Beautiful Coins

I really regret the decision of Mint officials back at the turn of the last century when they elected to put portraits on our coinage. Prior to the 1909 one cent piece, US coins were true works of art. Since then, our coinage has been desecrated with busts of historic people. OK. So some of the coins aren't all that great (like the Barbers). But at least we weren't trying to be like the Romans.

Yeah, I know. Lincoln was a great president and to celebrate the centennial of his birth, some dork in Washington thought, "Wow. We can really honor him by putting his likeness on the Penny! Think of what people will say!" Oh, yes. Can't wait. Oh? He's the only one who will be on our coins? Right.

Before Lincoln, the US Small Cent coin honored Native Americans with a composite of several people - better known as the Indian Head Cent. In 1857, we had the Flying Eagle Cent which, though very short-lived, shows the power of the eagle.

As you progress through the early 20th Century, there are some great obverses on our coins. Arguably the most beautiful mintage was the St Gaudens $20 Gold Double Eagle. This remarkable coin was minted between 1907 and 1933. Born in Dublin in 1848, Augustus Saint-Gaudens created the obverse and reverse for the re-designed Double Eagle between 1905 and 1907. I will never be able to afford one of these beauties.

So, we decided to collect the next most beautiful US coin (at least in my humble opinion). That is the Walking Liberty Half Dollar. Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1870, Adolph Alexander Weinman designed the Walking Liberty and the Winged Liberty Dime (sometimes known as the Mercury dime). Although not the cheapest silver coin to collect, I am trying to complete a set of the "Walkers" from 1916 to 1947 (some missing years in there). This is not the least expensive of collection options since there are some very rare dates and, if I really want to continue getting AU coins, I can expect the price tag to go up more.

And since this is such a great obverse, the US Mint elected to go with that design on their American Silver Eagles starting in 1986. I immediately fell in love with this silver bullion coin and have been collecting one example for each year. And, of course, I have this coin in both of my US Type Set collections. Most of these cost me less than $18 to buy but with the price of silver going up, I expect most will be above $20 to get anymore.

Another beautiful coin that got replaced by a person (Roosevelt) was the Winged Liberty Dime. Both the obverse and reverse are truly works of art and this coin is quickly becoming one of my favorite collections. Again, completing this collection will be both expensive and time-consuming.

These great coins will never be seen in circulation any more. And with Congress wielding the design hammer, I doubt we'll see anything but Presidents, Congressmen, and other 'worthy' ones on our coins in the future. Too bad.