Here are most of the Bicentennial competition runner-up coin designs.
RogerB
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Here are six of the runner-up designs...two more to follow. Remember these?
6
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Here are the remaining two. I omitted the winning designs and the nearly identical Independence Hall runner-up. The Mint called all of these "finalists," but did not explain what that meant -- was it a pun, mordacious prognostication, or?
Each 4x5-inch B&W photo has the name/address of the entrant pasted on a label on the back. I'll not post those in deference to individual privacy.
Very cool, thanks~
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
I can't say I recall any of the designs except, perhaps, the one with the ship sailing toward the viewer. I'm sure I saw all of them at the time in one of the numismatic publications.
Neat. I liked the design that was chosen better than the ones posted above.
Yes, I was working at Coin World at the time, and we gave the competition extensive coverage.
Notice that the map has 14 "colonies" not 13? Vermont maintained its independence.
What were the runner ups for the half dollar and dollar?
Many of the CW clippings are in the archive files.
All designs had to be usable on any coin 25-c to dollar. Therefore all entries were based on the smallest diameter coin.
Well, does it really "show" Vermont, or is that just an enclave outlined by the neighboring colonies? Sort of like a hole in the donut?
And what about the border line between Virginia and West Virginia? Did not exist in 1776. Maine was still a part of Massachusetts, but the border with New Hampshire did exist in 1776.
best post I have read here in a long time. Interesting content that most of us did not know of.
Tall ships are nice ........
In the course of 40+ years, the thing that has dawned upon me was how much the U.S. Mint senior management DID NOT want to do the bicentennial coins.
They did not understand (or pretended not to understand) why there was a coin shortage in the mid-1960s, and argued that it would happen again.
I like that atomic Liberty Bell. I've always thought the adopted design for the half dollar was a mediocrity, just a derivative of the Sesquicentennial quarter eagle.
The lunar lander would have been really, really cool.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I like the ships, the others not so much. In future centuries, I think the Apollo program will be highly regarded. The lunar lander idea is good, but the execution here lacks something.
1, 4, and 5 are good but I like the chosen design best.
Didn't mean to shout it out like that-I don't know how that happened.
A little OT, but Speaking of tall ships, they just left Boston and they were an awesome site.
What a great bunch of dedicated sailors, I had a chance to Speak with a few of them. Idk if I could do what they do.
Ok back to your regular scheduled programing.......
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Didn't notice that, but I did notice that along with the Alaska and Hawaii the designer also included the Moon... maybe they were suggesting that too belonged to the U.S.? Finders keepers, right?
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It happens when you use the (#) symbol, lol.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Have never seen those before, thanks.
I also like the designs that they chose.
I've mentioned it before but I really enjoyed the entire Bientennial hoopla.
Every day life was filled with stars and stripes, founding fathers and national pride.
It may have been through my rose colored glasses, being a 6th grader at the time.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
looking at the designs I'm having a difficult time deciding which one I dis-like the least.
just prior to the issuance of these coins was the start of perhaps the worst coin design era in the history of the Mint. it has been downhill ever since with a few exceptions every so often. there have been opportunities with Gasparro's pattern for the small dollar in 1978 and again with trials prior to the Sac Dollar, but the ad hoc committee always seems to make the WORST CHOICE POSSIBLE which gives us lackluster designs.
Although I had pretty much stopped filling my Whitman folders with my paper route money by that time I thought the bi-centennial coins were very cool and almost rekindled my interest in coin collecting. But girls still won out.
It would be another couple of decades before I re-entered the hobby.
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I would love to add any of the above coins to my collection.!
Thanks for sharing.!.!
Vermont and New York were in conflict, sometimes close to armed conflict because New York claimed the Vermont land as part of its territory. New York opposed admitting Vermont as a state for that reason which was why Vermont did not become one of the “original 14 states.”
As for the Bicentennial designs, I found the reverse of half dollar disappointing. The 1926 Sesquicentennial quarter eagle was stuck in low relief (unfortunately), but on some examples (Sadly not mine) the golden "rising sun" in back of Independence Hall can be very attractive and gives the design a depth of field. The reverse of the half dollar looks like a road sign.
T'was but a few years after the Apollo program ended, and images of men walking on the Moon were fresh in our collective memory. Many of us hoped that by the year 2000 there would be passenger service to the Moon so we could all go.
R.I.P. Robert Heinlein!
I like the Patriot with the tri corner hat, thanks for posting these
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Thanks for the images Roger.... I sure did like the tall ship designs (probably my Naval background)... I was...and I am still not.. impressed with the chosen designs. Design selection by committee is always a guarantee of mediocrity. Cheers, RickO
Coincidentally, I picked this up a couple weeks ago. I haven't seen many, especially in the set holder (seller's picture):
Pretty cool, Dan!
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Have never seen that coin and bar set before.
