Michael Hodder and Q. David Bowers
At your request I enclose suggested sketches for a new design upon a national coinage. The French have adopted Millet's figure of a woman sowing grain. Why may we not dismiss meaningless Greek and Indian Heads and have a group indicating labor, a woman's aid, and education of youth-the spirit of our progress-with the date beneath and the Legends' Liberty and Equality under Law: Prosperity and Energy and Integrity;'
On the reverse of the national shield is the spread eagle with a scroll in his beak on which is the number and name of the current president. This would be an historic record and give very interesting variety to our monotonous series. As a substitute for the contested IN GOD WE TRUST the Divine Eye (as used once by the Mormons) would be more impressive to old and young and not subject to trivial perversion.
The mention of the number of our states and of our dependencies would also be desirable. The anchor and telegraph pole top suggest commerce and electrical progress of communication. Some of the details of these designs could be condensed or minted on the smaller silver coins.
The government remained silent on the subject of coinage reform. Following little if any advance notice and no attendant publicity, in November 1908 new designs were released for the $2.50 and $5 gold pieces. The announcement was carried in The Numismatist:
New $2.50 and $5.00 Gold Pieces-That which has been anticipated for months is now a fact and a decidedly new and novel departure in United States coinage appears in the new $2.50 and $5 gold pieces which were just issued, the first was in November. The great novelty in the new coins is that design is incuse, instead of being raised or embossed, as is the general coinage of the world. The planchets are not milled, the field from edge to edge being one flat surface, with the design struck in, or sunk. The periphery (so-called edge) is reeded.
At last we have the features of a real Indian on our coinage. The central design on the obverse present in profile the strong figures of the male Indian with long ex-tending and wide, full, feathered headdress. Above the head is LIBERTY which with six stars at right and seven at left, with eight below, completes the border surrounding the head. B.L.P. in minute letters, indicating the designer, appear below the head. The stars are five pointed.
The design of the reverse is the much commented upon eagle that appears on the Saint-Gaudens type $10 piece. The incuse design, even on the smaller planchets, emphasizes or magnifies the characteristics of this muchly and greatly criticized bird. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in a semicircle at top, with the denomination below. E PLURIBUS UNUM in three lines occupies the field in front of the eagle, and in the opposite field IN GOD WE TRUST appears in four lines.
Those who appreciate innovation certainly have it in the new coins. General comments on the issue will be welcomed from our contributors.
The following issue of The Numismatist contained a detailed article by Howland Wood, commenting on the new designs and their place in coinage history, pointing out that incuse motifs were hardly new in coinage, having been used in the 6th century BC, but not in modern times. Farran Zerbe, president of the American Numismatic Association and editor of The Numismatist, had no way of knowing that the new $2.50 and $5 pieces would engender a tremendous flood of criticism in months to come. Subsequently, the February 1909 Issue of the--Numismatist printed a letter from Samuel Hudson Chapman, who was perhaps miffed that he was not consulted (having written to Roosevelt on the subject earlier) and who stated, in part:
The head of the Indian is without artistic merit, and portrays an Indian who is emaciated, totally unlike the big, strong Indian chiefs as seen in real life. The treatment of the head is crude and hard, with sharp, abrupt outlines, as if carved by a mere metal chaser; and on the reverse is a reproduction of the Saint-Gaudens' eagle, which represents not our national bird (a white-headed eagle-commonly but erroneously called the bald-headed eagle-which has no feathers on its feet), but resembles more closely the golden eagle, which is also indigenous to Europe.
The placing of the design below the surface of the planchet, with deeply incised outline, gives the effect of having been engraved into the metal, and can, therefore, be closely imitated by any metal chaser with the graver, without dies or moulds. And I am certain that if this had been suggested to the Secret Service officials, it never would have issued by the Treasury Department, and the issuance ought to be immediately stopped and the coins recalled, for everyone will be in danger of the imitations.
The sunken design, especially the deeply sunken portion of the neck of the Indian, will be a great receptacle for dirt and conveyor of disease, the coin will be the most unhygienic ever issued ....
George H. King, of the Denver National Bank, added his feelings:
The new $5 and $2.50 pieces will not stand the wear and tear of circulation because of their flat surfaces. The more surface exposed to friction across the counter and being handled, the greater the wear. They are not practical, for they will not fit in coin trays.
The question has already been raised, and I believe the point well taken, regarding the incused stamping as to their sanitary and germ-carrying possibilities. I noticed that in the short length of time these coins have been in circulation the silt common to the handling of money is beginning to settle in the depressions, and, of course, is carried from one person to another. On all sides I hear severe criticisms of these coins for many reasons ....
Farran Zerbe added his own thoughts to the discussion, and noted that many people seeking gold coins at banks "refused the new types, seeking the old ones in preference"
While the American Numismatic Association was the most popular organization in the hobby, more academic was the American Numismatic Society, which in 1908 had just moved into its magnificent new building located at Audubon Park, 155th Street and Broadway, New York City, a structure largely financed through the beneficence of Archer M. Huntington, who in 1908 was president of the Society. On a quarterly basis the American Journal of Numismatics was published, a periodical devoted to studies and technical discussions of American and world coinage. The popular aspects were not overlooked, and when the new Saint-Gaudens $10 and $20 pieces were released toward the end of 1907, they received ample coverage. Like the similarly-named American Numismatic Association, the American Numismatic Society was an advocate of "coinage reform" The ANS preferred the committee route, and submitted a suggestion to President Roosevelt:
That the sum of $10,000 be appropriated for each special coin model, without regard to the monetary value of the coin to be issued, whether a cent or a twenty-dollar gold piece, as it is important to have the smallest coins as artistic as the highest.
That the best six designs received for each piece be awarded $1,000 each from the above sum of $10,000, and that the committee shall have the right to select the best of the six designs, and accept the model with or without modification by the designer, paying the successful competitor an additional sum of $4,000.