Is the Capital Visitor Center half dollar homeliest commemorative coin?

[BillJones]

Amazingly it took THREE designers to come up with the images that appear on this coin. The obverse is actually tolerable when one considers the symbolism, but when I first saw this coin, I though it was defective. The structure on the right with the ghostly outline of the capitol dome and the remainder of the front facade on the left is symbolic of fact that only the right side of the building existed when the national government moved to Washington, DC in 1800. The coin does command some visual interest although it does come off as a bit stark.

 

As for the reverse, I can only say that I have seen far more interesting road signs. Did it REALLY take TWO artists to arrange groups of words and 16 stars into such an unimaginative and visually boring pattern? One is tempted to dust off the old joke, “Why does it take two (pick your ethnic group) to change a light bulb?” (Ans. One to hold the bulb and the other to turn the ladder.)

 

Among the “old” commemorative half dollars, art critics have cited the Arkansas, Carver-Washington and Wisconsin as among the worst designs. I think that those coins almost look like works of art when you compare them to this coin, especially the reverse.

[jtryka]

Yeah, that's an ugly design, but so are most modern commems (Eunice Shriver anyone???). The halves in particular tend to be boring, and I find it somewhat ironic (as Oldtrader3 and I were discussing on Saturday) that all the really nice, popular designs of modern commems were based on old designs: The Columbus Half based on Saint-Gaudens medal for the 1892 exposition, the Washington half eagle based on the original design for the quarter, the NCS dollar based on another Saint-Gaudens medal, the Buffalo dollar purely Fraser's design, and of course the two bullion coins being the bastardization of two of the loveliest designs in mint history, and I'm sure there are others. And then there are the new Wright Brothers commems, which to me all have the reverse of the NC state quarter. You can see the same thing with the state quarters in fact. To me the worst designs are the ones that have an outline of the state and then a few things the state is famous for. Put that garbage on a billboard or something, not a coin! The best ones are those that dipict interesting images relating to the state that others might not recognize, like the Charter Oak on the CT quarter, or the new Maine quarter with the lighthouse, or the Maryland quarter, or the NH quarter with the old man in the mountain (may he rest in peace), or Vermont, Kentucky, Rhode Island, these are the kinds of designs that are at least interesting. The outline of Ohio with the sta-puft marshmallow man, or the outline of Illinois with young Abe Lincoln striding between a far and the Hancock building do nothing for me. The new coins are uninspiring, with low relief, and in my opinion so much less than the mint is capable of with such small runs.

[Hoot]

Jeff you are a fountain! I rather like the Eunice Shriver dollar. The reason is simply that they depicted the woman for a noble cause and they pulled no punches! I think the rose on the reverse is quite pretty. But I understand the overall sentiment.

 

Designs I can't stand include nearly all the Olympic/athletic commemoratives, except for the 1988 torch dollar and the 1995 baseball half. As for the classics, the Cincinnati Music Center half is just wickedly bad. For me, that's followed closely by the Carver-Washington and the Iowa Centennial. The obverse of the Lynchburg is beyond bad, but the reverse is a nice depiction of Liberty. Lord Baltimore on the Maryland looks ill. In terms of bad design, I think the New Rochelle, Norfolk, Providence and York County coins form a foundation of uninspired coinage.

 

Hoot

[michael]

wow i have never seen this coin itt is butt ugly

 

 

and if i saw it in someones case or collection i would have guessed it was just one of those ugly privately minted silver one ounce rounds

 

wow i am shocked the mint would put out such an item that looks like one of those butt ugly poorly thought out private mint silver rounds

 

michael

 

 

[paigow_johnny]

The outline of Ohio with the sta-puft marshmallow man

 

It's the "hangman astronaut" darn it...get it right !!

 

What an incredibly disappointing presentation from my home state

[jtryka]

Don't feel bad, my home state of Illinois didn't do any better...

[EZ_E]

It is definitely a homely coin but perks up a little when one acknowledges the history on the obverse.

[RobertB]

Just plain ugly, I bought the bu and proof. Why?????????

 

I want my money back.

[BillJones]

Well, I bought mine because it came as part of a three piece set, and I like the sets that have gold coins in them. Now the mint has stopped selling sets at least for the Wright Brothers series.

 

I guess that will give me an excuse to avoid the really ugly coins in the future.