Is the Capital Visitor Center half dollar homeliest commemorative coin?

BillJones

Amazingly it took THREE designers to come up with the images that appear on this coin. The obverse is actually tolerable when one considers the symbolism, but when I first saw this coin, I though it was defective. The structure on the right with the ghostly outline of the capitol dome and the remainder of the front facade on the left is symbolic of fact that only the right side of the building existed when the national government moved to Washington, DC in 1800. The coin does command some visual interest although it does come off as a bit stark.

As for the reverse, I can only say that I have seen far more interesting road signs. Did it REALLY take TWO artists to arrange groups of words and 16 stars into such an unimaginative and visually boring pattern? One is tempted to dust off the old joke, “Why does it take two (pick your ethnic group) to change a light bulb?” (Ans. One to hold the bulb and the other to turn the ladder.)

Among the “old” commemorative half dollars, art critics have cited the Arkansas, Carver-Washington and Wisconsin as among the worst designs. I think that those coins almost look like works of art when you compare them to this coin, especially the reverse.

Placid

windwhispersintrees

Recipe for bad coin design:

1. miniscule imagery

2. many words

CarlWohlforth

Here is an image of the CVC Dollar. These images are too dark, the coin is actually brighter. I think the dollar looks better than the half you showed us. I don't like the reverse of the Civil War and WWII commemoratives. Too much writing, I prefer images to poems on my commems.

Shamika

The classic commemoratives ALL looked good with many of them looking great. But finding a modern commemorative that simply looks "decent" is an oddity.

Is it really that hard to design a nice commemorative?

JxnBoy

Is the Capital Visitor Center half dollar homeliest commemorative coin?

Uh, no.

LanLord

As poor as the CVC half dollar is, the PROOF looks much better than the unc.

As for modern vs classic commems. The problem, as with all other coin problems today, is the releif.

I don't understand why the mint can't increase the relief for a commemorative release. Make these things jump out at the viewer.

Russ

The CVC is the suckiest of the half dollars but, as JxnBoy just pointed out, the Shriver is the all time champion of homely.

Russ, NCNE

ScarsdaleCoin

really a shame that the comm's dont inspire...but what do you expect from the government.....
tell your congressman to put me on the cccac and I'll make some interesting suggestions....

baccaruda

JxnBoy: What is that - the Planet of the Apes Commemorative?

ccrdragon

The coin is a perfect example of what happens when you do design work by committee (witness most of the state quarter designs!)

LanLord

<< <i> JxnBoy: What is that - the Planet of the Apes Commemorative? >>

Time to iron that face.

baccaruda

I don't know Lan - are you supposed to iron leather?

It looks like a worn out catcher's mitt.

TheCoinGod

kamehameha00

<< <i>The CVC is the suckiest of the half dollars but, as JxnBoy just pointed out, the Shriver is the all time champion of homely.

Russ, NCNE >>




you mean the *shiver* dollar

fivecents

I am still trying to figure out who discovered America..... Columbus or Leif Ericson. According to the 1992 Columbus dollar and the 2000 Leif Ericson dollar they both did.

I think the homeliest commem overall is the USO $1. The 1993 Bill of Rights $5 gold has James Madison's arm about a foot to long. The 1987 Constitution $1 has alot of people standing in bowling pin formation.

coppercoins

alomst all of the modern commems are ugly - just pot metal in my opinion. They need to learn to take some lessons from the early 20th century designs, some of which are the nicest designs ever minted by the US.

ldhair

What is really wild are the prices of some of the homely issues.

dcarr

I was one of the few artists invited by the US Mint to submit designs for the Capitol Visitor's Center commemoratives.

None of my designs were selected. Here they are:
Capitol Visitor's Center designs

And here is what I submitted a long time ago for the WWII commemoratives:
WW II commemorative sketches

fivecents

idhair.... The reason the ugly coins are expensive in the aftermarket is because few people buy them from the mint. This makes for very low mintage coins and future semi-key dates.

dcarr....I like your commem designs. The WWII 's are my favorite.

Russ

Daniel,

Your designs are so much better than what the mint produced that they aren't even in the same league. We had idiots running the show.

Russ, NCNE