Are Modern US Coin Designs "Weak"?

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by Atarian, Apr 15, 2014.

  1. Atarian

    Atarian Well-Known Member

    If you look at some of the coins other countries produce, IMHO ours are pretty lame, for the most part.

    1. I'd say about 75% of the modern commemoratives are just terrible. I submit the baseball series, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, etc. A few stand out as exceptional: Columbus and Smithsonian are good examples. Some had either a great obverse or reverse (Franklin) but most I think are a fail compared to other countries. Not to say that these aren't worthy causes, but the execution is pretty bad.

    2. Silver Eagle - excellent obverse, but a copy of an old design. Nothing wrong with that but the reverse could use some work.

    3. Lincoln cent - nice design but an un-needed denomination. The coin is cheapened by copper-plated zinc. Now the nickel may face the same fate?

    4. Copper-nickel clad - looks "cheesy". Why not the same percentage of copper and nickel as an alloy - like the nickel (coin). I'm surprised this has been around as long as it has. I realize the need to "trick" people with the clad 65-70 halves so they looked like a pre-64 coin, but those days are long gone.

    5. Platinum $50 - does anyone really think this design, for the largest face value currently produced legal tender coin, could not be better? This is our premier item and should look as such, not like a subway token.

    6. Can't stop myself. Baseball? I don't like baseball and the coin is terrible. I love football but would not buy a football themed coin. How about space exploration (this could be a huge series) famous historic US battles, presidents WORTHY of being on a dollar coin, there's so much more.

    7. The "golden" dollar. FAIL FAIL FAIL. The vast majority of the time these are used is when someone unfortunately receives one in change. Then it's in the jar with the Lincoln cents until enough are accumulated to be taken to the credit union. Ugly design for the most part. I friggin' HATED SBAs until the Sacs came out. Sacs look like crap when circulated which isn't very often. Scrap these or the dollar bill. Go back to a dollar coin with more nickel content. A copy of an Aladdin's Castle token a dollar does not make.

    8. Dime I like. An old design that still looks nice today.

    9. Ditto the quarter - I can live with it. And it's 10,000 different reverses.

    10. Half. Still like it. I use them whenever I can.

    Why is almost half of the mints production comprised of cents that cost much more to produce than their face value, and that the vast majority of people could not care less about?

    If we're going to keep the nickel too can we maybe reduce it in size and not make it out of copper-plated pot-metal?

    I could go on for a while more, but I' sure some people have already stopped reading. Constructive and serious comments are appreciated.
     
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  3. josh's coins

    josh's coins Well-Known Member

    I agree the coins the mint produces now are just crap designs. I have been arguing this for awhile now.
    Nobody 100 years from now is going to want an ugly 2011-p jefferson nickel. I say ugly because they gave jefferson a weird tomboy haircut.
     
    micbraun likes this.
  4. rzage

    rzage What Goes Around Comes Around .

    Worst design is the Lincoln cents reverse , It looks like a cheap token . The Lincoln cant used to be a great design , with a great portrait of Lincoln . Now that they lowered the relief , even Lincoln looks almost like a caricature . Plus now that its on the a zinc alloy that corrodes the second it comes in contact with anything cheapens the whole coin . I say we get rid of it so we can admire the older ones . And the presidential dollars look like gaming tokens you use in those game rooms and batting cages where we took our kids when they were little . When they're done with them keep the Sac .
     
  5. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    Says a lot about our present civilisation when our money is cheap metal, the designs are of political gods instead of ideals of liberty, and the coins are very low relief - cheap cheap cheap. Kind of what happened to the Roman Empire - a slow miserable decline into the abyss.
     
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  6. JPeace$

    JPeace$ Coinaholic

    We even have our version of the Roman Coliseum in most cities: sports stadiums. Sure we don't get witness death like they did, but it's the modern day entertainment.
     
  7. spirityoda

    spirityoda Coin Junky

    and this is why I collect world coins. :vulcan:
     
  8. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    Older world coins. Present day examples for circulation are just as bad, and some are actually worse than US coins.
     
  9. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    Yeah we haven't quite figured out how to satiate that necessity for death and destruction as entertainment. I can think of some ways that would harken back to Roman times, but have particularly abysmal societal and political personages as our obligatory sacrificial offerings...
     
  10. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Constructive comment? I would propose:

    1. Using high relief dies for collector coins. They are COLLECTOR COINS. Collectors want beautiful coins, and to do that properly they need to have relief. Just because they have lowered the relief on circulation coins to speed production, why do they need to do this on coins they already charge high premiums for? I have never been a huge fan of lincoln cents or washington quarters, but pull out examples from the early 60's and you see a darn attractive coin versus today's garbage. This is due to being in higher relief.

    2. Face up to the fact the USD is a medium of exchange. Drop the nickel and cent, and make $1 and $2 coins and stop printing low value bills. The Canadians did this very successfully, why are we so much dumber than our northern brothers? Oh, sorry, I forgot, they actually have a functioning government.

    3. Pass a law forbidding politicians on our coins. I love and respect our founding fathers as much as most, but if you allow them on coins then all politicians will try to be on there as well. Go back to strictly images of lady liberty, as that is what this country should be about, freedom, and not glorifying some politician. I would rather celebrate a random kindergarten teacher than those louts.

