What is the value of the Gold Buffalo Nickel Proof by National Collector’s Mint? From Dan in St. Louis
In order to comment on your questions, we reviewed the company’s commercial on their website and uses some terminology that is confusing people.
Please read our translation of this TV advertisement. You have to “read between the lines” of the commercial and catch all of the important bits of information.
| Advertisement | Translation |
| 2011 $50 Gold Buffalo Tribute Proof | Obviously, this coin does NOT have a face value of $50.00. It is a tribute proof coin that has no face value. They are a novelty only and that is why they can sell them for under $10. |
| Description of ORIGNIAL Gold Coin “America’s purist gold coin ever. It was the first one ever struck using .9999 pure 24K gold” … “Price of the original edition is going through the roof.” |
They are describing the ORIGINAL coin. NOT the replica they are selling. This coin is only a COPY of the original. It even has the word “Copy” printed on the coin. |
| Clad in 14 mgs. Of Pure 24 KT Gold |
1) Clad means that it is only plated with gold and is made mostly of some other metal 2) 14 mgs. is worth is about $0.50 to $0.75 cents of gold value. Read more about the value of 14 mgs of gold on our previous blog post. |
| Distributed by the National Collector’s Mint | Despite the official sounding name, this is a private company. It is NOT an official US government mint. They make replicas |
| “With gold skyrocketing past $1,300 an ounce, price can only be guaranteed for 7 days.” | This is an area that could cause confusion as it implies that the market price of gold has an effect on the value of this coin. The reality is that the amount (14 mgs) of gold is so small that a change in the price of gold by $100 would only affect this coins gold value by 4.5 cents. |
The bottom line is that these tribute gold buffalo coins that you see advertised on TV have no gold value. People wishing to invest in gold should not buy these coins. Think of them more like commemorative spoons or plates.
34 comments
am so sorry i saw this $50 buffalo tribute proof and the t v i tar it was gold but it is a copy am so disappointing
How do they get away with that? Has there been any successful lawsuits against them for false advertising?
Hi Darin. We are not aware of any successful lawsuits, as this ad is STILL running today unfortunately. But of course it is called the “2014 $50 Gold Buffalo Tribute Proof.”
The ad does tell you that it is “clad” which means only gold plated. And using the wording “tribute proof” also means that this it is not the real gold buffalo coin. So it really is not false advertising, but they rely on consumers not knowing what these words mean.
This is why we try to get the word out about what the advertisement really means.
Thanks for your comment.
If someone advertises that you WON a “$50 gold tribute coin” and that is ALL is says.. is it false advertising if you show up and the coin says copy on it??
Hi Palak —
Because it says “tribute coin” it means that it is not the real gold buffalo. But some people think that it means more of an anniversary coin — which would indicate a real version.
Just watch out for the words “tribute” and “clad”.
I just saw the ad for this “shinny gold coin”. I have to say you all are right, when you say “they hope people don’t know what clad or tribute means”. Because, I didn’t know either until I saw your site. I have just started a coin collection. All I can say is something needs to be done to these crooks. And thank you for the information you are putting out about these crooks.
Glad that you did your research before you purchased anything! Thank you for your comment Matt.
My guess is if your buying anything on TV for less than 20 dollars your going to end up with junk. I read that statistics show that 90 percent of the population will not return an item they paid less that 20 dollars for!! That is the reason you see $19.95 so often on these worthless products. The amazing part is they keep running this junk so people are apparently buying the stuff. The scary part is you see more and more of these products so TV has become the best place to sell your snake oil. We did have a snake oil law at one point I wonder what happened to that ? Thanks for the cool site!! Tom
Thank you for exposing some crooks and some smit…. Real bull only you are worth a bag of coin real 24k i started to bye ten but decided to look up proof while wondering about the wheight of the coin that tipped me off and if every one would just think n not impulse we d all do great
With the turning of a new year they have wasted no time to have their “2016” coin ad’s being ran. Glad this post is here to give some insight on these ad’s. Bunch of scammers!!!
I just got one from my local Nissan Dealership via a promotion they are having in an attempt to get potential customers to come in.
The salesman gave it to me saying this was my prize for coming in. He did not say it was real or fake. When I saw the word “Copy” on it, knew it was not real.
It is sad that the folks that sell these coins on TV cannot be stopped.
I just received one of these coins from an auto dealer in Pittsville, Maryland as part of a promotion. They have you pull tabs that say you won “$5000.00” then you go in and your number has to match the number on a billboard in their office. First I was disappointed because I thought I had won $5000.00. Then they give me this $50.00 gold buffalo coin that says “copy” on it. What a sham!!!!
