Brief rant: Getting bored with US Mint products
dtkk49a
Posts: 2,490 ✭✭✭
We have had the same coin designs for decades and our Commemorative coins are so "PC" that they wind up with VERY LAME designs that do not appeal to the masses.
Meanwhile, other countries, such as Canada and Italy, are putting out some really great, beautifully designed products.
I must admit, I have purchased more foreign coins this year, most of them quite beautiful.
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They call me "Pack the Ripper"
They call me "Pack the Ripper"
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Can't speak to what other mints are putting out there but congrats on picking up what you like.
The last Commem I bought was the baseball coin.
Many consider it gimmicky but I thought it was cool and I like baseball.
None since have sparked any interest with me but to each his own.
Like the kids say......."It's all good."
"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
Me too if it weren't for the ASE I wouldn't be buying anything from them.
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@dtkk49a ... I am in total agreement about the designs... commercialism and lame PC designs.... mostly rubbish. Very sad to see when we know there are highly competent artists and even good designs submitted, but the PC committees screen everything so it is innocuous, inoffensive and/or commercializes some aspect of current focus.
Cheers, RickO
The Mark Twain commemorative coins were nice, and the National Park pieces were okay.
I broke up my set of the modern commemorative coins when the 1964 Civil Rights Act commemorative silver dollar was introduced. As a recipient of reverse discrimination, not because of African-Americans or other minorities, but because of women, I could not bear to spend my money on that piece. It had a hackneyed design to boot with a demonstrator waving a protest sign. I will probably pass on other commemorative coins as they come along. There are too many of them, and they are issued for reasons that don't rate a commemorative coin in my opinion.
As for the other coins, the three 1916 commemorative gold coins were a disappointment, and I was glad I didn't get started on them. The "limited edition" presidential dollar sets (e.g. the Truman set) were a turn-off too. We all pay taxes and NO coins should be sold so that flippers can make money. The mint should recognize that flippers are fair weather friends; collectors are more liking to buy coins because they like them, not because of sales gimmicks. We are almost to the end of the overpriced and undeserved recipient set of First Lady gold coins, which should never have been made.
Unfortunately we have gone from the period when I was young where the mint produced no commemorative and gold coins to now they produce too many. I wish there was something in the middle, but it's hard to control the steers once you let them out of the pen.
I would disagree with the designs comments. IMO there have actually been some quite attractive State and NP Washington quarter reverse designs. I believe the real issue is the low relief the coins are then struck in. They just look like subway or chuckee cheese tokens to me.
U.S. Type Set
Too much PC now.... the spouse series was a totally PC effort, unjustified and irrelevant. Cheers, RickO
The funny thing is, I actually like the reverse designs more then the obverse designs on a lot of the newer commems.
They call me "Pack the Ripper"
The OP should have been a collector during the 70s....we got excited by the Bicentennial designs.....but, I think the reverse of the Ike was exceptional.
You had four options throughout most of the 70s.
Buy a proof set.
Buy a mint set.
Really splurge and get both!
Buy nothing.
Easy to see why we were so excited about the Bicentennial issues.......
Most of the modern commemorative designs are significantly influenced either by a recipient/sponsoring organization or a member of Congress. As a CCAC member, I saw dozens of superior designs tossed in the trash because a sponsor wanted some generic composition, or inclusion of an ugly logo, or promotional image.
Don't blame the US Mint -- they try, but they are not the ones pushing a lot of the awful final designs.
Thanks Roger... that helps a little bit... at least to know that some really good designs are submitted.... Cheers, RickO
An yet the Bicentennial coins were a disappointment. The quarter had a very good design, but the half dollar was a bore and the dollar was only so-so. In addition there was no gold coin despite the fact President Ford had made it legal to produce and own them in 1974. Overall the Bicentennial represented a missed opportunity to have issued a commemorative set when it was really warranted.
It was exactly the PC act of putting a Hispanic woman on the $1 National Parks commemorative coin that infuriated me enough to not buy any of the national parks coins. To the best of my knowledge, there is no historic reason why it was necessary to put that ridiculous image on the coin other than to appease loud people who won't buy the coin and don't even collect coins.
As for the new coins with contemporary depictions of Liberty, I don't see what is wrong with using the zaftig, Greek-nosed Liberty of old.
So, there is always a treasure to find among the plethora of offerings.
Look further.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
if you are just now "getting bored" with the designs, your standards are too low. Designs have been mediocre for quite some time.
I do not understand this anti pc thing. To me pc is respecting others and just being nice to people, nothing wrong with that.
Way too many people eating Member Berries ..... google it ...
As to coin designs, some of the modern coins have awesome designs such as the Sacagawea. Of course there are horrible designs as well.
Great thread! So far I've googled "member berries,"....HUH???, and zaftig. Zaftig; that's a cool word. Think Capped Bust Half Dollars, or Morgan Dollars. Plump, classic, German, way cool.
