Buffalo Nickel depicts a five-cent piece originally designed by the sculptor James Earle Fraser that was distributed between 1913 and 1938. Warhol’s depiction of the coin face is surprisingly muted, using gray hues fairly similar to the coin’s original color. The edges of the coin itself are cut off in this piece, making it clear that the buffalo is the center of attention.

Warhol places this coin in relation to imagery that expresses the myth of the American West in popular culture as part of the Cowboys and Indians series. The buffalo fits into this theme nicely — it was considered a uniquely American symbol, and the specific buffalo on the Buffalo Nickel was modeled after “Black Diamond,” a buffalo on display at the New York Central Park Zoological Garden. Andy Warhol’s Buffalo Nickel brings to light the extent of American fascination with an idealized conception of the West by appropriating American symbols — the buffalo, as well as the currency itself — to explore the ways that this idea was conceived and disseminated.