I have one of the big gold 2011 Indian head nickels that is stamped copy. However, the word copy is on the Indians braid. I haven’t seen any like that. Would that be worth more than a nickel? lol
I almost got a few but I wanted to know what gold clad meant so I looked it up and here it is
My $50 coin says this Liberty W 2014 copy F on the Indian head side. On the Buffalo side it says $50 1OZ .9999Fine Gold. So what is this one worth? Joe G
“A fool and his money (or currency, this is a PM website) are soon parted”
Couldn’t be more true for the people who fall for this scam without doing their homework on actual gold content.
Yes,I was fooled also.Thinking I had a real “gold’coin.Names to definitely remember:”Clad & tribute”.I will soon get a refund for the “not worthy”collection.Thanks for defining their version of what the value is worth.
The coin is clad in 24 KT PURE GOLD.
People should sue the TV stations that air this scam.
2017’s just in
Like Tom says above, if you’re paying less than twenty dollars for something with respect to a coin advertised on TV, you’re going to junk, or rather, what you paid for.
Sure, Harry Winston started his career as a child by buying a genuine 2-carat emerald for fifty cents but you’re not Harry Winston and he didn’t find the gem watching a TV ad in 1908 either.
In the 1980’s a local bank was giving away Silver Dollars. What they handed out was One Dollar Coins and that is NOT the same thing. Wouldn’t you know they actually produced Silver Dollars after my parents insisted they follow through with what they promised.
Caveat Emptor
Sad people taking advantage over people and legally get away with it but if I counterfeit and sell that’s a crime my mom bought me clad stuff and felt real bad when I told her she wasted money the Troy ounce bullions wont help me in future or ever that she should not trust people now a days cause the world ain’t right even “christians” are con man and take away or push away people from the word of god
What is the metal under the gold plating?
Thanks for all the great information!
This website has people on it that sell copy coins. They use tribute and clad in the home pages if you look at the sellers page.
This website has people on it that use tribute and clad sometimes you have to go to the coins and bills you are buying to find this on their home pages. What a ripoff
I also remember seeing these ads late at night and remember hearing the word “Nonmonetary”. The guy said it so quickly, I had to wonder if I did hear it. hahahaha.. Nonmonetary means…”Not Money”…
Yes the advertisement says clad twice. Cohesive and adhesive contract. From the advertisement I seen this morning 08/14/17 at around 4:49am they use the word clad. So that would be very hard to stand in a law suit. Like its been said ignorance to the law is know excuse but I do fell were you are coming from. Subliminal messages are sometimes when we feel like we are getting something for nothing that is when they get us. Peace
If anyone buys a product with that narrators voice or similar, you are basically a complete idiot. The content delivery is a scam giveaway.
A strict 5 each per call limit? Please……….only a clown would buy into that one.
24kt? Another giveaway. Pure gold is advertised and sold as fine .999 and in ounces or grams. Theoretically you could buy in pounds, but anyone that is this rich wouldn’t be dumb enough to fall for this coin.
Hello I have $50 gold coin with 24 k pure gold written on it with $50 value. In the back it says copy. I am really confused. Please help
The coin looks authentic but the word copy distracts me. It doesn’t say clad or gold plated. One person said it is a copy of the old coin but said it is real gold. And I am confused what is the best way to do nondestructive testing. Thanks
Hello Everyone,
I just read all of the comments posted here and I hope you don’t mind if I tell my experience.
Last night On February February 21,2018, a friend of ours brought a guy over that wanted to try to sell me this exact coin everyone is posting about on here. He said he’s selling it for $20. So I immediately pulled up what the coin was and the actual value and he suddenly got quiet. That’s when I told him, because I didn’t have one I would give him $5 for it, and with a disappointed look at the coin all he could say was, ok. So I guess nobody bothered to tell him that I’ve been researching and collecting coins for about 5 years now. Lol
I also fell to the scam without understanding that particular terminology I am going to try to refuse the package and refute the billing because it was not received and was return by the post office unopened of course
I just started collecting coins about 5 months ago and last week I was at my mom house and she comes out with these 2 coins and tell me I could have them I read the 2 certificates that it came with and looked at the coins and I was like wow I couldn’t believe it I came showed my son and then started looking at the coin again I noticed the word copy and started laughing my butt off I couldn’t believe it.
I bought a proof one time about two years ago and wondered about all of this at that time. I have seen the commercial for the buffalo nickel and I listen to it carefully over and over and over and realized that it was a joke. My question is I would like to start collecting coins but I don’t know exactly where to go to buy the true coins that in years could become valuable can you give me that information? Thank you so much
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