The Buffalo Nickel Causes Bullish Behavior

CONGRESS PASSED A LAW IN 1890 which stipulated that designs on coins could not be changed more often than 25 years. There was a technicality, however, as the silver dollar and nickel were exempt from this rule if changes were underway or being considered. This was not true in either case and little was done in terms of a new nickel design for some years.

In 1909 and again in 1910 Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber prepared patterns for the nickel but these were mediocre at best although the portrait of Washington on one of the pieces has a certain amount of charm. These were done at the request of Mint Director Frank Leach, presumably because the 25-year rule fell due in 1908.

William Howard Taft was elected president in November 1908 and during the interim period, prior to being inaugurated on March 4, 1909, he chose Franklin MacVeagh to be his Treasury Secretary, replacing George Cortelyou, who had served under Theodore Roosevelt. MacVeagh served Taft well and, in fact, his term of office coincided exactly with that of the President, the Secretary leaving when Woodrow Wilson became chief executive in March 1913.

Although it is possible that the 1909–1910 nickel patterns by Barber had originally been ordered by MacVeagh, little seems to have happened for