QUOTE
Kathryn i.e. TreasureGirl
YN Cointest
December 2007
The first time I took an interest in coins as art rather than chocolate bars and gumball machine prizes was when I found a shiny Kennedy half from the tooth fairy under my pillow one morning. I had never seen one before, and I was curious to see what else I could find. My dad had inherited a collection from his grandfather and I constantly begged to see it; when he finally gave in I was entranced by the beauty of the Liberty Winged Cap, or Mercury, dimes and the graceful image of the Liberty Walking piece. These two pieces fed my love for the silver coins of roughly the same time period, but they remain my favorites of the group. As a result, I would like to name Adolph A. Weinman as the person who most influenced my coin collecting interests.
I had gotten a guidebook of United States coins for Christmas that year and couldn’t find any 19th or 18th century pieces which caught my interest quite as much as the ones from the early 1900’s. In fact, I had to be informed that the images used were depictions of a feminine Liberty, whereas I was convinced they portrayed a much more masculine figure (take the Barber series for example). Even the (second variation) Standing Liberty Quarter was mistaken by me to be George Washington! Weinman’s designs are beautiful, almost uniquely feminine in contrast to nearly all of the United States pieces so far in history. From here I had become fascinated by the image of Liberty and quickly decided to begin putting together several different sets including a U.S. Type set containing at least one AU-50 or better specimen of each design (for example, I could have an AU-50 Draped Bust dime whereas the rest of the Draped Bust series could have grades around G), a Mercury Dime set, and a Walking Liberty Half set; I also started accumulating Silver Eagles here and there. This feminine beauty was absolutely riveting, so much so that it carried over to pieces from other countries. Now I have begun collections from Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy, Laos, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Portugal (one of my favorites), Spain, and Switzerland so far. Once I do my research and learn more about paper money, I imagine I will be accumulating many of these pieces also graced with the image of some feminine figure or another.
However, I cannot discount the importance of the person who got me collecting in the first place. The “tooth fairy,” my father, was the one who snuck into my room to give me the Kennedys, Eisenhowers, and Susan B. Anthonys which found their way into a shoebox and eventually into the tattered album sitting in the desk drawer next to me. It was he who introduced me to Whitman folders and from whom I received my first buffalo nickel and Mercury dime; he was also the one who had to explain that the Barber dime was not a design of Barber himself, but of Lady Liberty! I still take my new pieces back to St. Louis to show them off to him.
Many people would argue that Theodore Roosevelt had the biggest impact on the coins we use in the United States today. Indeed, he and Augustus Saint-Gaudens collaborated to give us such beautiful pieces as the latest eagle and double eagle, and it was he and Victor David Brenner who introduced the first U.S. circulating coin to feature a president, namely Abraham Lincoln. And of course, from this U.S. coins began the trend of featuring presidents, as is evident on our current issues. However, I would like instead to explore the influence of Adolph Weinman. I believe that his talents went a long way towards bringing coins back to true works of art from their simply being a form of money.
A contest to redesign the dime, quarter, and half dollar was announced as the Barber series approached 25 years of mintage and circulation. Weinman, who had once served as Saint-Gaudens’ associate, produced the winning designs for the dime and the half dollar, whereas Hermon MacNeil’s sketches were chosen for the quarter. Unlike the public’s reception of the Lincoln cent seven years earlier, the new designs were met with almost universal delight. The Winged Liberty Cap Dime’s image of a cap symbolizing freedom of thought and reverse images of the Roman fasces, a battle ax, and olive branch coupled with the Walking Liberty Half’s depiction of Lady Liberty draped with the Star-Spangled Banner and embracing limbs of oak and laurel and a figure of a fearless, powerful eagle were emotionally charging at a time of mounting patriotism and impending war (http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=1932&universeid=313&type=1). Raymond Hanisco calls the Winged Liberty Cap Dime “a steadfast symbol of power and freedom idealized within America” (http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31013.asp).
Weinman himself did not value his work as coins alone, but rather as intricate sculptures he ranked among his bigger achievements (www.pcgs.com) The beauty of his work is not completely lost in today’s world; as is Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ famous design for the double eagle, Weinman’s sculpture of Walking Liberty has been used by the United States Mint for rounds of silver bullion (whereas Saint-Gaudens’ is used on gold bullion) beginning in 1986 and continuing through present day (Bressett, 326). While I find it unfortunate that today the U.S. Mint is minting designs much more dated than was the Barber series and much less aesthetically or emotionally intriguing than Weinman’s pieces, I can still hope that history will repeat itself and that another Golden Age of American coinage will emerge.
***
I had some trouble trying to select one coin above all others that I value most; ever since I got my first guide to U.S. coins, I was obsessed with the Saint-Gaudens double eagle – I started a collection of magazine cutouts and searched out one of those souvenir pieces the size of a personal pizza. However, I have yet to purchase an original; I haven’t even been able to commit to purchasing a tenth-ounce bullion piece, partly because bullion is somewhat lacking in historical significance. Along with many other numismatists, I feel that one of the most exciting things about coins and paper money is the history behind them. Again, though, I was faced with a problem: should I pick a piece solely for the history behind the designer and the mintage and leave out the “Who in history spent this coin” aspect of its history? My 1929 Liberty Standing Quarter is a pristine example of its kind, lacking no minute detail and reveling in its blast-white glory. But no; my sense of imagination runs too wild to limit it to the story of an elderly bank teller moving a new roll of quarters from one box to the next. The coin I have picked is much less remarkable than, I expect, the favorite piece of almost any other numismatist today. Despite my constant claims of being a pirate as a result of my obsession with silver and gold, I have always had a peculiar fondness for my 1892 Indian Head Cent in Very Good condition and would like to name it my most appreciated piece.
Not only is this particular piece a beautifully detailed example of the series, but this couples with its potential for a remarkable story to make it truly fascinating. It is older, of course, than any of my living relatives; what is so interesting for me in this case is that there is no way I will ever hear all of the stories that my relatives could tell – so, how many more stories would this penny tell me? Was it ever hoarded in a jar and buried in the woods? What all was it used to purchase? Did it share a pocket, perhaps, with an ultra-high-relief Saint-Gaudens double eagle? And of course, who was in possession of this particular cent? The possibilities increase with the fact that the cent was much more often, and much more widely, circulated than a silver dollar or gold eagle. Perhaps Theodore Roosevelt had examined this coin in his change as he considered the redesign of the cent. Maybe one of my ancestors had bought some penny candy on his or her way to school. Here I enter the obligatory, “If coins could talk…” but then again, half the fun is inventing my own stories!
Bressett, Kenneth, ed. The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins: 2007, 60th edition Atlanta, Whitman Publishing, 2006.
I had a blast writing this; I wish I could have had more resources but then it would have taken me a month to finish! The Renaissance of American coinage is absolutely fascinating and it was a little frustrating that I was confined to the internet for sources, but that just encourages me to go to the library and get a ton of inter-library loans.
like I have been in some of my college courses, only to have to explain that I was taught to spell things differently 
) I expect also that our nascent numismatists are similarly afforded the ability to produce a wonder worthy of publication.
Well scratch that, I'm definately over 21 
(Or at least after it 
)
And this isn't an A or B we're talking about, this is something concrete! I'll quit pestering you now.
silver content c) MUST BE CHEAP! and c) can it fit into my U.S type set? (The only actual collecting goal I am very slowly working towards.)
