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So... ugly coins. Competing.


ikaros

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Would anyone be interested in an Ugly Coin Competition? There doesn't seem to have been one for a while, I haven't heard anyone mention a PCI 2014 yet, and so I've half talked myself into running one if there's interest.

 

Talk me into the other half. :)

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I don't think we can take "Everything since 1980" as an entry. :D

 

I'm thinking of organizing it this way:

 

Ugly By Nature

  • Aging Like Mayonnaise, Not Wine - Coins that simply haven't aged well at all but are still identifiable as a coin, or are unusually but naturally worn at a relatively young age
  • Victims of Circumstance - Coins that have suffered the ravages of nature, having been corroded or left in the street and run over a few times or partially digested... or all three.

Ugly by Design

  • I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Engraved That Way - Surely the most subjective of all categories, these are coins that are otherwise perfectly normal coins, but are aesthetically challenged.
  • You Poor Poor Thing - This is for coins that have been the deliberate victim of experimentation or alteration -- holed coins, or the ones you see where the fields have been cut out leaving the design (I *hate* seeing those!!), or coins that have been squashed on a railroad track, or sacrifices to mad science, like the pennies I used to make a copper acetate solution when I was doing some home chemoplating.

Ultimately, of course, there would be a final round within, and then between the two main headings.

 

I am, of course, open to suggestion. :)

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Most of the presidential dollars and a disparaging number of the First Spouse series are automatic qualifiers. Some recent commems like the Ben Franklin dollar qualify based on the WTH were they thinking - ie make it as ugly as possible.

 

Of the presidential dollars - the only one I got one of was the Lincoln - and only because I collect numismatic items with Lincoln, from the earliest $10 bills issued during his lifetime to that prexibux.

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Most of the presidential dollars and a disparaging number of the First Spouse series are automatic qualifiers. Some recent commems like the Ben Franklin dollar qualify based on the WTH were they thinking - ie make it as ugly as possible.

 

Of the presidential dollars - the only one I got one of was the Lincoln - and only because I collect numismatic items with Lincoln, from the earliest $10 bills issued during his lifetime to that prexibux.

 

So a category labelled "Modern Moderns - Coins from 1980 to Present" would allow these type of entries but leave plenty of room for older coins to shine.

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I knew those would get mentioned eventually, although I'm surprised the SBA didn't come up before the Ike.

 

 

So a category labelled "Modern Moderns - Coins from 1980 to Present" would allow these type of entries but leave plenty of room for older coins to shine.

 

I'm not sure that "shine" is really the adjective you're looking for here... :D

 

Sure, I can see further category splits for age. I could call them "Newer Doesn't Mean Better" and "Move Over, Gramps" :)

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Hadn't set a timeline yet because I wanted to see if there was interest in it. I figure a week or two for nominations, then however long it takes to vote our way down to one final winner. When that's gonna start, I don't know. There would be a certain appropriateness if I could start on April the First, or even April 15th (a day certainly associated with both pain and money)...

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I'll dig out my Churchill Crowns and Ike Dollars.

 

 

 

Contest is over. Art wins!

 

:lol: :lol: Were it that easy!

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Apparently I'm in a minority for liking the Churchills and Ikes (although to be fair, I like the Ikes for the moon landing reverse more than the obverse), and I'm still surprised the SBAs haven't been mentioned.

 

Anyway, I'm thrashing a few things through in my mind and should have a proposed set of categories and rules up soon.

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I actually do like the Ikes. Not my favorite but something about big ol' hunks of metal. They have that "old school cool factor" about them. The silver proof I bought for a pocket piece is almost too nice to pocket.........but too bad!

 

Now Churchills. Cool history but bleh design. Only reason I might like them is because he resembles my high school mascot (English Bulldog).

 

SBA will always be sort of special to me. My Grandpa got the biggest kick out of giving me one whenever he received one in change or went to Cleveland (their rail system used them for quite a while I guess). I've got dozens of them and will never get rid of them. No numismatic value, but that isn't the point. After nearly losing him this month (he was in the ICU I work in for two weeks, it's a damn miracle he lived), all the coins he has given me have been put into a safety deposit box. Never to be sold.

 

Can't wait for the contest. I've got a few uglies lying around. Might be able to dig up a few Sacs too!

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Yeah, there's something about crown-sized coins, no matter where they're minted.

 

I'm quite looking forward to seeing what people put forward as examples of awful design (and expecting to see several designs I like turn up as entries... oh well). I think particularly for that section of the contest I'd like to see a brief rationale behind the nomination, but that probably shouldn't be a required part of the entry. Unless people want to show off their snarky side. :)

 

Me, I have a longstanding affinity for the dreadful and/or inept. Even before I became a huge Mystery Science Theater fan, I was already a huge fan of the type of movies that they so deliciously took apart. :)

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Yes, I do plan to do it; I'm just settling a few things in my mind about how to structure it. I'm tempted to start accepting nominations on April 15, as that's day that already has painful associations with money. :)

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