Do We Really Want Lady Liberty Back On Our Coins?

One of the common things I see posted here is a plea to remove the "dead presidents" from our coinage and replace them with images of Lady Liberty like "the good old days." While I agree with this sentiment...I have been thinking that if this were to occur, we might be very unhappy with the results.

I know what we are all thinking...we'd love to see circulating coinage with the same kind imagery as the Walking Liberty Half, Morgan Dollar or the St. Gaudens Double Eagle. It would be amazing. But, is that what we would get?

If we look back to the last time we saw Lady Liberty on a new circulation coin...it was 1947. A lot has changed since then. Gone are the days of soft silver planchets. Today's planchets are mainly nickel-clad...a very hard medium. On top of that, the philosophies behind coinage design has changed. The art is less important now and the economics of the design is key. What I mean by that is, the mint has to be able to produce a very high quantity of coins with minimal die replacement. Combine this with the very hard planchet materials and what we end up with are coins with very low relief. Extremely flat and unimaginative designs.

As nice as it would be to see Lady Liberty on our coins again...would we even recognize her? If we did...would we like what we see? Wouldn't it almost be unfortunate to see her portrayed in such a way?

I think the modern day Liberty coin that I picture in my head would be a far cry from the coin I would see in my hand if one was to be produced. I find myself torn...I'd both love and hate to see that coin.

 

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Dreaming does not hurt. Such a concept is just not realistic. When you choose the metals used for a circulation coin, you need to take the (volatile) prices of those metals into account. Silver would thus be a bad choice. As for the design, well, US coins do have "Lady Liberty" - sure, the $1 pieces do not actually circulate, but design wise I like that side ...

Christian

 

I don't know if there would be much support for removing real-life historical figures such as Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln for Lady Liberty. I think there would be more support for putting the first black president on a coin first before that happens. Just my opinion.

I am surprised that there isn't more of an outcry to have women on our paper money.... I think Martha Washington on the silver certificate is the only time that happened (?).

 

I think that comparing today's politicians with men of character like Washington or Lincoln is a bit of a stretch. In fact, I personally do not think of Washington as a politician at all. He, and others like Jefferson, through much sacrifice established the freedoms we enjoy - not "lady liberty".

Guess we just disagree.

 

Why am I not allowed to Like my own post? This is an outrage!

 

Because many people think what they have to say is brilliant. But only other people can confirm it.

 

Closest we have is Sacagawea.

 

I hope you know I was being facetious....

 

Lady Liberty is on circulating coins right now... the back of the presidential dollars.

 

We don't necessarily have to have a representation of Lady Liberty, there are many other subjects suitable for our coinage. They just don't have to be dead presidents or even real people. The designs on our coinage are long overdue for replacement but the members of our government and the Commission of Fine Arts won't do anything because it would take too much creativity to do so and that they just do not have.

 

That's true...and IMHO, she looks terrible. But, my point is...many people here on the forum want to see us return to the days when she was on the obverse of all of our coins. Look at the year 1899. Every denomination of US coin had a depiction of Liberty on the obverse. My thought is...if we did indeed go back that, would it be a result we would like?

 

I don't know if that's it. I think it has become "tradition" to have our "great" presidents on our coins. We started it in 1909 for the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's birthday and it has been happening ever since. I also think it would be very hard to remove a President from our coins. These people are supposed to be the "best" we have had...and voting to remove them might be a bad move politically. Remember, a president has never been removed from a circulation coin. Of course, one might say that Eisenhower was...but that's not really true. Ike's coin was discontinued because of lack of use...not because he was voted off the coin. It took the removal of an entire type of coin (the large "silver" dollar) to remove a dead president. I'll bet the next time a dead president is removed from one of our coins...it will be Lincoln and only when they discontinue the cent.

 

Back in 1899 the public was probably griping that the coins were all so boring with Lady Liberty on them.. "Why don't we put some of our country's heroes on them, like Lincoln, Washington, or Jefferson?"

 

Probably not.

Kennedy was not a great president just a very popular one at the time and the primary reason he was put on the half dollar was he was killed at the height of his popularity while still in office.

 

I don't want our so called "Great Presidents" on the coinage of a country which came out from under the oppression of "a man" that didn't give a squeaky squat about the ideals that this nation was founded on. Liberty and Freedom for ALL men. Not just the "chosen few".

If that involves low profile depictions then so be it.

However, I fully realize that the United States of America from "then" does not reflect what the country is "now" since the oppressor has moved from "a man" to the almighty buck and those corporations which worship that buck.

Jefferson just might be appalled at the country today as well as Washington and perhaps Franklin. But then, who knows.

Just restore that, which the country was founded on, to the monetary units.

Otherwise, we're all doomed to be a North American Union.

 

I'm not going to get into a debate about who was a great president and who wasn't...that wasn't really my point. That is why I put great in quotes. My point was, it might be a very risky political move for someone in Congress to suggest they get removed.