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Post your ugliest design gold coins.

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Most collectors association gold coins with beauty and value, but there have been some real mongrel dogs made, too. Post your photos of the ugliest gold designs.

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The most repugnant US gold coin design for me is the obverse of the so-called indian head eagle from 1907-33 with the face of a bewildered caucasian shemale teenager, chewing gum with her mouth open, wearing an amerindian feathered headdress from the high school costume closet. I don't own one of these, just purloined the pic from ebay:

 

UGH!

190710.jpg

 

 

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I'm almost pretty sure that Cher modeled for that one.

 

I don't know ... I am leaning towards Tom Cruise .. :whistle:

 

 

 

 

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That coin will forever be a disgrace until they let Pete Rose into the HOF. Matter of fact, the entire Baseball HOF is one huge joke. They will punish Pete Rose until the day that he dies yet they encourage the induction of the steroid boys into the club.

 

 

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[The 'Nike Erini' portrait by Saint-Gaudens was considered a superb example of neo-classic work back in 1907. It appears again on the Peace dollar, although the lady had apparently been to a local cosmetologist convention prior to coinage. For the $10 it was President Roosevelt who demanded the headdress. He also wanted one for the Liberty figure on the $20 but the artist wouldn't do that. The feathers were actually modeled on goose feathers owned by Adolph Weinman.]

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I don't think that is a majority opinion but to each their own. I like the $10 Indian.

 

I like pre-33 US gold but the Classic Head obverse is a bit homely - ha! I like the coins though.

 

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The chin is a little cartoony on the Indian Eagle...sort of looks like Peter Griffin's chin from the side. And I could have done without the war bonnet...which I guess without we'd be calling the coin something different.

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There are several modern commemoratives that are an absolute waste of perfectly good gold. The Mount Rushmore one comes to mind not only as ugly, but a rather dumb design -- stone president heads looking in terror at a giant, deformed eagle bearing a hammer and a fork. The reverse "design" is simply a testament to what happens when you run out of ideas.

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" stone president heads looking in terror at a giant, deformed eagle bearing a hammer and a fork."

 

But, that's the famous "Hungry Bird Deli" design....

 

How about some more ugly gold pic....?

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I might be in the minority, but I actually like the Indian Eagle and the Peace Dollar.

 

I at one time nearly felt the same disdain toward that $10 Indian Eagle however during the course of studying about Theodore Roosevelt (one of my favorite political figures) that I learned how much influence he had on the redesign of some of our coinage at the time.

 

I then began to start appreciating the design quite a bit more after realizing that, although maybe not the best attempt to represent the American Aborigines, atleast they were trying to show respect and admiration for a culture that got the shaft.

 

In my opinion, there are only two authentic representations of the American Indian on our coins that artistically honor them, and rightfully so. Those would be Bella Lyon Pratt and the incused Indian on the $2.50 and $5.00 Gold and, of course, James Earle Fraser's magnificent representation, which also happens to be 100 times more profound when on a 1 oz 24K Gold coin.

 

 

 

 

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For the me the ugliest gold type coins were issued from 1813 to 1838. These coins hard some really "tough looking old ladies" on them, and I don't find them attractive. Using the red neck term, these women were ugly enough to haunt a house. The eagles on the reverse were okay but uninspired.

 

From ugly to most ugly ...

 

18345ngcO.jpg

 

1813HalfEagleO-1.jpg

 

And the winner :sick::o

 

18345CapO.jpg

 

And to complete the round here are the corresponding eagles ...

 

18345ngcR.jpg

 

1813HalfEagleR-1.jpg

 

18345CapR.jpg

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There are several modern commemoratives that are an absolute waste of perfectly good gold. The Mount Rushmore one comes to mind not only as ugly, but a rather dumb design -- stone president heads looking in terror at a giant, deformed eagle bearing a hammer and a fork. The reverse "design" is simply a testament to what happens when you run out of ideas.

 

I have always thought the eagle flying by the carvings with the hammer and chisel in its talons was a good design.

 

Now the reverse ... that was a monument to laziness. I read that the "artist" who came up with that, said he had too many assignments and was too busy so he came up with that thing, which I could have done on my computer in two minutes. If he was that slammed, he should have had the integrity to have declined the assignment.

 

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There are several modern commemoratives that are an absolute waste of perfectly good gold. The Mount Rushmore one comes to mind not only as ugly, but a rather dumb design -- stone president heads looking in terror at a giant, deformed eagle bearing a hammer and a fork. The reverse "design" is simply a testament to what happens when you run out of ideas.

 

I have always thought the eagle flying by the carvings with the hammer and chisel in its talons was a good design.

 

Now the reverse ... that was a monument to laziness. I read that the "artist" who came up with that, said he had too many assignments and was too busy so he came up with that thing, which I could have done on my computer in two minutes. If he was that slammed, he should have had the integrity to have declined the assignment.

