CFA likes new Jefferson for 2006
From Numismatic News
It was a squeaker, but the Fine Arts Commission voted Nov. 18 for a new obverse portrait of Thomas Jefferson on the 2006 nickel. Then tradition won out and the government body’s preference for the reverse of the coin is a return of the Monticello design in use 1938-2003.
This portrait narrowly beat out Felix Schlag’s portrait as the recommendation of the Fine Arts Commission.
In making their selection, members of the CFA asked that modifications be made to the clothing. “A less stylized rendition” was asked for in the collar area.
The CFA reviewed the designs that the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee had examined just two days before. The opinions of both bodies are advisory in nature. Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow makes the final decision.
The year 2006 marks the year when legislation requires that a portrait of Jefferson and a view of Monticello return to the five-cent denomination following two years of commemorative themes honoring explorers Lewis and Clark and their westward journey of exploration of the Louisiana territory to the Pacific coast.
The year 2004 saw the Felix Schlag portrait of Jefferson used with a Peace Medal reverse and a Keelboat reverse. In 2005 there will be a new right-facing obverse portrait of Jefferson paired with two other reverses – a buffalo design and a view of the Pacific Ocean.
Because the Fine Arts Commission choices did not overlap the CCAC selections in any way, it pretty well gives the Treasury secretary a free hand in making his own design determinations.
http://www.collect.com/interest/article.asp?id=12879 
