This a 2017 commemorative proof of the 1977 dollar that was never minted. The mint chose to go with the Susan B Anthony dollar instead. Frank Gasparro, that designed the Kennedy half, also designed this coin. 40 years later the family agreed to mint a very small number of these coins (750 I believe) at Grove Minting. I found out about this through Numismatic News and thought it was really cool. The history behind it is fascinating, and hopefully you will too.
I've always liked the Flowing Hair Liberty design over the selected SBA dollar. However, the 40th anniversary coin costs $15 and is made out of nickel...I'll pass.
Personally, I prefer Gasparro's "Flowing Hair" design used on the 1969 ANA National Convention medals. It is 38mm and struck in .999 fine silver. Chris Photos courtesy of Bob Campbell
Six whole posts and a certain someone hasn't shown up to smear and belittle? Impressive... Very nice, Matthew... congrats! Thanks for sharing.
A few points of clarification: Frank Gasparro sculpted the reverse of the Kennedy Half, basing almost entirely on the official US Presidential Seal. The obverse of the Kennedy half dollar was designed and sculpted by Gilroy Roberts. Gasparro designed and sculpted the Flowing Hair as part of his activities at the US Mint. Since it was paid for with tax dollars, the design is public domain. So it would not have been necessary for the Gasparro family to "agree" to have some of these minted. In addition to the "Grove Minting Company" issues, there was a prior and perhaps more accurate rendition from Ken Potter. More information about those is shown here: http://www.smalldollars.com/dollar/page04.html
Below is a cast, working copy of the original seal that is embedded in the floor of the Rotunda of the US Capitol building. In the 80's, when my brother worked at the Smithsonian Institute, he was asked to produce a copy of the seal at the behest of President Reagan so it could be hung in the White House. He created this working copy to determine where he would need to increase the relief that had been worn down over the years by visitors touching and rubbing the original. Chris
