Why Did the mint......

Purple73

Switch to making dead president coinage anyway? What was wrong with the Liberty or Ms. Liberty coinage?

Chris

dthigpen

Liberty looked really ugly when she was sitting down...

Purple73

awe man, thats just not right dude.


Chris

dthigpen

The truth often hurts.

Purple73

yeah, thats so true....If i were you I'd be changing my icon.

Chris

dthigpen

Just because they're ugly doesn't mean that I don't like them

cladking

For the main part we can "thank" Congress for this. Lincoln was probably an even
more popular figure in 1909 and they wanted to commemmorate his birth one hun-
dred years before. After this the coins fell like dominoes to the dead presidents. It
was largely mere momentum.

It would be great to see them finally retired. If it doesn't happen though at least the
new Jefferson will look a lot more modern then the recently passed art deco version.

nwcs

Because of commemorations of various president's births. Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson started that way I believe. And Roosevelt was done to produce marketing for the march of dimes after Roosie's death. JFK for obvious reasons. What was done to commemorate has become permanent and hijacked forever on US coinage.

richbeat

Theodore Roosevelt and Victor Brenner got the ball rolling, so to speak, on the switch to dead presidents. When TR commissioned Augustus Saint Gaudens to redesign all of the circulating coins, Liberty was initially proposed for the cent. Saint Gaudens was able to complete a quite nice plaster model of a Liberty cent dated 1907, but as many know, he died in August of that year. The redesign of the cent was put on hold.

When TR proposed a medal to honor the Panama Canal workers (with his likeness on the obverse), the idea of redesigning the cent was revived in the summer of 1908 when Roosevelt sat before Victor Brenner to have his likeness sculpted. Roosevelt noticed Brenner's Lincoln plaque. At this point it is not clear whether Roosevelt or Brenner suggested putting Lincoln on the cent, as the centennial of his birth was the following year. Don Taxay suggests that it was Brenner who initially proposed the idea. Roosevelt may have mentioned that the cent was due for a change.