In recent days I've been questioning my friends as to which of the three Jefferson obverses they prefer. The designs are as follows: Felix Schlag 1938-2004, the Joe Fitzgerald 2005, and the Jamie Franki 2006-present. All of which may be seen here.
There has been no real consensus. After some discussion I can usually bring people into my line of thinking with the Joe Fitzgerald design. I'm going to review the two designs that I do not prefer and then give why I think that the Fitzgerald design is superior.
Schlag: There is nothing inherently wrong with this design but I object to this design simply because I think that instead of having a 25 year minimum on coinage designs, it should be mandatory that they are changed completely every 25 years. I'll note more on this later but I just wanted to point out that I think for its time, the Schlag design is quite nice but is dated.
Franki: Here there is some consensus. Almost everyone describes Jefferson as looking evil with the way he's staring off the coin. I'm not saying Jefferson was evil but that he certainly looks it on this coin. My point can be distilled down to this: Jefferson looks terrible on this coin and he exudes no optimism or personality. Sort of like an 8th grade awkward school picture.
Fitzgerald: OK, there are many pluses here. 1) The use of Jefferson's handwriting when writing "Liberty." 2) The off-center portrait is artistically pleasing and a breath of fresh air from the now inspiration-less centered profiles of every other US circulation coin. 3) Along the same line, the focus on Jefferson's face and the fact that he is looking up and to the right of the coin exudes optimism and energy. Basically this is one of the best modern designs for a circulating coin, obverse or reverse that has been minted since the Walking Liberty half dollar was last struck in 1947.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Considering that a nickel is now worth over 9.75 cents in metal, shouldn't its composition be changed, too? PS I like the "old" nickel best, but I do agree with you that the newest nickel is scary. If I had to chose between the '05 and the '06, I'd choose the '05, hands down.
Fret not Karthik, I addressed the composition in the "Master Plan for US Coinage" post just previous to this one.
It had been so long since your last post that I completely forgot your points. =P
Hello Coin Man. While googling myself (in the privacy of my own home, of course) I came across your reference to my design for the 2005 nickel obverse. Your comments on the design elements were extraordinarilly perceptive and reflected exactly what I was trying to accomplish. Thank you so much for the kind comments. Joe
Post a Comment