The US One-Dollar Sacagawea coin will get a new reverse. It seems a law requires annual changes to the Sacky’s back to increase confusion in the general population.
That being said, the design is completely new and not too bad. An Indian woman tending to a crop pf beans, corn and squash. It reminds me (a bit) of the the Walking Liberty design.
So having been quick to condemn ugly US coins, let’s give this on a chance.
The changes to U.S. coinage lately have been kinda hit-and-miss for me. We seem to have gone from individual elements (building or eagle) to more picturesque full scenes. I prefer profiles to the full-face angles that have been taking over lately. (As discussed in a Straight Dope column once, I believe.) This one’s not bad.
But why the hell is Congress fussing over what the coins look like. A legislative body should not be dictating matters of art. And if they think that altering the look of the coins will change how we use them, they’re idiots.
Zzzzzz. As interesting as native american history and symbolism is, just for once, ONCE, I’d like to see some robots, ninjas and zombies hashing it out. You put something geeky on there, and watch the US Dollar coin become an overnight craze.
I’m pretty meh about this. Of course, part of that is that thing I’d liked best of the Saccies was the flying eagle on the reverse, which seemed reminiscent to me of the old Flying Eagle cent pieces.
I also was pissed about the design chosen for the Saccies obverse - they chose the face close up of a very nice full standing Sacajewa turned back towards the viewer which I found very pleasantly evocative of the St. Lauren’s standing liberty designs. It would have been a great homage to one of the most beautiful coins in the US numismatic history. Instead they gave us a three quarter face view which seemed to be because people need faces on coins after all the presidential coins.
Believe it or not, I think that the Saccie is a pretty coin, and I like it, and liked using it. But it could have been so much more attractive.
As most of you know I’m all for the idea of dollar coins, and of stopping circulation of the paper dollar. But the entire concept of dollar coins needs to be reworked from the ground up, and also include half-dollars and two-dollar coins that are consistent in size and weight with the dollar coin. A better, non-tarnishing alloy needs to be developed, one that will look “faux” precious, like Euro coins, and that will have the ability to become associated with “valuable”, higher denomination coins the way one did with the Swiss Frank or German Mark in the 1970s.
If the U.S. mint doesn’t recognize that the entire concept was badly planned at the outset, and do what it has to do, then any and all dollar coins will continue to fail abysmally.
Designing coins and bank note is the second-best* job in government. Why do they do such a poor job? It seems to me there ought to be a public contest for such things, like we do with the duck stamps.