IIRC, Frank Gasparro's original drawings of Susan had her younger and less serious looking, but her descendants (and the people in power who obviously know very little about ascetics) called for the design that we have.
Her beauty may not be her face, it's what's up front that counts, know what I mean. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway! Take my wife for instance, 35 years and I'm still looking...
Unfortunately SBA's family wanted her to look like she did when she was older. Not an attractive lady, and Gasparro just did what was asked of him - warts and all.
Granted, the design of the Susan B. Anthony dollar isn't all that inspired by any means, but I wouldn't deem it the ugliest coin ever made. The 2006 rendition of the Jefferson Nickel, on the other hand, in my view, is certainly one of the ugliest American coin designs ever produced for circulation by the U.S. Mint.
Hope I'm not missing something, but isn't that what it did..."the Eagle has landed" on the moon...? For me, more than the portrait, it's the 11-sided borders just inside the rims...just looks weird...have seen this more on foreign coins but not on U.S. But the ugliest of the ugly to me is the current reverse on the Lincoln penny...totally nutty in more ways than a nut-like image of (some say) a shield. It looks like a Chip-and-Dale chipmunk acorn-NUT...! So totally plain...and nothing to do with Lincoln. Understand with the controversy over pennies there isn't much chance of it changing (back to the Lincoln Memorial or maybe one of his boyhood designs) but this has to be THE worst coin design change in mint history, all things considered of Abe Lincoln, etc. Why didn't they return to the memorial...so what if for 50 years...or another Lincoln-related design for the next 50...???
QEII was really pretty when she became queen, and the pretty 95-year-olds are few and far between. It's pretty amazing that she's even still alive and active at 95. I think she's amazing!
The Susan B Ugly has to be near the top as one of the ugliest coins ever made by any country. The reverse was good. I'm sure there are some others the would be a close second in the state quarter series. However, it would be hard to beat Susan B Antony. It's possible the coin may have been accepted if it was golden in color with an image that didn't make you sick just looking at it.
When the SBA dollar first came out, I held one and commented to no one in particular "That's some ugly old woman", to which a woman replied "We've been looking at ugly old men for years, maybe it's time for a change". Ha. I got told. She was right of course and SBA deserved to be on a circulating coin for all she did.
Excellent comment. It’s sad to see that some CT members would prefer to have a Kim K. type of woman on a coin than one who actually deserves to be there.
The fact that the woman deserves considerable credit and respect does not change the fact that the coin is just ugly as all hell.
Yes, the Lunar Lander, "Eagle," landed on the moon...and that's why an eagle landing on the moon is symbolic/representative of that event.
I resisted posting this. It's not a comment on the subject as my wife had a long career working with special needs individuals and Ms. Shriver is a deserving subject. It's just not a good looking coin, obverse or reverse, IMHO.
great respect again and the reverse is very nice... I have never seen Ms Shriver and can only hope this is a poor representation as it looks like a man in a bad wig.
In truth this coin does not do her justice. Found this photo of her from the same year: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4BIAAOSwvvhfjM-j/s-l1600.jpg