    While we are at it, extend the law to currency as well. No politicians, just great Americans. Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Wright Brothers, MLK, etc ad nauseum. Celebrate those who built America, not those who built nothing but still thought they should tell us how to act.

    4. Have the CCACC be the only body with authority to authorize commemorative coins. Just because you have a powerful political friend should not allow you to get a coin struck. Commemorative coins should glorify significant events for all of us, not be a mark of political power. Things like 225th anniversary? You have to be kidding me, that is an excuse, not an anniversary.
     
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  11. CamaroDMD

    CamaroDMD [Insert Clever Title] Supporter

    You never know. 100 years ago, nobody wanted Morgan Dollars and look at them now. Time heals all wounds my friend. ;)
     
  12. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    This is NOT a political statement - but an unfortunate dose of dark reality.

    Edited: Yes it is political. Reality or Smoke, it is still political statement, and not allowed.


    Think back to 1916, we had Liberty in all her glories on our coinage. We had a Native American and a Buffalo on a high relief nickel. We were a nation ascending to glory. Now we really need to revisit that time with new and original and non-politicized vignettes on our coinage. We demand Liberty. We demand real American heroes, not politicians.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 15, 2014
  13. chrisild

    chrisild Coin Collector

    The simple "US vs everything else" division does not get much better if you divide the second camp into "older" and "present". ;) Yes, of course you have a wider range of coins to pick great designs from if you look at hundreds of countries instead of just one. And just as you find good and poor designs among "older" coins, you find both among more recent ones.

    Christian
     
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  14. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    I always find it funny when US collectors only like old US coins. To be honest, we produced some really BAD coins. matron/coronet head large cents? Man, that was an ugly woman.

    Age or nationality is not any limit. I would say worldwide the early 20th century was a great time for coinage, but so was other periods. Still, its sad how the very first coins on earth, ancient greek, are still probably the most beautiful coins ever produced. 2500 years later and we still cannot match what they created.
     
  15. josh's coins

    josh's coins Well-Known Member

    I agree with the coinage part but I do not think making aztec sacrificial offerings of all our politicians would go over with the rest of the world. Politics are gradually getting better and we will ascend to glory once more. Give it a decade.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 15, 2014
  16. chrisild

    chrisild Coin Collector

    ... is not really what we talk about here. :stop:

    Christian
     
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  17. Atarian

    Atarian Well-Known Member

    Thanks folks - it appears I'm not alone! I'm not a huge fan of the early coins (<1840 or so) because they aren't that pretty to me, but they are certainly interesting. That and they're usually darn expensive. I think our best coins were the sheild thru indian head nickels, Liberty quarters - seated and standing, half dollar before Franklin (flame suit on), higher relief Kennedy halves, and of course real silver dollars. Wish the mint would recycle some of those designs as commems or circulating coins.
     
  18. coleguy

    coleguy Coin Collector

    Now, does anyone think the Mint cares their coins are cheaply made, ugly discs of junk? They're in it to make money, so they find the cheapest design that will somewhat strike, for billions of times a year. If they thought they could get away with it they'd strike nearly blank coins with a simple 1c, 5c, and so on upon them and nothing else, to further profit and save on die making and deterioration. If they cared about their products, we wouldn't be having this conversation every couple of weeks.
     
  19. CamaroDMD

    CamaroDMD [Insert Clever Title] Supporter

    I don't know...I think this is a little pessimistic way of looking at it. It is true, they are in a business to make money...but that goal is to find that sweet spot where you spend as little as possible to make as much as possible. IMHO, this results in a medium quality product.

    If the quality dipped anymore, sales would too and profit would go down. On the other hand, if quality went up the additional overhead costs would not be made up by the additional sales so the profit goes down.

    It's about hitting the sweet spot...like in any business.
     
  20. I used to collect stamps in a former life, and over time the market became so saturated with stamps commemorating every possible American hero and tradition and pastime you could possibly imagine that the hobby just fell apart. I hope the same does not happen to coins. Most people couldn't care less who or what is depicted on a coin, as long as they can still spend it. The aesthetic issue always resonates with collectors, who are often patriotic, nostalgic or appreciate history. The people we elect to political office are the ones that would need to make big decisions on redesigning coinage so we cannot remove politicians from the process. In fact, I am sure any change would be politicized. Not sure there is a lot of motivation given the fact that digital transactions are becoming more popular, just like how email impacted the postal service.
     
  21. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Ok, just put in the law the CCACC is only allowed, at maximum, to authorize two commemorative coins a year.

    For the mint, I would give the mint permission to do things like make offmetal strikes and other items for collectors. I like the method of making them a maximum of one per household, and make someone sign a statement stating they are only buying this for their own private use, and not buying it for someone else, (and actually enforce this, like investigating how a large firm might obtain 100 sets right away to send away for grading). The problem with most mint offerings is large dealers buying up all supply and rank and file collectors not being able to obtain desirable mint products. While I understand it might be easier for the mint to process one large order, they need to understand their long term profitability depends on encouraging small collectors. I would think things like limited edition off metal strike sets with a limit of one per address might be a nice product to do this.
     
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