Letter
Dear Ms. Fore:
At its 19 May 2005 meeting the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed designs for two silver dollar coins honoring Benjamin Franklin. The Commission’s choices were as follows:
Coin #1
Obverse: Design #9, "Benjamin Franklin, Inventor." The Commission requested that the proportions of the figure be restudied. It appears that the viewer is looking at the figure from a slightly low vantage point, making the legs seem too large in relation to the head.
Reverse: Design #14,"The Rising Sun of a Young Nation."
Coin #2
Obverse: Design #12, Franklin wearing his small, round glasses, with signature. The Commission expressed concern that Franklin's head came too close to the outer rim of the band containing the word "Liberty." Perhaps a slight reduction in the size of the figure would remedy this, as well as relieve the overcrowding of the inscription, "In God We Trust" and his birth and death dates.
Reverse: Design #1, Franklin's Continental coin design.
Sincerely,
/s/Thomas Luebke, AIA
Secretary
The Honorable Henrietta Holsman Fore, Director
United States Mint
801 9th Street, NW, 8th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20220