Hey all, been trying to figure this out for a while, cant seem to find anywhere that explains, maybe somebody knows the answer? My question is what is this little mark doing on the top right rim of the shield on reverse? It just seems out of place... does it have any significance and if so what? Curious
I don't believe it has a symbolic significance. I think it's simply a graphic technique to convey relative depth. The feather and the fletching of the arrows are shown to overlap the shield. This shows that the shield is very close to the Eagle's breast. If we deleted the overhanging feathers and erased the overlapping fletching, we would get this. The Shield then seems to be floating and its proximity to the Eagle would be left to the judgment of each viewer. The Shield has lost its unity with the Eagle. Well.. that's my take on it. Best guess.
I don't know the answer. Bur it looks like it is one of the eagles feathers hanging over the top of the shield.
Yes, thats what it appears to be... just cant figure a reason a single feather (or toe) tip would be hanging over the edge ?
Actually it's part of the design . I wasn't sure , so I checked around and Sure enough , every coin I saw had this odd anomaly .
Yeah, I cant believe I never noticed it before but I just checked some of my other eagles and found the same thing so its not an error or anything, just wondering if it was something significant in the original design or something...
I don't believe it has a symbolic significance. I think it's simply a graphic technique to convey relative depth. The feather and the fletching of the arrows are shown to overlap the shield. This shows that the shield is very close to the Eagle's breast. If we deleted the overhanging feathers and erased the overlapping fletching, we would get this. The Shield then seems to be floating and its proximity to the Eagle would be left to the judgment of each viewer. The Shield has lost its unity with the Eagle. Well.. that's my take on it. Best guess.
I like @JeffC 's depiction. All the talon's are clutching the olive branch and arrows. Must be a feather overlapping the shield.
Jeff gets a “best answer” vote from me. If it were a talon, the eagle would have more than two legs. And I wholeheartedly agree. Simply an element to add depth.
