Another ugly politically correct silver dollar - who's buying?

tincup · January 5, 2014 9:21AM

I see the Mint is releasing the 2014 Civil Right Act silver dollar and taking orders starting January 2nd; shipping starts January 15th. Sorry, but the design does nothing for me at all. That, along with a potential mintage of 350,000 I don't think I will be a buyer.

Zoins · January 5, 2014 9:28AM

I'm waiting for the Pan Pacs.

Here's an image of the Civil Rights dollar:

Unknown · January 5, 2014 9:32AM

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MGLICKER · January 5, 2014 9:33AM

II will probably get one if my local dealer has it.

Justlooking · January 5, 2014 9:47AM

I'd like to see what Dan Carr could come up with on this theme.

Just doesn't seem like much thought went into this ...

291fifth · January 5, 2014 9:54AM

The obverse design is exceptionally bland.

Mark · January 5, 2014 9:56AM

I think the Civil Rights bill is definitely worth commemorating. I'm not a huge fan of the obverse but I think the reverse looks cool. And, given that I tend to buy all of the new commemoratives, I will definitely buy both a PR and MS coin.

Onedollarnohollar · January 5, 2014 9:57AM

I'd be interested to see what other "designs" were considered before they settled on this one.

jmcu12 · January 5, 2014 9:58AM

This is what you get when you have design by committee...

BryceM · January 5, 2014 9:59AM

Looks like clip art. Completely sterile.

Patches · January 5, 2014 10:03AM

It looks like most of the Scooby Doo characters

ctf_error_coins · January 5, 2014 10:06AM

The reverse has an awesome design.

SeattleSlammer · January 5, 2014 10:09AM

<< This is what you get when you have design by committee... >>

Cocoinut · January 5, 2014 10:23AM

I'm not interested. It's a sorry state of affairs when the Mint can't come up with something more inspiring. I know that Congress authorizes commemoratives, and that legislation may dictate what must appear on the coins, but why can't they have national competitions to produce acceptable designs? Wouldn't a design of MLK delivering his speech at the Lincoln memorial have been more fitting? They need to use a little imagination.

Jim

Goldbully · January 5, 2014 10:29AM

Wouldn't a design of MLK delivering his speech at the Lincoln memorial have been more fitting?

Why are you making sense here, Cocoinut?

kiyote · January 5, 2014 10:39AM

<< The reverse has an awesome design. >>

I don't normally get proofs of anything but that reverse in proof I bet is going to look fantastic. The typesetting (?) is top-notch and very well balanced.

And, just so we don't miss the forest for the trees, the 1964 act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.

I wouldn't want to live in a country that welcomed Jesse Owens back from his win in the Munich Olympics by making him ride in a freight elevator to get to a reception held in his honor. The Civil Rights Act was a win for all of America.

Justlooking · January 5, 2014 10:45AM

I do like the reverse ... maybe buyers could plane off the obverse and carve their own ... a hobo commem ...

GoldenEyeNumismatics · January 5, 2014 10:55AM

The problem is not the design. The problem is the shallow relief.

keets · January 5, 2014 11:17AM

perhaps a more fitting obverse design could have been a view of the March on Washington D.C. or even something to do with Bombingham, but I suppose the intent was to be not incite.

Raufus · January 5, 2014 12:07PM

Was not considering this one. However, I do think that the reverse looks great. I'll have to check it out at the Mint sales counter and decide.

keyman64 · January 5, 2014 12:54PM

The reverse I am fine with.

The obverse is yukky yukky!

My 2 cents.

stealer · January 5, 2014 1:20PM

<< The problem is not the design. The problem is the shallow relief. >>

I think the lack of relief shows that the mint is finally giving up.

GritsMan · January 5, 2014 2:10PM

I also like the reverse. Darn, though, didn't the baseball coin show them they should turn these over to artists-at-large???

