"Buffaloes are popular and volatile in 1997," stated a headline in a recent issue of the Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter. Upon checking our American Heritage Dictionary file, in my Micron notebook computer, we learned-or verified-that this might mean that buffaloes "evaporate readily at normal temperatures and pressures." No, this definition didn't seem quite correct.
Another definition suggested that buffaloes could be "inconstant" or "fickle." Having been that close to a real buffalo, at least not long enough to do more than take its picture (in Yellowstone Park), we don't know how fickle a buffalo may or may not be. Another definition advised that our buffaloes might be "ephemeral, fleeting." As buffaloes have been around for a long time (actually, zoologically, they are bisons), they are anything but ephemeral. Then there was a definition stating that, adapted to the present context, buffaloes might "tend toward violence" or be "explosive" or "eager for a confrontation."
Then there was the "capable of flying" definition; however, like pigs, buffaloes are not likely to fly on their own anytime soon. Aha! "Tending to vary often, or widely, as in price"-this definition was the one that the writer had in mind. Upon reading the story it was not about animals at all, but as we might expect, about Buffalo nickels, which, it seems, have been volatile in prices lately.
Q. David Bowers has been in the rare coin business since 1953 when he was a teenager. The author has served as president of the American Numismatic Association (1983-1985) and president of the Professional Numismatists Guild (1977-1979), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the ANA (the Farran Zerbe Award), was the first ANA member to be named Numismatist of the Year (1995), has been inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame (at the ANA Headquarter in Colorado Springs), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the Professional Numismatists Guild (The Founders' Award), and has received more "Book of the Year Award" and "Best Columnist" honors given by the Numismatic Literary Guild than any other writer. He has has written over 40 books, hundreds of auction and other catalogues, and several thousand articles.
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