I wonder if the bar manufacturer obtained permission to reproduce the designs.
Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.
I do not know.
On the lower obverse of each bar it states:
"ONE TROY OUNCE"
"THE ADAMS MINT"
I do not know what else, if anything, the Adams Mint produced.
A lot of people don't realize that the winning design was used on the quarter and the second place on the half.
Back in the day I considered all three designs a little too mundane but the first and third place winners have grown on me a little bit. Jack Ahr's drummer boy quarter looks different enough to me to not be derived from the stamp. I was aware of the similarity but didn't know the stamp designer was protesting. I believe Ahr still has a studio near Chicago.
Incredibly even after they made nearly half billion dollar profit selling the bicentennial coins they still fought the states quarters on the same basis; that it would cause a coin shortage. When Diane Wolfe pointed out the huge profits made by the mint for each state quarter hoarded then they relented.
The mint apparently hoarded a significant number of '97 and '98 quarters to release in the event of a shortage but were able to ramp up production sufficiently to avoid a problem, unsurprisingly enough. I believe this was part of the issue with the '76 quarter as well. They were afraid collectors would hoard both the '75 and '76 issue so they ran '74 production into '75. As I recall the '76 was finally released to the public on July 4, '75. They got a lot of attention from the public and just flooded pocket change. Within a couple years they were all starting to disappear. Many were intercepted even before they got into circulation.
About a quarter of them are circulating today. Most seen are XF or AU condition because they keep getting pulled out by the public. VF's are getting a little more common but F's are not. The '77 quarter is usually seen in VG+ or F and almost all the survivors are still in circulation.
Data on all of this is in the NARA files at College Park, MD. I only glanced at a few things since my time was limited and I was looking for material related to the Gould, INCO and GE test pieces.
I'm not certain what you are trying to say, but in our little midwestern village, we had multiple copper-nickel bicentennial quarters in hand by mid-August 1975.
I get asked to look at family heirloom/estate coin collections quite frequently and about one time in three it is nothing but a couple of hundred dollars (face value) worth of bicentennial quarters, and nothing else.
Edit: add words 'face value'
D'oh.
It was a typo. I'll go back and fix it.
United States Bicentennial coinage,
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bicentennial coins for collectors were not delivered until after July 4, 1975.[32] The Bicentennial pieces, in base metal, were included in 1975 proof sets and mint sets together with 1975-dated cents, nickels and dimes.[39]
The new coins first entered circulation on July 7, 1975, when the half dollar was released in conjunction with ceremonies in Minneapolis, Huntington's hometown. The quarter followed in September and the dollar in October, each also with ceremonies to mark the issuance.[35] The pieces were struck in numbers exceeding those needed for circulation; a Mint spokesman stated, "The theory in striking them was to have enough available so as many Americans as possible would have an opportunity to have a coinage commemoration of the Bicentennial year. They're momentos."[21]
Circulation coins Philadelphia[46] Denver[46]
Quarters 809,784,016 860,118,839
Half dollars 234,308,000 287,565,248
Dollars (Type I) 4,019,000 21,048,710 (1975)
Dollars (Type II) 113,318,000 82,179,164 (1976)
San Francisco (sets)
Copper nickel[47]
In 1975 proof sets (six coins, cent through dollar) 2,845,450
In 1976 proof sets (six coins, as above) 4,149,730
Silver clad[47]
Actual number of silver uncirculated sets issue 4,908,319
Actual number of silver proof sets issued 3,998,621
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
I was, and still to this day an avid collector of the 3pc Silver Unc. set.
On rare occasions.I have found in circulation choice 25 ~c~ pieces as well.
Very fun (for me) to collect this series.
Less commonly, some of the sets will be found packaged in a white envelope with red printing of a winter scene at Independence Hall.
I have thus far found one example of the above mentioned packaging
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
A bit of numismatic trivia: The authorizing act required that all 45 million 40% silver coins (15 million each both proof and unc) be struck by July 4, 1975. As the deadline approached they did the last several million uncs of each on high speed presses and just dumped them into barrels. Years later some of these were packed in the red envelopes and sold.
I like it.!.!
There is still a Jack Ahr Design studio in Evanston, but it would seem he is no longer part of it (he's 86 now), and is living about a half mile from my post office. I wonder if he was ever hounded by TPGs to sign slabs.
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I'm still pissed that they took the arrows out of the eagle's RIGHT talon !
These "high speed" sets are not often seen.
They are distinctly different than the coins made at low speed, high tonnage, and on numismatic presses. But sales were poor and most of these that were sold though the late-'70's and early '80's went straight into the melting pot. They come in the "red" envelopes but without the heavy cardboard display stand. The envelopes are flimsier and have more orange in them. The plastic sleeve inside lacks the white stripe. Strikes are poor and from poor dies and the coins appear to have gotten a lot of scratches from rolling around in steel drums. Millions were melted in the early 1980's.