The Quarter That Never Was . . . . (Part #3) Mystery Solved !

ZoidMeister

Before there was Felix Schlag, there was Thomas Cremona.

In 1932 Thomas Cremona entered one of the US Mints popular design competitions for the redesign of the Standing Liberty Quarter. Lots of designs get submitted, but very few get immortalized for posterity into publicly available strikes.

The Full Steps Nickel Club and Ron Landis immortalized Felix Schlag's design first in 2002, and again in reissue earlier this year.

But before Felix Schlag's design was a reality, Thomas Cremona created the following. Immortalized by the Patrick Mint, here is the Quarter That Never Was . . . .

Enjoy.

Z
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TurtleCat

I think they made the right choice not to select that design...

ZoidMeister

@TurtleCat said:
I think they made the right choice not to select that design...

I wish that I could select both LOL and AGREE on the same post.

Z

291fifth

The Cremona design is awful ... both obverse and reverse.

WAYNEAS

Nice post of some coin history.
Thanks.
Wayne

coinsarefun

I like it too.

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BuffaloIronTail

Even though it doesn't have the relief that a medal has, I believe it is better suited as such. I don't think that it would have fared well as a circulated coin wearwise.

The design elements look a little crowded, especially on the obverse.

Pete

joeykoins

Lol. Only love that low mintage.

TomB

I've always thought this was a very poor submission for the competition.

cameonut2011

“The quarter that never was…”

We’re very fortunate. Since the Mint has copied classic designs in recent years, hopefully it doesn’t resurrect some of the rejects from yesteryear too,

moursund

Old balding George does not look noble or inspiring. Hard pass...

The_Dinosaur_Man

Having seen one of these repros in person, it is safe to say that it could never be as attractive as the winning design.

ZoidMeister

@WAYNEAS said:
Nice post of some coin history.
Thanks.
Wayne

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I like the fact that Jess Patrick was able to secure the plaster model for the obverse of this coin and preserved it for posterity. It's also quirky and scarce enough to become an important piece in any exonumismatists collection.

Z

ZoidMeister

I was wondering, even though this piece had a stated maximum of 25,000 pieces, did The Patrick Mint ever get enough orders for it to sell the maximum?

I think I remember reading something about the Squared Quarter not selling to its published maximums.

Z
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@coinsarefun said:
I like it too.

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koynekwest

I've always thought the obverse of the adopted design was pretty good. The reverse, tho..........

yosclimber

How about the Laura Gardin Fraser design?
It was pretty good.
https://coinweek.com/modern-coins/fabled-gardin-fraser-design-recommended-for-new-washington-quarter-obverse/

In 1999 the design was used by the US Mint.
https://www.money.org/collector/coinsbygary/blog/a-neat-idea-for-a-collection

coinsarefun

@ZoidMeister said:
I was wondering, even though this piece had a stated maximum of 25,000 pieces, did The Patrick Mint ever get enough orders for it to sell the maximum?

I think I remember reading something about the Squared Quarter not selling to its published maximums.

Z
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@coinsarefun said:
I like it too.

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I honestly don’t know but will hard to guess it didn’t go full mintage and even tho it seems there are a lot of pieces out there it will get less as years go buy and things get melted.

ricko

I am rather pleased that the Cremona design did not win... I do not find it visually pleasing at all. Cheers, RickO

JWP

I've seen nicer looking arcade tokens.

keets

the design is quite reflective of the period which was dominated by Art Deco. to that end, it looks fine and the winning design we know so well is rather blase' in comparison. this was just a consideration and I'm sure that with "Liberty" removed and placed somewhere else and a revamped Eagle that it would look nice

amwldcoin

Was the designer Brazilian? That looks like a coin from Brazil!

@ZoidMeister said:
Before there was Felix Schlag, there was Thomas Cremona.

In 1932 Thomas Cremona entered one of the US Mints popular design competitions for the redesign of the Standing Liberty Quarter. Lots of designs get submitted, but very few get immortalized for posterity into publicly available strikes.

The Full Steps Nickel Club and Ron Landis immortalized Felix Schlag's design first in 2002, and again in reissue earlier this year.

But before Felix Schlag's design was a reality, Thomas Cremona created the following. Immortalized by the Patrick Mint, here is the Quarter That Never Was . . . .

Enjoy.

Z
.

.

