# Why are profiles on US coins facing left or right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960 "2013-11-03T03:18:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/21 "2013-11-04T14:42:49Z")
This got me interested in a spinoff, and of course a TM, **zut** , was there before me. So, for anyone like minded, [Are all flatfish of the same handedness?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238823) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/22 "2013-11-04T14:58:33Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Those are called three-quarters portraits. Yeah. The terminology could get a bit ambiguous, as three-quarters portrait is commonly also used to denote length (head & shoulders portrait, three-quarters portrait, full length portrait.) So, if you want to be more precise, you say “profile/three-quarters/full face view” for the angle at which you are viewing your subject. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/23 "2013-11-04T14:59:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I’m still wondering what “ten chars” means. Maybe it’s short for “ten characters.” If you count the blank space between the two words and the period, then ten chars. is 10 characters. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/24 "2013-11-04T15:22:58Z")
Wow. ETA: The ten character minimum must be a guest thing. I posted the above and it went right through. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/25 "2013-11-04T15:26:19Z")
Last I checked, this board only required 2 characters in a post. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/26 "2013-11-04T16:12:40Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/27 "2013-11-05T03:09:32Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Lord Feldon has the wrong king above. It is was George VI who is supposed to have chosen to face left because he vainly believed his left profile to be his better side. In fact the coins prepared for Edward VIII, but never officially issued, faced correctly to the right, and by reverting to the left as on his father’s (George V) coins, he was simply following the tradition of reversing the portrait direction of his predecessor. No, **Lord Feldon** is correct. [George V faced left.](http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/g5/) Coins weren’t issued for Edward VIII, [but the pattern coins show him facing left as well](http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/e8/index.html). [George VI](http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/g6/index.html) faced left, the same direction George V faced, on the basis that Edward VIII should have faced right. Edward apparently thought that his hair parting looked better, thus he wanted to face left as well, according to the [wiki article on Edward VIII](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII#Reign). ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/28 "2013-11-05T05:13:30Z")
As a counterexample, I submith the following: [http://www.australian-threepence.com/images/australia-2005-2-dollar.jpg](http://www.australian-threepence.com/images/australia-2005-2-dollar.jpg) 3/4 face and an interesting vertical angle too. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/29 "2013-11-05T11:58:34Z")
Linky no worky. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/30 "2013-11-05T14:21:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Linky no worky. If you just hit “enter” on the address in the URL bar, it’ll show up. Some places don’t allow direct linking, so you just have to enter it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/31 "2013-11-05T14:27:38Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > They have alternated since Charles 11 in 1660… Charles the Eleventh - wow! I had no idea. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/32 "2013-11-05T14:32:56Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Charles the Eleventh - wow! I had no idea. 😉 OK OK Charlie 2 ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/33 "2013-11-05T18:52:14Z")
If you wanted to put an identifiable image into a tiny space, you would want to include as much “information” as possible. Because a full-front portrait is bilaterally symmetric, you would be wasting half your space by including redundant information. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/34 "2013-11-05T19:23:19Z")
> [@ChezzaAU](#): > > Reading this prompted me to check out my notes and coins (Australia). All the coins have the profile of Queen Elizabeth, facing left to right. Same in Canada. But [**check out the rack!**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quarter_Reverse_2010.png) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/35 "2013-11-06T16:01:00Z")
Is it the left-facing presidents who were evil and the right-facing ones good? Or is it the other way around? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/36 "2013-11-06T16:12:56Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > **panache45** gave a very nice example of why: > A Gorgon’s frontal portrait would remain recognizable after that much wear where a human’s frontal wouldn’t quite become an amorphous blob but would be a lot less recognizable than a profile (“person with crown”… “person with crown, maybe different from the previous one or maybe not”…), as well as having the mythological element of being the head’s “reflection” rather than its portrait. That sounds like a pretty _ad hoc_ explanation. For the record, go look at coin portraits of gorgons in the ancient world – NONE of them have snakes in place of hair. A full-face portrait that was worn away would be simply “person”, not “gorgon”. It’s not clear to me why a full-face portrait of a king would be unacceptable. even when worn, it’s obviously the king. And even if it got unacceptably worn down, you’d think that people years later in a different country wouldn’t be aware of this – it’s not like they passed around standard books on Coin Design – and just did the same thing over again. I will observe that profiles are probably more distinct from individual to individual. even when pristine and unworn, I suspect that a person could pick out a profile image of a particular individual more easily than a full-face portrait. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/37 "2013-11-06T19:36:46Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Is it the left-facing presidents who were evil and the right-facing ones good? Or is it the other way around? If only it were so easy to tell! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/38 "2013-11-06T19:58:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > That sounds like a pretty _ad hoc_ explanation. For the record, go look at coin portraits of gorgons in the ancient world – NONE of them have snakes in place of hair. A full-face portrait that was worn away would be simply “person”, not “gorgon”. > > It’s not clear to me why a full-face portrait of a king would be unacceptable. even when worn, it’s obviously the king. And even if it got unacceptably worn down, you’d think that people years later in a different country wouldn’t be aware of this – it’s not like they passed around standard books on Coin Design – and just did the same thing over again. > > I will observe that profiles are probably more distinct from individual to individual. even when pristine and unworn, I suspect that a person could pick out a profile image of a particular individual more easily than a full-face portrait. Isn’t it because you can use the profile to guess the age of the coin, even if the centre is worn? (Because of the raised edges of coins, the centre gets worn more. The same applies to notes, which get more wear across the centre and the parts nearest it). And that can - or could have, at least, in the past - told you whether the coin was still legal tender or not. “A king” is not always enough, I have a memory of this counting when the 5p coin was introduced in the UK; for a while, old half-shillings were accepted as equivalent to 5p, but only to a certain vintage. Much easier to look for a profile than check which monarch ruled when. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/39 "2013-11-06T20:22:44Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > (Because of the raised edges of coins, the centre gets worn more. The same applies to notes, which get more wear across the centre and the parts nearest it). Notes have raised edges? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960/40 "2013-11-06T20:28:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Is it the left-facing presidents who were evil and the right-facing ones good? Or is it the other way around? If there’s a president who is universally thought of as evil, why put him on a coin? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-profiles-on-us-coins-facing-left-or-right/672960.md?page=3)