American Buffalo Gold 2006 to Date

Public Law 109-145, approved on December 22, 2005 and best known for creating the Presidential dollars, did more than that. Its second title ordered a $50 gold coin weighing one ounce and made of 99.99% pure gold, from newly mined American gold, in bullion and proof versions. For the first year the law required James Earle Fraser's designs for the 1913 Buffalo nickel, with the weight and the denomination on the mound under the bison; after that the Treasury could change the design. The result was the first .9999 gold coin the United States Mint struck for the public.

Bullion and proof coins went on sale on June 22, 2006. The Mint sells bullion coins only in bulk, to authorized purchasers who resell them, and sells proofs and other collector versions to the public itself. In 2008 it added fractional sizes and a burnished finish for that year only, and in 2013, a century after the first Buffalo nickels, it issued a reverse proof. The original nickels are covered in our Buffalo nickel guide.

Every American Buffalo coin is struck at West Point.

• Bullion (2006 on): one ounce, no mint mark. In 2008 the Mint also sold a bullion coin in a red gift box for the Lunar New Year, the Celebration Coin; the coin itself is the ordinary 2008 bullion piece.
• Proof (2006 on): one ounce with a W, mirror-like fields and frosted designs. In 2008 there were also half-, quarter- and tenth-ounce proofs.
• Burnished uncirculated (2008 only): all four sizes with a W, sold singly and in four-coin sets; a half-ounce burnished coin was also paired with a half-ounce Gold Eagle in the 8-8-08 Double Prosperity set.
• Reverse proof (2013): one ounce with a W, frosted fields and mirrored designs.

• 2006: the first year. The Mint's figures are 337,012 bullion coins and 246,267 proofs, from a proof limit of 300,000.
• 2008: the only year with four sizes before 2026. Proof sales were 18,863 one-ounce, 12,169 half-ounce, 13,125 quarter-ounce and 18,884 tenth-ounce coins, each figure including the 7,803 four-coin proof sets. The burnished coins sold out in late 2008, and the Mint has not published final totals for them. The Mint's monthly table shows no bullion sales in October and December 2008 or from January to September 2009.
• 2013 reverse proof: it went off sale on September 5, 2013, and the Mint's last report gave 47,836.
• 2019: 61,500 bullion coins sold in the calendar year and 14,844 proofs.
• 2026: a proof showing both 1776 and 2026 and a Liberty Bell privy marked 250, on sale from May 7, 2026 with a product limit of 15,000. A tenth-ounce reverse proof marking the program's 20th anniversary is due on December 10, 2026.

Proof figures by year. From the Mint's sales reports (CoinNews tables for 2006-2013, the Mint's weekly reports after): 2007 58,998; 2009 49,306; 2010 49,263; 2011 28,693; 2012 19,765; 2013 18,594; 2014 20,557; 2015 16,591; 2016 21,878; 2017 15,810; 2018 15,756; 2020 11,887; 2021 16,976; 2022 15,943; 2023 15,911. The 2024 and 2025 proofs were still listed in October 2026, at 10,905 and 7,945.

Bullion figures. For 2006-2010 the Mint reported coins sold by date: 136,503 in 2007, 189,500 in 2008, 200,000 in 2009 and 209,000 in 2010. After that it reports sales by calendar month only, so its yearly totals (for example 239,000 in 2013, 242,000 in 2020 and 410,000 in 2022) include coins dated the year before. Some references print other figures for 2011-2014 that the Mint's own tables do not support.

Mint mark. Collector coins (proofs, the 2008 burnished pieces, reverse proofs) show a W behind the neck of the portrait; bullion has no letter there.

Finish. A proof has mirror-like fields; a reverse proof the opposite, frosted fields with mirrored designs. The 2008 burnished coins, which the Mint sold as uncirculated, carry a W but have no mirror fields; bullion has neither the W nor a proof finish.

Size and denomination. The mound on the reverse reads $50 1 OZ. .9999 FINE GOLD on the one-ounce coin and the smaller weight and denomination on the 2008 fractional coins.

The 2026 proof. Its dual date and 250 privy mark set it apart from every earlier proof.

• Composition: .9999 fine (24-karat) gold
• Thickness: 2.95 mm (one ounce)
• Edge: reeded
• Designer: James Earle Fraser (1913 Buffalo nickel); the F for Fraser sits below the date