s approved design faced another obstacle.
The Hobbs Manufacturing Company objected to the new nickel because the company produced devices that identified counterfeit coins in vending and other coin-operated equipment. Those objections created months of friction among Fraser, Treasury officials, and the company.
Fraser resisted changes that he believed would damage the artistic balance of his design.
Ultimately, Treasury officials moved ahead.
The Mint released the Buffalo nickel in 1913, and the design remained on the five-cent piece through 1938.
The Mint also modified the reverse during the first year. On the original Type I design, the bison stood on a raised mound with FIVE CENTS below. The revised Type II design lowered and protected the denomination within a recessed area.
Why These 1912 Buffalo Nickel Electrotrials Matter
Collectors often focus on the finished coin.
These two pieces tell a different story.
They show the moment before the coin existed.
They document Fraser experimenting with letter size, punctuation, placement, portrait details, and the form of the bison. More importantly, they show how one of America’s leading sculptors persuaded government officials to embrace a design that broke sharply with the coinage it replaced.
Fraser had studied and worked with Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He already possessed major credentials as a sculptor. His famous End of the Trail would become one of the best-known sculptural images of the American West.
Yet even an artist of Fraser’s standing needed to transform an idea into something officials could hold in their hands.
These electrotrials accomplished that job.
Therefore, calling them merely “patterns” understates their significance. They survive as physical evidence of the creative and political process behind one of America’s most recognizable coins.
Their path from Fraser’s estate to the Sieck Collection, through the Stack’s sale of 1988, and now into the 2026 Stack’s Bowers Rarities Night auction gives the pair an unusually strong historical chain.
For the Buffalo nickel specialist, the appeal goes beyond rarity.
These are artifacts from the birth of the Buffalo nickel itself.
1912 Pattern Buffalo Nickel Electrotrial Specifications
- Designer: James Earle Fraser
- Date: 1912
- Purpose: Experimental coin-size electrotypes from preliminary Buffalo nickel models
- Manufacturer: Medallic Art Company
- Obverse: Judd-1912-1
- Obverse Weight: 4.0 grams / 61.74 grains
- Reverse: Judd-1912-2
- Reverse Weight: 4.096 grams / 63.21 grains
- Format: Uniface obverse and reverse electrotrials
- Appearance: Plated or colored to simulate nickel coinage; deep pewter-gray surfaces
- Grade: MS-64 (PCGS)
- Holder: Two pieces together in a double-size PCGS holder
- Provenance: James Earle and Laura Gardin Fraser Estate; William R. Sieck Collection, Bowers and Ruddy, July 1981, Lots 2421 and 2422; Stack’s, October 1988, Lots 2610 and 2611
- Current Offering: Stack’s Bowers Galleries Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction, Session 2 – Rarities Night, Lot 2048
