Letter
Dear Mr. Motl:
In its meeting of 18 January, the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed a new set of design alternatives for the reverse of the Northern Mariana Islands quarter-dollar coin as part of the 2019 issue of the America the Beautiful series, superseding the designs presented and reviewed in September 2017.
Consistent with the preferences of the Mint’s liaison and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, the Commission members recommended alternative #4; they cited its flattened perspective composition depicting the American Memorial Park, and the profile pose of the young Chamorro woman viewing the memorial. They suggested careful study of the position and texture of the foreground plaque so that it is distinct from the memorial’s steps. For the proposed lettering on the coin, they recommended that removing the “Court of Honor” phrase would result in a more elegant design; they also questioned the proposal to abbreviate the name of the territory as “Nor. Mariana Isl.” and instead suggested “N. Mariana Islands” or “Northern Marianas” as alternative wordings of comparable length.
As always, the staff is available to assist you with future submissions.
Sincerely,
/s/Thomas E. Luebke, FAIA
Secretary
David Motl
Acting Deputy Director
United States Mint
801 9th Street, NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20220