OldEastside

Kinda reminds me of when I worked at the Lumber Hardware store a few years ago, one of the Cashiers received a bunch of Ike Dollars in her till and all the other Cashiers started searching their tills for cool stuff, I noticed the commotion and said "Find me a 1975 Quarter and I'll pay you 100 Bucks for it, and several Cashiers and Salesman swore they had seen one, Long Story Short, The Manager Called me into his office and told me the Cashier Staff was taking too much time with transactions and asked if I was really willing to pay 100 bucks for a 1975 quarter and I told him they never made one, I laughed my A$$ of and I had to tell everybody in a special meeting the next morning that the quarter doesn't exist

Steve

ZoidMeister

@OldEastside said:
Kinda reminds me of when I worked at the Lumber Hardware store a few years ago, one of the Cashiers received a bunch of Ike Dollars in her till and all the other Cashiers started searching their tills for cool stuff, I noticed the commotion and said "Find me a 1975 Quarter and I'll pay you 100 Bucks for it, and several Cashiers and Salesman swore they had seen one, Long Story Short, The Manager Called me into his office and told me the Cashier Staff was taking too much time with transactions and asked if I was really willing to pay 100 bucks for a 1975 quarter and I told him they never made one, I laughed my A$$ of and I had to tell everybody in a special meeting the next morning that the quarter doesn't exist

Steve

I would probably give $100 for one too . . . .

Z
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DBSTrader2

I don't like that Cremona one either. That puffy face reminds me of the British Kings' portraits from around the time of the Revolutionary War, rather than a President's image.............

keets

That puffy face reminds me of the British Kings' portraits

yeah, we wouldn't anyone who looked like a "British King" to be our President.

PerryHall

@coinsarefun said:
I like it too.

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With that background, it looks like George Washington is in jail. It makes you wonder what forum rule he broke.

OldEastside

@ZoidMeister said:

@OldEastside said:
Kinda reminds me of when I worked at the Lumber Hardware store a few years ago, one of the Cashiers received a bunch of Ike Dollars in her till and all the other Cashiers started searching their tills for cool stuff, I noticed the commotion and said "Find me a 1975 Quarter and I'll pay you 100 Bucks for it, and several Cashiers and Salesman swore they had seen one, Long Story Short, The Manager Called me into his office and told me the Cashier Staff was taking too much time with transactions and asked if I was really willing to pay 100 bucks for a 1975 quarter and I told him they never made one, I laughed my A$$ of and I had to tell everybody in a special meeting the next morning that the quarter doesn't exist

Steve

I would probably give $100 for one too . . . .

Z
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Ya, those are neat but that happened before Dan came out with his

Steve

golden

Super ugly!

airplanenut

@keets said:
That puffy face reminds me of the British Kings' portraits

yeah, we wouldn't anyone who looked like a "British King" to be our President.

I had the same thought as @DBSTrader2. It’s not a question of portraits in paintings but styles of coin engravings.

(From http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/g3/ha/index.html)

Side note: @keets when you copy someone’s text and reply without tagging them they won’t get notified of their reply. Tag them or use the quote button and they’ll know you replied.

ZoidMeister

I just had to post an update to this thread . . . .

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I posted a question to Jess Patrick a week or so ago about whether he actually sold all 25,000 of these Cremona Pattern Quarters or not. I haven't heard back one way or another, but with as few of them that seem to show up on the various secondary markets, I am beginning to think that the number sold was just a fraction of the maximum possible.

Then I run across the piece below . . . . . .

It looks like The Patrick Mint may have sold a few pieces to whomever created this large silver medal.

This 50mm strike encases gold plated Patrick Mint Cremona Pattern "Quarters That Never Were" . . .

These weigh in at 63 grams and have proof like fields. The Cremona Pattern isn't struck into the host round, but are actually "glued" into place.

I am hoping that someone has seen one of these in the past and can shed some additional information on who created them, and when? They are definitely good looking strikes.

@CaptHenway , any ideas?

Or did someone "knock off" the Patrick Mint pattern reproduction?

Z
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CaptHenway

No clue. Sorry.

ZoidMeister

Mystery Solved . . . . !

An alert and knowledgable collector on an "alternate site" informed me of the original source for the Cremona piece above.

Turns out, it's an Ameriecan Mint piece. I've never heard of them, but lo and behold, here it is . . . . . .
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https://www.americanmint.com/the-quarter-that-never-was-commemorative-inlay-coin-us-2570416
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And that's the "rest of the story" . . . . . .

Z

ZoidMeister

And it's also good to know that I didn't overpay . . . . . .

Z

coinsarefun

I would have never guessed. It’s still a super neat item. I just wished they would have inlaid it similar to the Canadian
Pan Pan. Celebration. Part silver, part gold.

tokenpro

Cremona also created several other alternative designs for the Washington quarter competition that (I believe) were not submitted.

ricko

Interesting piece and a nice price for collectors of exonumia... Cheers, RickO