What are the plants in the wreath on the reverse of this coin?
Insider2
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They are virtually identical on both sides. Starting next to the bow (6 o'clock) let's see if we can figure this design out. There are about a dozen elements in the wreath. An ear of corn is halfway up and there is a strawberry pointing down at about 10:30. I'm sure one of our members can post this image with lines and a number (1 to 12+) attached to each element.
The gold dollar has a similar design:
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Comments
Cotton, wheat, sorghum or corn and berries?
bob
I think it is cotton, tobacco, and wheat.
And corn too!
Corn, wheat, cotton and tobacco.
Love the wreath design here.
Those are probably strawberries but the leaves around them resemble those of a currant.
How about (bottom to top) tobacco, wheat, corn, cotton. That is what is suppose to be but lots of the design does not seem to match those elements. Thus, it is cotton and not a strawberry. Design at the tips is still UNK.
Top design: Sorghum?
Could be hemp. Thanks!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
the tips look close to sorghum tassels
but corn tassels from a couple hundred years ago could have looked like that
Duuuude.
I'm going with sorghum, that's a great suggestion since the most common sweetner in the country was sorghum molasses.
Wikipedia, (so you know it has to be right!):
"The reverse originates Longacre's "agricultural wreath" of corn, tobacco, cotton, and wheat which would also appear on the gold dollar, Flying Eagle cent, and his revised reverse for the Seated Liberty dime and half dime.[15] This blended the produce of the South and North at a time of intersectional tension.[16] Numismatist Walter Hagans deems the wreathed reverse "as uniquely American as is the Indian maiden on the obverse."[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dollar_piece
This could end up as a furious argument😂
I'm not sure, so I'll go with the Wikipedia entry. What I will say is that 1877 $3 is awesome!!
Jeff
No idea.
While we're at it, who knows what's planted in the Trustees' Garden? Grapes, peaches...
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
@botanist gave a most excellent response to a misplaced pm on this other thread...'Are you really a botanist'. httphttps://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1030979/are-you-really-a-botanist#latest//
Tobacco, wheat, corn, cotton. Stylized and not to scale with some artistic license.
Donato
@botanist wrote:
Hi, In that numismatic artwork, please realize the plant parts were not drawn to comparative scale, and are stylized. At the bottom, tied up in the basal ribbon, are leaves of tobacco, facing outwards, much reduced in size, with a nodding flower cluster of the tobacco plant alongside. Next shown upwards are mature heads of wheat, two on each side. Just above that are young ears of corn, one on each side. Everything above that is cotton, 3 leaves on each side, with two nodding flowerbuds, and finally what must be two facing open flowers at pollination time, surrounded by petals although those towards us have been removed, showing only petals top and bottom. Usually the flower clusters of tobacco and the buds of cotton are not nodding, not facing downwards, but they were drawn that way.
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Thanks Tommy! Who would have ever thought to look where you found that info.
Despite warnings about the accuracy of Wikipedia....I've found it to be a pretty good first "goto" reference. If it smells funny, you can always look elsewhere...
(Besides, true historical information probably isn't as "fun" for the tricksters as current events, living people, and politically controversial topics).
Good information... Though I never actually wondered about the contents of the wreath, I can see where the numismatic OCD that prevails, would demand a detailed answer....Love to learn new things...Cheers, RickO