CalGold · January 5, 2014 2:57PM

The obverse looks like a drawing from a grade school civics book circa 1963. Any big city graffiti artist could have done better.

CG

Bullsitter · January 5, 2014 3:42PM

Junk.

Manorcourtman · January 5, 2014 9:35PM

This is shameful and cartoonish rubbish.

TwoSides2aCoin · January 5, 2014 9:48PM

The Mint has been trying unsuccessfully, for years, to make a coin worse than the Susan B. Anthony dollar. And they're getting closer to success.

ricko · January 5, 2014 10:28PM

It was commented above -'design by committee'...this will always fail. We need to assign tasks to an artist, responsible to one authority. Stop the nattering of self-important committees and let's get back to true art. This coin is, basically, rubbish, design-wise....the commemorative cause is worthy, the art should be as well. Cheers, RickO

mbogoman · January 5, 2014 10:30PM

Gawdawful! That sums it up for me.

OPA · January 5, 2014 10:32PM

I don't normally get proofs of anything but that reverse in proof I bet is going to look fantastic. The typesetting (?) is top-notch and very well balanced.

Agree.

BillJones · January 5, 2014 10:40PM

The 1964 Civil Rights Act hits too close to home for me. What was done to African-Americans and other minorities prior to its enactment was a national disgrace, but that did not justify the use of quotas and reverse discrimination long after those measures had any level of necessity.

When I took my first job interview after I graduated from college in 1971, the Employee Relations person who conducted my initial interview told me they couldn't hire me because I was white, and they needed a black.

In later years, women got on the special privilege bandwagon and got quotas of their own. During the years that I worked for AT&T there had to be a one to one ratio between men and women for promotions. In other words a man could not be promoted without a woman also getting a promotion. Before I came with the company, the ratio in favor of women had been much higher than that because of a court ordered consent decree based upon the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

That system also had decimation built into it. Young, pretty women who were just out of college got on the promotion list. Older women, who had served the company for years, and who might well have been treated poorly in the past, didn't. A young woman who tickled an old male boss's chin, stood a better chance of getting ahead. And some of those old bosses saw their careers enhanced by the fact that they promoted more woman regardless of the merits of the case.

It is a well known fact that Elizabeth Warren, who is now a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, falsely claimed Native American heritage to get ahead at Harvard University. In other words she built a career partially on a lie. I have Native American blood in my family on both sides, but I never claimed that one because it is only a small part of my background.

I have type coins for every U.S. commemorative coin that has been issued, but I'm going to break the set with this one. Unless someone markets this coin with the word "QUOTA" broadly counterstamped on the piece, I am going to pass as my own protest.

zippcity · January 5, 2014 11:16PM

PASS

Outhaul · January 5, 2014 11:21PM

There is no such thing as "reverse discrimination." Discrimination is exactly that; discrimination, regardless of whom it is directed toward.

As for the coin; lackluster, unimaginative, boring. Much like everything else the Mint produces today.

Cheers,

Bob

pocketpiececommems · January 5, 2014 11:44PM

If one were to see just the reverse and no writing to tell you it had anything to do with the civil rights act you would think that it is an Olympic coin.

FullStrike · January 5, 2014 11:45PM

In same class as the recent BS and GS , pass for me.

Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts.

Cakes · January 5, 2014 11:50PM

<< Looks like clip art. Completely sterile. >>

Nice call, I agree.

ambro51 · January 6, 2014 12:00AM

I'm going to buck the trend here and say its OK with me. It says what it tries to say.

TPRC · January 6, 2014 1:11AM

Well, it isn't that attractive, I'll give you that.

But while I agree with almost everything Bill Jones has to say, I'll part ways with him here. I don't own any modern Commems, but I will get this one....the legislation is just too important to me to pass it up.
I do agree that there are abuses. When I tried and won my first Civil Rights case 15 years or so ago, I fancied myself as a Civil Rights plaintiff's lawyer and called myself one. For me, that was a mistake. Dozens of inquiries a day came in and for every 100 inquiries, 1 or 2 were worthy of an interview and 1 a month had merit. I still get lots of calls but most are not actionable. Even federal courts seem tired of the cases. Still, to win one that has merit is among the most satisfying things there is. And to defeat one that doesn't, is also very satisfying. But the legislation was and is among the most important in my lifetime. So, I will be getting myself one or more (as gifts.)

