Coin relief too low

I know that it has been awhile since I have updated my blog. Two reasons can equally share the blame on this one: 1) Been very busy both at work and at home. 2) There haven’t been a lot of new issues to address. But to assure everyone (and by everyone, I mean the small number of people who read this blog) that I am ok, I’ll dig up an “old” issue and give my two cents (pun intended, though now that I have used it in a coin blog, I can never use it again on this page).

This issue deals with the relief on the coins that are manufactured for circulation. Its not hard to see the difference in quality as many older coins bear the higher relief that added depth and character to our coins. I am not sure exactly when this new relief standard came into effect but from crude observations it seems like the early to mid 1990’s. I can understand lowering the relief to make a coin easier to strike and perhaps increase the life of a die (this is not proven though, just a conjecture). However, it cheapens the appearance of our coins. So many of the designs are old and in desperate need of updating (look here) that seeing them in lower relief conjures images of game tokens used in arcades. More than one person I’ve talked to about the new Presidential Dollars have independently made the assessment that they look like tokens (partly due to the lack of mottos on the obverse/reverse) but it is exacerbated by the low relief. When one sees a Lincoln cent, Jefferson nickel, Roosevelt dime or Washington quarter in the relief that they were intended to be struck in, they are surprisingly appealing.

With the US’s international image not what it used to be, and the dollar not what it used to be, it would be nice if our coins looked like something. When the Mint flattens the coins, they look cheaper and thus are not an inspiring element in our economy.