So far I've googled "member berries,"....HUH???,
Member Berries is a very deep and extremely funny concept .....
I agree that there isn't the most exciting designs being produced by the us mint. I did like the reverse on the National Park Service 50c.
1973 was my last purchase from the mint..(all proof sets)
I guess a question to ask here is, why even have a CCAC if they don't really have a say at all in the final designs?
They call me "Pack the Ripper"
About 70 years
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
That ship sailed years ago...what kept your attention for this long?
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My sets: [280+ horse coins] :: [France Sowers] :: [Colorful world copper] :: [Beautiful world coins]
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Join the Dark Side. Sounds like you're already halfway there.
We have cookies... and milk.
I preferred the CCAC recommended half dollar. Do we know who overrode the CCAC recommendation?
Here are the final NPS coin designs with descriptions and reasonings for the designs.
I don't like how the portraits and images on the newer designs look like photographs rather than artwork. I prefer the artistic method of the 1800s and earlier, when the subjects were figurative/symbolic rather than literal (ex. Liberty). It seems that now they're trying to make symbolic imagery but the designs are just falling flat because they look too computer-generated or cliche.
Gobrecht's Engraved Mature Head Large Cent Model
https://www.instagram.com/rexrarities/?hl=en
I agree with you Rexford. Maybe we just need to lay off on the member berries. It might help. I doubt it though.
I learned a while back, that as soon as I cancel one of my US Mint subscriptions, they end up issuing some variety so, I just continue with my Mint Sets, Proof Sets, Si;ver Proof Sets, Proof ASE, BU ASE's, 1st Spouse Sets and the twice a year commemoratives.
"Boring" usually ends up biting folks in the butt since final sales are always produced after the fact.
Are the designs boring? For the circulation pieces, absolutely but having a choice with what you purchase can sometimes be fruitful from a monetary standpoint AND it's insurance that current modern coin collections stay current.
The name is LEE!
When I first observed the obverse of the middle coin, the first thought that came to mind was a depiction of an atomic bomb explosion with a burgeoning mushroom cloud. No intent here to disparage the designer. There are many objects/designs that on occasion can be viewed more than one way. Art for instance.
This is an ever growing club...
K
Really? C'mon. Aside from the reverse of the half, those are all mediocre designs.
They call me "Pack the Ripper"
I have to agree with your interpretation of the old faithful design. The design is not very original either as I believe it is the third coin the mint has put the old faithful and buffalo. They are also on the 1999 Yellowstone commemorative dollar and the 2010 Yellowstone commemorative quarter.
The other side of the dollar is a little confusing. I have no problem with having an Hispanic woman on the coin but I do not understand using a "Folklórico dancer". Folklórico dancers are symbols of Mexican culture. I do not understand why it is on a U.S. commemorative and not a Mexican coin.
That's a much nicer way of putting it than I did, that the reverse is confusing. I dislike this PC nonsense because to appease people, the Mint is altering or distorting history. To commemorate the creation of the National Parks Service in the U.S., Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir most certainly belong on the coins. There were other significant personalities in the creation of the national parks and perhaps it might be have been nice to have a coin for each of them rather than stuffing two people on one coin.
However, the placing of a Folklorico dancer is just ridiculous and the explanation is just as insipid. If it is to celebrate all of the visitors to the national parks, where are the other ethnicities of people that visit the national parks?
I really shouldn't have to say this but my views are not driven by racism nor are they a symptom of having consumed "member berries." I am a "colored person" and I don't think anyone would mistake me for a Caucasian. I'm just someone who feels this kind of silliness should stop. I'm quite certain Theodore Roosevelt, were he alive, would agree as he advocated that English be the official language of the U.S. and that U.S. citizens should not be allowed multiple citizenships. I say that from the perspective of a person of color and as someone for whom English is a second language.
If the Mint wants to put minorities on coins, it is free to do so but it should do it without distorting history. Coin collecting is about many things, among them history and heraldry. A coin commemorating the establishment of the National Parks Service is not the place for identity politics.
If the Mint desires, it can create commemorative coins for Hispanics, gays, blacks (the Mint has already done this with the Tuskegee airmen), women (already done with the First Spouse series), and any other people who feel left out. Let the market decide whether they want to buy those coins that support a single issue or not. Don't shoehorn it in with another topic like a sneaked-in rider on a Congressional bill.
Which gives me an interesting idea for a coin: Either a three-coin set or a three-part coin (the three pieces combine to make a circular coin) of a set commemorating the linking of the eastern United States with the western United States via the First Transcontinental Railroad. The left (western) half, minted out of silver, can commemorate the Chinese people who worked on the railroads; the right (eastern) half, also minted out of silver, can commemorate the Irish people who worked on the railroads; and the center portion, minted out of gold, can commemorate the golden spike that joined the two rails at Promontory Summit. We're only two years away from the sesquicentennial of that momentous occasion.
Looks like the aftermath of Jurassic park:(..jus saying.