The story of James Earle Fraser’s designs and models for the Indian head nickel is told, illustrated and documented in great detail by Roger Burdette in Renaissance of American Coinage 1909-1915, chapters 7 through 11. In 1980 Joseph Lepczyk of East Lansing, MI. sold at auction a collection consigned by a dealer of 30 plaster models by Fraser and his wife Laura Gardin Fraser (Lepczyk 36:461-490), of which five were incuse obverse models of the nickel (## 464-468), two were incuse reverse nickel models (## 469-470) and one was a relief reverse nickel model (#471).

These were large-scale models ranging in diameter from 4.75 to 6 inches. All but two of the 30 lots were illustrated in the catalog. At the ANA convention in 1981, Bowers & Ruddy Galleries auctioned eight additional models by the Frasers, none of which were provenanced to the Lepczyk sale (B&R 53:2419-2426).

Of these, three (## 2419, 2420 and 2421) were uniface relief actual-size so-called “electro-trials” of the second obverse trial design (Lepczyk #465) and one (#2422) was a uniface relief actual-size trial of the adopted reverse design. The actual-size trials were formerly listed by J. Hewitt Judd et al, United States Pattern Coins, 7th ed. (1982), appendix “A” p. 249, but were dropped from later editions because they were electrotypes, not struck from dies, see 9th ed. (2005), p.313, fn. 24.

Although I realize that no definite commission has been given me in regard to the designs for the new coins, I have become so much interested in the sketches that I have pushed them a little farther and now they are in the shape of electrotypes which I should like to submit for your consideration.