Trivia question--- On the reverse of the Walking Liberty Half Dollar, there is a tree. What type of tree is it?
Might be an oak branch, symbolizing peace. I just realized, though, that there are no arrows in the eagle's claws on that coin. Maybe that is another bit of trivia. Seems that most eagles on US coins have leaves for "peace", and arrows for "...but we'll whip your butt if necessary".
According to A. A. Weinman, "Springing from a rift in the rock is a sapling of Mountain Pine symbolical of America."
That's the answer I'm looking for! Congratulations, you win uhhh,errr,ahhhh... As far as the eagle not holding any arrows, I had read somewhere that since we were at that time winding down WWI, there was hesitation to do any sabre rattling, including on our coinage.
Those wimps. I bet if we designed it today, the eagle would have a machine gun in his claws and a big knife in its beak.
Actually the olive branch is the symbol of "peace". An oak branch, or leaves, is a symbol of strength.
Oh yeah. I am in Germany and they use the oak leaf. Guess that makes sense - "strength" over "peace". They wouldn't want to use the olive leaf or anything weenyish like that.
