Letter
Dear Ms. Gibson:
In its public meeting of 19 October conducted by videoconference, the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed a single set of obverse and reverse designs for the American Liberty silver medal and gold coin to be issued in 2024–25. Noting the proposal’s careful adherence to the historic “Flowing Hair” dollar coin of 1794–95, including its slight irregularities of composition, the Commission requested the preparation of two alternatives: one that would more faithfully recreate the historic design, and another that would adapt the historic design with small compositional adjustments.
The Commission members cited the simplicity and clarity of the historic coin, which has an admirably limited amount of text that is subordinated to the central graphic features of both the obverse and reverse. They noted that the spacing of the fifteen stars on the obverse results in crowding at the start of the inscribed minting year, and that the vertical alignment appears to be slightly inconsistent between the central portrait and the text above and below; they observed that the wreath on the reverse appears crowded against the circumferential text, which appears awkwardly spaced.
For the first alternative, intended to recreate the historic design, they recommended careful research of the original minting to guide the modeling of the stars. For the second alternative, intended to adapt the historic design, they recommended respacing the stars and inscriptions on the obverse to be even within the border of the design; for the reverse, they recommended adjusting the size and position of the wreath in relation to the text, and respacing the circumferential text to make it more cohesive and unified.
The Commission looks forward to reviewing a set of alternatives that responds to the comments above. As always, the staff is available to assist you with future submissions.
Sincerely,
/s/Thomas E. Luebke, FAIA
Secretary
Ventris C. Gibson, Director
United States Mint
801 9th Street, NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20220