Just got wind of this "ugly" 2019 AC Fiji Proof coin. Talk about a God awfull design However not all "modern" designs are tasteless. The 1931 Yugoslavia AV 4 Dukaten is one of my fav. coins. Pretty coin!
I don't like how the top one is attempting to be too geometrically appealing with all the fancy lines and squares and all.
It makes me think that the gold is intended to sell the design when it should be the other way around. Chris
For the same reasons why this work of art will continue to be a classic and beautiful even 2000 years from now.... while this will be a long forgotten joke some idiot paid $120,000 for..... are the same reasons this coin is still a beautiful and desirable work of art 2000 years later... while 25 years later no one remembers or cares much for this ugly thing....(the lady has two sets of eyebrows and the guy's face is melting.)
I like the Fijian coin. There arent enough pure modernist designs on modern coins. Copying ancient Greek prototypes in the 21st century doesn't much appeal. My favourite era of modern coinage is 1930s to 1950s when many new Republics adopted art deco or other modernist styled designs that were typical of the high art of that era, just as sculptural designs were typical of the ancient Greeks. Good to be true to the high art of your current era
Then sadly there are a lot of "beholders" with bad taste The reverse is the same. Compare that design with this one from Regensburg 1790....
Wim Delvoye was so-called "artist" responsible for the coin design. He would not have been hired to design Regensburg coinage for Holy Roman Emperor Franz II/ he might have lost his head. But then Franz would have listened to Mozart, not Yoko Ono....
What do you consider "older" coins? My definition of "older" is pre-20th century. I don't limit myself to just pre-20th century coins but that's where most of my money goes. The only 20th century coins I've bought in the last 20 years are world coins dated 1941.
John, I agree with you, the Fiji coin leaves me cold . There is so much NCLT still being manufactured that has no aesthetic value or collector value. Who is buying all this crap ? The Yugoslavian 4 ducat coin has attractive low-relief designs on both sides. The coins are so thin it's impossible to do anything in high-relief on them. One thing that has always annoyed me with this gold series are the counterstamps that really detract from the finished product .
What is 'bad taste" for some is just fine for others. Some like Rembrandt, some like vanGogh and some like Grand Ma Moses.
I agree on those counterstamps What really gets my goat, are that every blessed AV 4 Dukaten from Bulgaria (Tsar Ferdinand I/ Boris III) are holed. I have been after these types for 20 years, many auctions later, no luck in finding a MS coin, without a hole. I think its the novice collectors who purchase all this modern nonsense/ themes like "Superman" coloured coins Advanced collectors like Yourself, appreciate the classical coinage produced by skilled mintmasters throughout the ages, coins that not only look good, but are historical treasures. Maybe its a good thing, so many go after the modernistic theme coins, otherwise we would even have stiffer competition for our prized older material. John
