Top 10 Most Controversial U.S. Coins 1 1

[GoldFinger1969]

Recent article in CoinWeek which I thought was very interesting:

https://coinweek.com/us-coins/top-10-most-controversial-us-coins/

EliteCollection's coin heads the list. 

The 1933 Saint-Gaudens $20 Gold Double Eagle

The Type 1 Standing Liberty Quarter

The 1964-D Peace Dollar

The 1804 Dollar

The 1946 Roosevelt Dime

The 1909-S VDB Cent

The 1793 Chain Cent

The $1,000,000,000,000 Platinum Coin

The 1921 Zerbe Morgan Dollar

The 1913 Proof Liberty Nickel

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by GoldFinger1969

[Quintus Arrius]

Top Ten Most Controversial...  Like most readers, I am going to guess there are folks out there thinking the most curious aspect of this list is not what's on it, but what isn't. How is the Type 1 Standing Liberty Quarter any more controversial than the 1913 Buffalo Nickel on the mound? Has the controversy surrounding the 1943 copper simply abated, or has that long been written off as chopped liver?  And why include the trillion-dollar platinum? Was it produced for general circulation?  Too bad Oldhoop ain't around.  He'd tell me to read the article first.  

[Edit:  Okay, I read the article in its entirety.  The Type1 Standing Liberty Quarter stays; the trillion-dollar decidedly does not:   it was never even made! Who cares? And the space accorded the 1913 V-nickel is woefully inadeqate: no mention was made of Hetty Green, the "Witch of Wall Street" who briefly owned one of the "specimens."  The list should be lengthened to accommodate... how does a baker's dozen sound?]

Edited November 10, 2022 by Quintus Arrius
To add to the discussion.

[RWB]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:29 AM, GoldFinger1969 said:

The 1933 Saint-Gaudens $20 Gold Double Eagle

The Type 1 Standing Liberty Quarter

The 1964-D Peace Dollar

The 1804 Dollar

The 1946 Roosevelt Dime

The 1909-S VDB Cent

The 1793 Chain Cent

The $1,000,000,000,000 Platinum Coin

The 1921 Zerbe Morgan Dollar

The 1913 Proof Liberty Nickel

#1 A normal coin. How it was handled a decade after production is the controversy.

#1 No controversy.

#3 No controversy. They were made, then destroyed, None are known to have survived.

#4 A novodel made to fill a hole in a diplomatic gift box. Newman & Bressett took care of the controversy parts long ago.

#5 Nothing controversial at all, unless you count stupidity (the add the Franklin half, too).

#6 The chain came highly recommended and had a long background of understanding. The design and workmanship were crappy. Meh---maybe

#7 Not a coin. Move on....

#8 Zerbe's ego on display along with the goddess Greed. (Does the quizmaster intend "Zerbe's 'proof' "?

#9 Not an authorized US coin. Much like #5

[Quintus Arrius]

Maybe someone ought to consider a topic along the lines of, "What are your nominees for the Top 10 Greatest Of All Time [Most] Controversial Coins" list...

[Ray Tatum]

Metacontroversy.

[RWB]

On 11/10/2022 at 8:20 PM, Ray Tatum said:

Metacontroversy.

Did you get fired from there too....? Complain about it on Tweeter....

[Ray Tatum]

That is more apt than you imagine; not tragedy, though, the opposite.

I nominate my avatar pic.

[Quintus Arrius]

The 1909-S VDB was the very first coin I actually bought. Two developments have stuck with me. One is, the great number of them were (unbeknownst to me in the 1960's) set aside as novelties which inadvertently made this "rare" coin not so scarce in the highest grades which was, at the time, UNC [whether B.U., Gem or Choice].  The other is something I read very recently, which is, it was not the designer's idea to place his initials so prominently on the bottom of the reverse. "Most Controversial," though? Okay, so a design change was effected. But wasn't that also the case of the 1883 NO CENTS V-nickel, too?  If 10 is the limit, perhaps some substitutions, particularly in light of @RWB's comprehensive reply, are in order. As always, IMHO.

Historical note: the controversy attendant to the "unveiling" (no pun intended) of the 1916 Type I LSQ, was also the reason why "Civic Virtue [Triumphant Over Unrighteousness,"] a sculpture group and fountain [by Frederick Wm. MacMonnies] dating back to its installation i/f/o New York's City Hall in 1922, was subsequently removed after Mayor LaGuardia's objection to viewing a naked man's buttocks every day, entering and exiting the seat of city government led to its banishment to Queens Borough Hall in 1941, where a congressman's and  feminists' furious objections led to its banishment in 2012 to Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Now that's a century's worth of controversy.

Moderation: Edit as you see fit.

[Ray Tatum]

Numismatic controversy registers low seismic results.

controversy, though:

in 1909 hero worship replaces devotion to virtuous concepts. Coins get ugly, Dead things on the reverse appear.

Leave the human face on the pulp. Our eyes take a hit now.

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Ray Tatum
Overambition

[physics-fan3.14]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:29 AM, GoldFinger1969 said:

Recent article in CoinWeek which I thought was very interesting:

https://coinweek.com/us-coins/top-10-most-controversial-us-coins/

EliteCollection's coin heads the list. 

The 1933 Saint-Gaudens $20 Gold Double Eagle

The Type 1 Standing Liberty Quarter

The 1964-D Peace Dollar

The 1804 Dollar

The 1946 Roosevelt Dime

The 1909-S VDB Cent

The 1793 Chain Cent

The $1,000,000,000,000 Platinum Coin

The 1921 Zerbe Morgan Dollar

The 1913 Proof Liberty Nickel

 

 

I didn't read the article, but I kinda feel I probably don't need to waste my time. 

Some of the things on that list are controversial. 

Some of the things on that list are widely accepted by the numismatic community, and while plebes who can't afford them might complain about them, they aren't going anywhere. 

And some of the things on that list aren't coins and I don't know why they're even mentioned, except for clickbait. Shoot, some of them don't even exist, except in fanboy's dreams. Seems like CoinWorld has succumbed to that internet plague.. clickbait.