Mint Director Edmund Moy - Circulating Coins Deserve Quality Designs
FLBuffaloHunter
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<< <i>At the FIDEM Art Medal World Congress held in Colorado Springs this past September, Mint Director Edmund Moy gave what is clearly one of the most important and visionary speeches ever delivered by a mint director. Moy boldly announced his intent "to spark a neo-renaissance for coin design and achieve a new level of design excellence." >>
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Never teach a pig to sing. You'll waste your time and annoy the pig 
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the writer gushed. No more design by committee, huh? Cool.
Apropos of the coin posse/aka caca: "The longer he spoke of his honor, the tighter I held to my purse."
<< <i>"most important and visionary speeches",
the writer gushed. No more design by committee, huh? Cool. >>
Interesting since the writer is a member of the CCAC.
Yes, I agree that we could use this "neo-Renaissance" he's been speaking about since at least the ANA show. Am I holding my breath? No.
First of all, Moy's vision will last only as long as his political appointment lasts. An abrupt end to his career at the behest of someone with a different political bent would render his vision worthless. The two coins he could redesign today without congressional approval are the dime and half, only one of which circulates. If he wants to bring on this renaissance, redesigning the half would be the least distruptive to the public, since nobody uses it and most people don't even know it exists. An artistic, Liberty-themed design with both sides done by the same artist that would survive a low-relief execution would be a good way to end the reign of one of the "Presidential Martyr" coins. This, of course, would result in indignant outrage by Ted Kennedy (D-Runk) and the introduction of a Constitutional amendment to enshrine a Kennedy on the half dollar in perpetuity. A compromise will be reached to replace Liberty's head with that of Eunice Shriver.
The writer goes on to propose rotating a Liberty design through the denominations. These one-year types, even if they are artistically executed, do not say that we are embracing this neo-Renaissance. To the contrary, they say that we are afraid that a real neo-Renaissance in coin design will upset the apple cart too much, so we're going to mix these anomalous designs with the others and hope that it doesn't upset anyone too much. They also project an image of instability. This same writer states that Moy recognizes that coinage design is part of what defines America. Wishy-washy tentativeness isn't a label I'd want.
A real neo-Renaissance (I hate that term) would have to be more dramatic and straightforward in order to seem meaningful. For the following exchange, the part of Mint Director Moy will be played by Tommy Lee Jones:
Moy: "OK, folks, today we're redesigning all United States coinage -- allegorical Liberty designs on all of them, eagles on the backs of the quarter, half, and dollar -- and I need five artists to carry this out, you -- cent, you -- nickel, you -- dime, you -- quarter, you -- half and dollar, hell nobody ever sees those anyway. No cartoons, no clip-art, any questions, no, good, designs on my desk by Monday."
Artist: "But, sir, we're not allowed to change some of these without Congressional approval."
Moy: "Son, screw Congress. When I want their approval, I'll get it. Besides, do you work for them or for me?" (to rest of artists) "Anyone else not like this idea?"
Alas, that's the important and visionary speech that will likely never be made.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
None of Saint-Gaudens’ designs were liked, and the dislike continued for at least a decade. Pratt’s coins were considered ugly jokes by many. The Lincoln cent was not a favorite of the press and many artists complained about the tiny portrait. Fraser’s Buffalo nickel was praised by artists and quickly became the most widely counterfeited coin in US history. MacNeil’s quarter was unpopular with mint officials because of its production characteristics, and unpopular with artists because of the proportions (too small a coin for a full length figure). The Peace dollar was roundly disparaged by the press, then forgotten. Only Weinman’s half dollar and dime came in for praise, and of the two, the dime was considered by far the better coin.
Any new circulating designs that Moy (or his successor) succeeds in getting adopted, will probably face the same public criticisms. Only a confident administration will have the simple courage to thank the artists, then tell the media to “get stuffed.”
which remained for extended periods, and ultimately formed its legacy.
This periodic changing of designs will make US coinage less appealing and more confusing.
The secondary use of circulating currency is as political media to communicate the fundamental values of this nation to its citizens and others. The present designs do not do this.
A return to the expression of national values and ideals on circulating currency has the potential for restoring both primary and secondary purposes to our coinage. This can also become a showcase for the very best of American medallic art.
Commemorative uses of coin and paper currency should be limited to special issues not intended for general circulation.
of our stamps. They took what were once works of art and have turned
them into adhesive pictures of fish, cars, cartoon characters, movie stars
ect, ect. I want to see our coinage returned to symbols of strength and
beauty. Why must our coinage by ugly, sickly, homely. If anyone thinks that
Susan B Anthony's mug on a dollar adds to the attractiveness of our coinage,
please speak up.
Camelot
Apropos of the coin posse/aka caca: "The longer he spoke of his honor, the tighter I held to my purse."
Camelot
RE: Mint Director’s job.
The Director of the US Mint job is a political plum reserved for big contributors or those with major party connections. It has been this way for most of the mint’s existence and is unlikely to change with the 2008 Presidential election.
(During Robert Woolley’s tenure, for example, his political correspondence was nearly as great as his official correspondence, and the two often overlapped. George Roberts’ split of time was similar. During both terms, much of the day-to-day work of running the mint and making decisions was done by Mary O’Reilly and Margaret Valentine, respectively. In the current US Mint, David A. Lebryk held a similar position until Dec 9.)