Hey cointalk, I got assigned a free- themed project to do over summer break, the project just has to show that you concentrated on something during the time. So...I decided to do some work and do a project on the Lincoln cent, Mercury dime, and the Jefferson nickel. My question is...what to talk about each coin??? About the coin, daily life in its days, etc. And I'm going to do a little display too, but the display should be made out of everyday items excluding the coin to be displayed the holder its in. What type of display would be easy to make at home, and what coins of the series should I display? So far I had done Much of my history homework somehow related to coins+my English HW. I need your help!!
Do a little research about the people that designed each coin - Victor D. Brenner designed the cent, the Mercury dime was designed by Adolph Weinman, and the Jefferson nickel by Felix Schlag. Felix Schlag won a $1000 prize for designing the nickel, but during his lifetime his initials were NOT on the coin and were only added in 1966. He was born in Germany and served in the wehrmacht during WWI but immigrated to the USA after the war - and lived in Owosso MI.
enlarge the pictures of the coins big enough to see from about 7-10 feet. let them know which is your favorite of the 3 and why.
Well, I chose the coins above because the Lincoln Steel cent and the Mercury dime and the Silver nickel goes along with the WW2 and the Lincoln and Jeffersons goes along with commemorating a president. But the designer's initials and monograms could lead up to the designer's background. I am also going to talk about the 1909 VDB and the Jefferson nickels' FS initials.
But I also want to show my actual coins from my collection. And how would I display them? What kind of coin setups should I use? But, I want the whole display as one, not like I have to assemble it i. school. AHHHHH, I wish I had a Morgan dollar or a 1850 s gold coin to show the Gold rush and the rich silver mines..
Curiously enough I have found two steel cents in box searches this week. Kind of funny to think they are still circulating in small numbers.
Felix Schlag did not die until 1974. He was present at the ceremony in 1966 when the first coins with his initials were produced and he was given the first two coins struck with his initials. (Some sources say they were proofs, but even Schlag said they were not proofs, just business strikes.) Unfortunately Schlag did not keep them separate as anything special and he lost track of them. The reason Schlag gave for why he did not put his initials on the coin originally was that he didn't know he could. (Frankly it is just as well because the Jefferson nickel as it was produced bears little resemblance to Schlag's winning design. It actually bears a striking resemblance to the design submitted by another contestant.)