 

I hadn't even seen this atrocity before...I had to look it up. I don't like the obverse much, but the reverse is horribly boring and hideous.

 

10262918_1735242_large.jpg

 

 

Interestingly, when I typed "Gold Mount Rushmore" into Google Image Search, this was the #1 match. :grin:

 

golden_mount_rushmore_zpsmny58yzh.jpg

 

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Agreed Bill. I feel they are, like the Barber series, a little manly.

 

Walter Breen wrote in his half cent encyclopedia that the woman who appeared on the Classic head half cents looked like, "A Greek profile, similar to that common to numerous ancient statues of boy athletes, ... adorned only with a fillet."

 

Unfortunately we know about Walter's problems with boys, and I don't want to hijack the thread by saying that. We all know the circumstances, and we don't need to rehash it here.

 

It's just that you comment reminded me of the description of the Classic Head with was similar on the half cent and the gold coins.

 

1826HalfCentOJPG.jpg

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The "goiter look" was considered a sign of good health in the 18th century....plump women were thought to be healthy. The early US designs were so badly derivative, that that can hardly be called "classical."

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I don't think that is a majority opinion but to each their own. I like the $10 Indian.

 

I like pre-33 US gold but the Classic Head obverse is a bit homely - ha! I like the coins though.

 

The $10 Indian is my favorite gold design. Perfect period piece.

 

Mark

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I don't think that is a majority opinion but to each their own. I like the $10 Indian.

 

I like pre-33 US gold but the Classic Head obverse is a bit homely - ha! I like the coins though.

 

The $10 Indian is my favorite gold design. Perfect period piece.

 

Mark

 

Although, I like the design and collected the series for a number of years I actually like the 2.5 and 5 better. Contrary to most I like the $10 more than the $20 probably due to the reverses.

 

I like the Rushmore well enough as well...it is most of the "Olympic" coins in the modern series that I don't like too well....oddly I actually own one. lol

 

jom

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For the me the ugliest gold type coins were issued from 1813 to 1838. These coins hard some really "tough looking old ladies" on them, and I don't find them attractive. Using the red neck term, these women were ugly enough to haunt a house.

 

I also find the figure on the 1795-1804 Turban Head quite unattractive and a bit too unrealistic. For me, this figure is almost in the uncanny valley.

 

s3jb4m.png

Source: https://www.whitman.com/redbook/Coins/Detail/Half-Eagles+Capped-Bust-to-Right-1795---1807

 

I'm also not a fan of the overall look of the Small Eagle reverse. The head of the eagle looks like a snake and the neck is too long. I like the font, but the lettering looks sloppy. And if it were up to me, I'd make the eagle more bulky on the chest and legs. I know that this is one of the most classic U.S. coins, and I'd love to own one for its history. But I just don't find the overall design very appealing.

 

I like the Heraldic Eagle revere much better.

 

wujvko.png

Source: https://www.whitman.com/RedBook/Coins/Detail/Half-Eagles+Capped-Bust-to-Right-1795---1807/Heraldic-Eagle-Reverse-1795---1807

 

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I hadn't even seen this atrocity before...I had to look it up. I don't like the obverse much, but the reverse is horribly boring and hideous.

 

10262918_1735242_large.jpg

And you'll notice that it took two, count 'em, two, yes, TWO people to come up with that reverse.

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And you'll notice that it took two, count 'em, two, yes, TWO people to come up with that reverse.

 

It also took two "artists" to come up with this sink-o reverse design, which I view as worst ever to appear on a U.S. coin that was mass produced and distributed.

 

CapVisR.jpg

 

The obverse was not much better. When I opened the package and looked at this obverse for the first time, I thought that the coin was damaged. Then I realized the symbolism, but I still think that it's ugly.

 

CapVisO.jpg

 

 

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I really disagree, Mr. Smith. If you don't care for the designs on the first U.S. gold coins, you may as well skip the whole series because it was all downhill after 1807 in my opinion. The design was based up a fashion of the period. I have some photos from a book on early American fashions, but I can't lay my hands on it at the moment. I really admire these coins and spent a lot of my collecting life trying to afford one. It was big day when I could.

 

17955O.jpg17955R.jpg

 

The Small Eagle design is actually filled with great symbolism. The eagle is young and preparing to enter the world a member nation after the American Revolution. He is holding aloft a laurel wreath with is the symbol victory in the War for Independence.

 

But the editorial writers of the period agreed with you and called it a "turkey buzzard" and a "sick turkey" among other things, which led to it rapid replacement. The young eagle image is better shown on the silver type coins from 1796-7 which are among the most difficult type coins in the U.S. series.

 

1796DimeR.jpg1796DimeO.jpg

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I might be in the minority, but I actually like the Indian Eagle and the Peace Dollar.
so do i

 

I like the Indian Eagle, but I could take or leave the obverse of the Peace dollar, not to offend Mr. de Francisci who used his wife's profile as the model for the design.

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