Mint bungles the Missouri quarter

I’m looking at the April issue of COINage, and there’s a story about the artists of the coin designs of the state quarters. What really caught my eye is the Mint’s implementation of the Missouri quarter design. On page 11, you can see a picture of the artist’s original design alongside the actual quarter. Night and day !

What happened ? The original design is fantastic; it gives the impression that the viewer is in the river and that the viewer is going to get wet from the water spilling off the edge of the coin. The final version captured none of this feeling.

And, before someone says that the original design is too intricate to be engraved, take a gander at page 27, which shows the Missouri quarter alongside a ”privately produced medallion”. Privately produced ! And the Mint can’t match this ?

The medallion captures the original vision much more accurately.

Maybe the medallion is bigger, or maybe the process to create the medallion is different or more costly for some reason than what the Mint uses to stamp out three hundred million coins.

Seems like a shame, though.

 

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Our"friends" at the National Collector's Mint sell the "original" Missouri quarter: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41098&item=3911349656

 

i dont know, i really like it but i also like the mint issued one too

 

CoinSwede,

That's what I'm talkin' about !

 

Now THAT is friggin awsome! Being from Missouri I'm sure most of you can understand how ****ed off I was when I saw the design I voted for got changed into a weak impression of the original design. I'm picking that one up! Now how can the mint explain that the design wouldn't work? It sure looks good.

 

After looking at the ebay coin I have to agree with you. I really question the mints choice of designs sometime, take the eagle on the back of a Susan B. for instance and put it next to 50C. Walker. The comparision makes me want to toss it. They must have had a contest for the design of the Susan B. among kindergarten kids, I can't believe that it was designed by a pro.

 

It's my understanding that the Mint uses the design submitted as a guide because of copyright laws. If you created the original design and the Mint used it as is, you would be entitled to royalties.

 

I would question any propoganda that is issued from the National Collectors Mint...

I'm sure this 'unofficial release' goes right alongside their 'Puerto Rico - 51st state quarter' and the coin that was plated with actual miracle silver recovered from ground zero!

This 'private mint' should be shut down, and all their assets sold to reimburse those disappointed novices on the coin show floor.

 

I get a nickel for every kansas state quarter spent!

 

Yup, I agree: the National Collector's Mint really nailed it ! Since you saw the original design you know how well National implemented it, and how poorly the U.S. Mint did it. Hopefully, the Mint is taking notes.

 

The following is fictionally take from said notes:

"Make the statehood quarters more popular by claiming they come from nickel clad... recovered from ground zero."

 

What about the SBA obverse ?

 

Rick, would you care to comment on how the design looks and why these people were able to do it and the mint couldn't?

 

well, I will grant that I did not read the specific article that was referenced in this thread.

I question that the mint couldn't - the auction listed above had taken the sales pitch material directly from the National Collectors Mint - If you trust that, that's your business. They are not a highly respected aspect within the hobby, which would probably account for the number of lawsuits, and their temporary hold on liquid assets earlier this year. They have a tendency toward 'pants on fire' syndrome.

My earlier comments were strictly tongue in cheek.

This 'quarter' is as valuable, in numismatics, as the very same 'private mint's' proof gold indian... in that, what they fail to say is drastically important - and, in my opinion, National Collectors Mint should never be discussed without pointing out the damage they do to this hobby for profit.

 

Without being too much of a jerk here, let me just say that all the time I've been on this site and among EVERYONE ELSE I've ever talked to, I've never heard anyone say anything other than "collect what you like." If that is strictly 100% from the National Collector's Mint, then I find it belittling and rude to suggest that it "should never be discussed without pointing out the damage they do."

I myself bought their "Washington, D.C. 51st State Quarter Commem." not for the silver or for any kind of profit in mind. I didn't buy it because I cared what was in it or what anyone else thought of it. I got it because I liked the way it looked and I thought it would add to my collection in a positive manner.

I don't mean to be insensitive or rude, but I must insist that we not be ignorant of people who, like myself, enjoy pieces from the NCM, and who purchase them. I feel belittled and put off by these comments.

Thanks,
~AJ

 

Exactly right, ajm !

Here’s the page from National’s site showing the U.S. Mint Missouri quarter along with the National’s 2003 Missouri State Proof.
http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/productsearchresult.jsp

And, here’s the 51st State Quarter (Washington D.C.) Commemorative that ajm229 mentioned -- very handsome coin ! Again, better than most or all of the U.S. Mint state quarters. I also like the Puerto Rico rendition.
http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/category.jsp?path=-1&id=1751

 

One word: "coinability". The Mint has used this reason/excuse to lower the relief of all of our coins over the past deacde or so. Look at a nickel from the 1960s vs one from today. People may be too familiar with TJ but if you look at it impartially you will see that the original bust was artistically very good. Ditto for most of the other coins.

It is easy to design and even strike a high relief coin - but those "quarter" tokens mentioned are $6 each or so. If they had to make billions of them for less than 25 cents each, the quality would be reduced for sure.

As for the SBA, I am in the minority, but I like it. It is the last coin with any relief that was issued for ciculation. Run one of those between your fingers and your finger almost gets stuck on the edge of the eagle's wing. It was the end of an era.

As for designs like the Walker 50 cent, it is an all-time classic, produced when art was at a different level. That sort of classic style went out decades ago. I am not saying that it is not still attractive, but people don't know how to do it any more.

 

That is completly asinine on the mints part! Why didn't they simply go on-line and look at what me and thousands of other Missourians voted for? Also, the mint stated that the design was too "detailed". How would they know anything was too detailed if they never saw the original design?

 

I'd venture a guess and say that the written directions for the design were too detailed for them, but then again, I haven't seen the original design for the quarter!

~AJ