Buffalo Nickel
From Cowboys and Indians

Medium: Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Year: 1986
Sheet: 36×36 inches (91.4 x 91.4 cm)
Edition: 36 TP (Trial Proof) of each print
Each print is unique
Publisher: Gaultney, Klineman Art, Inc., New York
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New-York
Literature: Feldmann & Schellmann II.374

Signed and numbered in pencil lower right

 

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.

 

 

Auction Results

Looking Forward: The Collection of Beverly Grossman
Sotheby’s New-York: 8 October 2026
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 217,600
TRIAL PROOF

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Buffalo Nickel (see Feldman & Schellmann IIB.374), 1986
Screenprint in a unique color combination on Lenox Museum Board
Signed in pencil and inscribed TP 27/36
One of 30 unique trial proofs aside from the numbered edition of 250 plus 50 artist’s proofs
With the blindstamp of the printer, Rupert Jasen Smith
Published by Gaultney, Klineman Art, Inc, with their inkstamp on the verso

Christie’s New-York: 28 October 2023
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 277,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Buffalo Nickel, from Cowboys and Indians, 1986
Unique screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed in pencil, numbered ‘TP 3⁄36’
One of 36 unique trial proofs