The Most Beautiful Coins Ever Made?

Glad to know we think alike... lol
Gotta love that $10 Indian.

 

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Hey Broklyn I know for a fact T$ is not stalking you! I also know He has enough knowledge to start his own posts, I have witnessed that enough times as well. He is a stand up kid and once again you are coming off like the bully try Pm'ing him in the future and please keep this nonsense out of the threads. Look who is talking about staying on topic.

 

I for one, am entertained by your comments, Mr. tmoneyeagles - you have quite the sense of humor which is always welcomed in my book - who doesn't love a good chuckle now and then! So keep it coming!

 

no silly, not because of that, lol. it is a beautiful art deco design, and very intricate...it approaches some of the dark side coinage. just a plain good looking american coin.

 

It is a stunning design, and I love it... I'd love to own a MS62+ FH SLQ, of any year, but that 1917 would be a big plus!

 

Yup great minds think alike.
That $10 dollar Indian is #1 on my list. Simply amazing.

 

The standing liberty is actually dynamic and she is obviously a creature in motion and shows perhaps more movement than either the Walker or the Gauld, both designs, IMO, show a stiffness that doesn't exist with the SLQ. This was the great invention of Greek sculpture:



The walker pose is absolutely anatomically incorrect. Try walking in the pose and see if you don't ruin for foot tendons.[/quote]


Well, I don't think it's always important that figures are anatomically correct. If it were, we would not be hanging Gaugains or Picassos in the major museums of the world. Often times, the artist's objective is to create an effect or emotion. I think in the case of the Walking Liberty, if the objective is a graceful, flowing figure, then the artistic goal has been achieved.

As for the Liberty figure in the SLQ..I started thinking about the time this coin came out 1916. We were not yet involved in World War I, but Liberty is looking towards her Atlantic side, holding up her shield. Looking at this in a Jungian way, the walls on either side of her symbolize the Atlantic and Pacific, a natural buffer to foreign invasion. The holding of the shield towards the Atlantic side symbolizes a desire to avert this war touching our shores. It is a foreshadowing of our involvement in this war in 1917.

In the same vein, Dali has a very interesting painting titled "The Enigma of Hitler". It foreshadows WWII. The interpretations of this painting are quite interesting and to me profound. They speak of possible clairavoyance.

But I digress..your point about St Gaudens lifting the design from Delacroix.

After looking at Delacroix's painting, I'd have to agree he was heavily influenced by it..but his rendition of Liberty is not a carbon copy. Last year I attended an exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum titled "The Impressionists and the Art of the Past". In this exhibition, for example a work of Cezanne was placed next to a painting from a much earlier period. This whole exhibition was based on the premise that artists have been influenced by earlier works for a very long time, hence Dali's quote.

Insofar as the SLQ..since it is at least on the obverse, neo-classical, there is no real new ground being broken here either in terms of style. It is however, a beautiful coin.

My own tastes in terms of coin design tend to go in the direction of simple, elegant design. That's one reason I like the Indian $2 1/2 coin.
Also, it was struck incuse, instead of in relief which was unprecented in U.S. coinage.

I think there are lots of beautiful coins and although the point of this thread is to name the "most beautiful", I don't think I would be able to do that..there's just too many worthy efforts.

Finally, if you're still with me here..what are your thoughts re: my comments on the Peace dollar..

 

TMoney, Check this out!



:smile

 

Let me ask something I was thinking about while going through this thread. There are a lot of coins I like a tremendous amount, but don't own and with certainity I can say I never will. But take coins we feel that way about let's say we did get one; a set; or whatever, would we then still feel the same way after awhile? I have often thought coin collecting would not be a whole lot of fun if I had virtually unlimited resources to add coins to my collection. I'm talking about coins you really "love", but know they are beyond your capabilites to obtain.

 

Oh you are so sweet, but my b-day isn't till December... LOL

That is a sweet MS65 FH, and that toning is a plus...

NICE COIN :thumb:

 

It needs a bath ...

 

I like coins that I own more than before I own them

 

From what I've read, when the Morgan was introduced in 1878, there was a lot of criticism about the design (both obverse & reverse). Many worthy artistic efforts, be they coins, paintings, sculpture etc. are not instantly popular.

 

The Peace dollar is a unique attempt but IMO, it fails to pull off the artisitic vision in the technology of coin mintage. It would have been better, perhaps, as a Gold Piece. The reverse Eagle just is a great concept that they NEVER was able to strike correctly and it wears horribly. The Obverse was the only example of the coin design to acquire and assimilate many of the concepts, both socially and aesthetically, of modernism.

What it has going for it, however, is that there has been no other attempt to bring this kind of modernism to coinage and instead we are stuck with dead presidents.

Ruben

 

Nah, this is the one that needs the bath. LOL

 

sand blasting might be in order...

 

I believe you're right that "coin collecting would not be a whole lot of fun if I had unlimited resources."

Often times, the journey is more fun than the destination. Once you're there..then what?

There's a funny story that Ted Turner told on himself.

He woke up one morning and realized for the first time he was a billionnaire. He sauntered downstairs and said to his wife " Dear, you know what, I'm a billionnaire!"

His wifes answer was something to the effect of " That's nice dear, by the way on your way back home, could you pick up a few things at the store?"

Ted is rich..but he is also wise..he knows the limitations of wealth.

His wife's comments made him realize he needed another challenge..

 

Now if we did that, it might end up looking like this!

 

Well, I didn't get the answer to the question I was asking in a roundabout way, but will ask in a more direct way now: " Do you think the figure of Liberty on the Peace dollar is a "hottie"." It's trite and somewhat neanderthal, but I have to partially blame another forum member who pointed out her physical beauty in a past thread. My other observation is that if you compare the profile of the Indian on the $10 dollar piece and the profile of Liberty on the Peace Dollar, apart from headwear, they could have been separated at birth.

At any rate, you're right about the strikes on the Peace Dollar. I find these hard to grade because of the poor striking. This coin started out as a high relief which I think was how the design was intended to be executed. I've got a couple of these and they are more appealing than the low-relief issues of later years.

Regarding modern coins and design..I saw a design of a new Lincoln cent where Lincoln is sitting on a log. What galls me about this design other than the dead president motif is the style which I would call "photo-realism". It's boring. There's no creative element in it, no artistic interpretation, no emotion. It's like a hum-drum buffet. Filling..but not satifying.

 

You tell me. Is she a hottie?