Now, as for quotos, well that is a whole different kettle of fish. I never thought they were a good idea.

Outhaul · January 6, 2014 1:45AM

Quotas were, and still are, a process of discrimination. To acknowledge one has been discriminated against, and continue to prosecute the discriminators and right the wrong is one thing. But to give an entire group, or groups, preferential treatment was in itself discriminatory.

Gee...I wish we still had an open forum here.

Cheers,

Bob

Coinsponge · January 6, 2014 1:57AM

<< It looks like most of the Scooby Doo characters

>>

Good one. LOL. Maybe the sign should say "Mystery Inc shall overcome". The reverse is ok but the obverse is so flat and boring. It is like the Mint lost interest in beautiful designs and instead want to make posters on metal.

TwoSides2aCoin · January 6, 2014 1:57AM

Seems to me the 14th Ammendment already covered our tracks. We needed a civil rights ACT during those tumultuous times, like we needed the National Guard during the Rodney King incident.
And despite who is in power, racism and discrimination rarely and barely are able to hide their ugly face. Those in that place are still blind and ignorant.

Section 1 of the amendment formally defines United States citizenship and also protects various civil rights from being abridged or denied by any state or state actor. Abridgment or denial of those civil rights by private persons is not addressed by this amendment; the Supreme Court held in the Civil Rights Cases (1883)[28] that the amendment was limited to "state action" and, therefore, did not authorize the Congress to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals or organizations (though Congress can sometimes reach such discrimination via other parts of the Constitution). U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley commented in the Civil Rights Cases that “individual invasion of individual rights is not the subject-matter of the [14th] Amendment. It has a deeper and broader scope. It nullifies and makes void all state legislation, and state action of every kind, which impairs the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, or which injures them in life, liberty or property without due process of law, or which denies to any of them the equal protection of the laws.”[29]
The Republicans who advanced the Thirteenth Amendment hoped to ensure broad civil and human rights —but its scope was disputed before it went into effect.[30] The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment wanted these principles enshrined in the Constitution to protect the new Civil Rights Act from being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and also to prevent a future Congress from altering it by a mere majority vote.[31][32] This section was also in response to violence against black people within the Southern states. The Joint Committee on Reconstruction found that only a Constitutional amendment could protect black people's rights and welfare within those states.[33]
This first section of the amendment has been the most frequently litigated part of the amendment,[34] and this amendment in turn has been the most frequently litigated part of the Constitution.[35]

Sorry to go off topic. Back to the coin, itself.
It's not that attractive as a collectible, but no matter the law, the coin or the bill, man must learn to care about his neighbor as he cares about himself.

Coinsponge · January 6, 2014 2:07AM

<< Quotas were, and still are, a process of discrimination. To acknowledge one has been discriminated against, and continue to prosecute the discriminators and right the wrong is one thing. But to give an entire group, or groups, preferential treatment was in itself discriminatory.

Gee...I wish we still had an open forum here.

Cheers,

Bob >>

Right. Lately it seems like the Mint has underscored the concept of quotas in their designs. Maybe one of these days they will have to include other animals such as squirrels or bats on the eagle designs to be fair.

TPRC · January 6, 2014 3:48AM

<< Quotas were, and still are, a process of discrimination. To acknowledge one has been discriminated against, and continue to prosecute the discriminators and right the wrong is one thing. But to give an entire group, or groups, preferential treatment was in itself discriminatory.

Gee...I wish we still had an open forum here.

