2011 Native American Dollar Design
Almost two weeks ago I provided a look at the 2010 Platinum Eagle design candidates and mentioned another post coming with more coin design candidates. Plenty of news happened in the interim delaying a look at the leading 2011 Native American Dollar candidate design.
The Native American Dollar series began in 2009, replacing the Sacagawea Dollar series, but using a modified version of the obverse design. The reverse of each coin would feature an annually rotating design celebrating the contributions and accomplishments of Native Americans. The first design featured an agriculture theme with a depiction of the "Three Sisters" method of planting. The second design released in 2010 featured the theme "Government- The Great Tree of Peace" and depicted the Hiawatha Belt, a visual representation of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy.
The theme for the 2011 Native American Dollar is "Diplomacy- Treaties with Tribal Nations". The design candidates focus on the treaty between Massasoit (head chief) of the great Wampanoag Nation and the English settlers in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The United States Mint provided a total of six design candidates to the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) for review and recommendation. Three of the designs are somewhat literal, in that they depict the treaty encounter, discussion, and signing between the Massasoit and Governor John Carver. Two of the designs are depictions of the Massasoit. One final design is more symbolic and shows the hands of the Massasoit and John Carver exchanging a pipe during the peace pipe ceremony.
Both the CFA and CCAC recommended the design showing the exchange of the peace pipe. The CFA commented that the design was the simplest and "uncluttered in comparison to the other alternatives and legibly conveys the theme of Native American diplomacy." They did recommend study of the "$1" text, commenting that its size and placement "may convey an inappropriately commercial association with the coin's theme of diplomacy."The CCAC stated, "Members of the Committee who favored the design considered the simplicity of the image of two hands and a peace pipe as the most effective way to depict the design theme."
The other design candidates can be seen here.
For the Native American Dollar series, there are additional consultations on the reverse design candidates with the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the Congressional Native American Caucus of the House of Representatives, and the National Congress of American Indians. The final design will be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury after weighing the input provided by the various consultations and reviews.
Labels: Coin Designs
posted by Mint News Blog @ 7:08 AM
20 Comments:
After seeing the rest of the designs, I can honestly say I like every one of them better than the one chosen. There is just too much empty space on the peace pipe design.....
It's still a nice-looking design, though. I'm sure I'll be taking advantage of the Direct Ship Program to get some rolls of those!
I think they are spot on when they mention the placement of the '$1' on the coin. It tends to cheapen the beauty of the design and looks more like a subway or vending machine token. They should also reconsider the font in use.
Why not write out 'One US Dollar' or something like that?
JA
I think the reason they use the "$1" instead of writing out "One Dollar" is to save space. Granted, there is plenty of room to write it out on the 2011, but the 2009 and 2010 not so much.
Design on top (of the pictured in link) is my favorite.
Kemosabe...$1 for your land?
I just hope this Wampanoag treaty depiction is not one of the treaties the government wadded up and threw in the waste basket after signing it. With the history of treaties between the gooberment and the Native Americans this almost seems like a cruel joke.
The Agricultural Proof seems to be a really neat well done design.
Isn`t this design promoting smoking which I thought was a bad thing?
Given to the fact that this coin is called a Native American Dollar I’m a little puzzled as to the committee decision to again neglect having on the back of the coin the very person that has the right to be there, that being a Native American. I really feel that the full figured portrait in design NA#3 or NA#5 more effectively gives the deserved respect to the Native American culture in representing peace then a picture of a pipe would. The portrait of the Indian I feel give a deeper meaning to the importance of why it was so important that we adhered to the Wampanoag Treaty. For the life of a human being, this man, his family and their nation would be jeopardize if war became the alternative.
Kemosabe, pass the bong!
For all you whiners, didn't you complain when there were too much products the Mint were offering? Ie the fractional Gold eagles,Buffaloes?
My complaint is that the mint offers mostly either high dollar stuff or carnival tokens. Very few silver coins are offered that have much appeal or smaller denomination gold coins. They can't even make a PROOF America the Beautiful 5 oz. coin. Those 1 oz platinum and 1 oz buffalos are too expensive for most collectors. Why can't they make a true silver proof set with all coins in silver, penny through dollar? Anyway, I am tired of all the low dollar crap they churn out and call collector coins.
Not my pick, nor second, or third choice for that matter. I believe they need to add some additional words to this design before it is issued: "U.S. Mint - What are you smoking?"
Have you seen the stuff the Canadian, Australian and British mints offer? They have a lot of different products but in my opinion waaaaaay too many. They have a lot of innovation, but for the most part the coins are waaaaaay too expensive. Even if one really caught my eye I can't imagine buying anything for those prices.
Those coins from other world mints are very beautiful and high tech. You are paying for thier uniqueness and the processes used in producing them. They are not easy to make. Thier production is slower not mass produced at high rates. In production they have more stages to go through. Because of the many stages and difficulty they have a higher reject rate then regular coins. They are for those who are truly collectors who are buying them for the art and beauty, not for flippers.
I just wish our mint would just try to do something different. I would be happy to see a simple hologram or bi-metal, anything new.
Falcon, I feel your pain, however a lot of those foreign mint products look like gimmicks IMO. Even with very low mintages, many of those products are available a long time. I also want my coins to look like coins not a pog or something with zero chance that it would ever circulate (even if it never will).
If the US Mint would just make coins with great design... no statements no agendas, just great looking coins at reasonable prices I'd be happy.
To "Anonymous" (May 18, 2010 7:15 AM), very well said. Canadian and Australian mints are churning out colorized cartoons ..opps tokens ..opps chips ..opps coins I mean, it is becoming a joke. One of the many aspects of coins enjoyment is inspecting your collection with a magnifier or loop but with the colorized coins are the collectors inspecting the dot matrix?
Overall I happen to like the Native American and Presidential Dollar coin series. These should be the eventual replacement for the paper one dollar bill that has an average life span of 6 to 12 months compared to as much as 30 years for a coin. In order for these coins to gain acceptance the government will probably have to force the issue by eliminating the paper dollar. My only complaint about these dollar coins now is the edge lettering. A very bad idea. In no time at all E Pluribus Unum, In God We Trust, the year issue and it's P of D mint mark will be completly worn off. Hopefully the mint will stop this and return all lettering to the obverse or reverse. I am not the only one complaining about this.
Wow another potential bust in the series with low mintages. A couple of the other designs would have been better choices. Looks too much like a casino chip (indian casino we go) and not enough like legal tender. Then again maybe a simpler design is needed after the problems with the 2010 state park qrtrs.
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