Cheers,

Bob >>

You are right, Bob. Quotas were sometimes ordered by courts in the 1970's and 80's to force uncooperative institutions in integrate. However, outside of such court orders, quotas are usually considered illegal discrimination.

Davideo · January 6, 2014 4:09AM

<< If one were to see just the reverse and no writing to tell you it had anything to do with the civil rights act you would think that it is an Olympic coin. >>

Agreed, looks like the Olympic torch.

coindeuce · January 6, 2014 5:13AM

Looks most like someone in the design committee suggested "Hey we can borrow what was to have been part of the 2007 Little Rock Desegregation Dollar and slap it on another coin!"

Dentuck · January 6, 2014 6:00AM

Nicely balanced design with a good combination of symbolism and realism in the obverse
motif. The reverse is dynamic, and innovative in its use of multiple finishes.

I may have missed this, but what makes it a "politically correct silver dollar"?

I think this one will have broad popular appeal outside of the hobby community. Sales
will be relatively high, which will make for a slow secondary market.

I'll probably add a few to my collection.

BillJones · January 6, 2014 6:13AM

<< I may have missed this, but what makes it a "politically correct silver dollar"? >>

It puts a positive spin on a piece of legislation that turned into "quotas and set asides" when the courts got a hold of it. I would suggest that you review the Bakke case which came to following narrow ruling which kept preferential treatment in place for racial groups and women while offering specific relief that largely applied only to the plaintiff in the case.

Maybe if you had to live this stuff for all of your career as student seeking admission to schools or as a trained professional, you would understand why this is truly a politically correct topic for a commemorative coin. Quotas may have been justified early on, but they went on for decades ... down to the present day.

kimber45ACP · January 6, 2014 6:14AM

Pass. I reckon I only buy 1 out of every 15 or 20 new issues.

TPRC · January 6, 2014 7:05AM

<< 

<< I may have missed this, but what makes it a "politically correct silver dollar"? >>

It puts a positive spin on a piece of legislation that turned into "quotas and set asides" when the courts got a hold of it. I would suggest that you review the Bakke case which came to following narrow ruling which kept preferential treatment in place for racial groups and women while offering specific relief that largely applied only to the plaintiff in the case.

Maybe if you had to live this stuff for all of your career as student seeking admission to schools or as a trained professional, you would understand why this is truly a politically correct topic for a commemorative coin. Quotas may have been justified early on, but they went on for decades ... down to the present day. >>

While I appreciate that you may be disappointed with the legislation, your post implies something that is not accurate. Bakke and the courts did not endorse quotas. From Wikipedia:

"Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. However, the court ruled that specific quotas, such as the 16 out of 100 seats set aside for minority students by the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, were impermissible."

Quotas have never been what affirmative action was about. I don't think any case endorsed quotas as a means of affirmative action and several courts have have stricken them. Again, in some instances, courts have entered case-specific court orders requiring certain parties who refused or failed to comply with the law to hire certain numbers of minorities or "quotas," if you will, but that was in response to specific wrongdoing. Maybe that is what you experienced first-hand. But that is different from an appellate court endorsing "quotas," which, as I said, no appellate court has done to my knowledge. Affirmative action has never been about quotas, though some would argue and have argued otherwise.

Now if you are saying you are against affirmative action as the law is written and interpreted by the courts, so be it. I was against at one point in my life, preferring what I believe Justice Powell called the "colorblind test," which I roughly interpret as "treat everyone equally". That view has merit, IMO. I changed my view because I concluded that without this landmark legislation, that would never happen. I still believe that.

tincup · January 16, 2014 9:28AM

As I look at this design more, I think I identified why I do not find it very appealing.

The figures are rigid, cardboard like, lifeless... and staring vacantly into space.

I do believe the Mint may have issued their first... ZOMBIE DOLLAR.

The only feature that is interesting to me is possibly the reverse. while I do not find it very imaginative either, I am interested in seeing how the 3 contrast finish will turn out.

Another ugly politically correct silver dollar - who's buying?

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