2 Cents.Indd 6 5/13/13 2:26 PM

“My Two Cents’ Worth” South park coins by Ed Reiter THROWING COLLECTORS A CURVE BALL rooks Robinson. Ozzie between a beautiful design BSmith. Joe Morgan. Don and a beastly one. The least Sutton. Dave Win eld. the Mint could have done Those names might not was put Andre Dawson, mean much to some coin a well-known coin collec- South Park Coins hobbyists, but they’re tor who’s also a Hall of instantly recognizable Famer, on the panel. to millions of American The decision simply 800-332-2646 baseball fans. All ve underscores the utter dis- were outstanding ballplay- regard—if not complete ers and all are enshrined in disdain—that Mint of - the National Baseball Hall cials hold for U.S. coins’ of Fame in Cooperstown, aesthetic quality. The New York. One design possibility for the “modern” commemora- What does this have to do Baseball Hall of Fame coin. tive coins of recent years with coin collecting? have been relentlessly I pondered that question recently, when dull, and even greater depths have been I learned that these former baseball super- plumbed by the preposterously mis- We have THOUSANDS stars had been chosen to judge the entries named “America the Beautiful” quarters, in a public contest—open to one and which regularly attempt—half-heartedly of collectable all—planned by the United States Mint to and totally unsuccessfully—to portray obtain the obverse design for three 2014 majestic vistas on “canvases” just 24.3 coins in stock! commemorative coins honoring the Base- millimeters wide. ball Hall of Fame. (The common reverse I would feel quite comfortable having U.S. and World Coins will replicate a baseball, stitches and all.) former baseball stars assess the dimen- Next year is the 75th anniversary of Coo- sions of a new stadium, the “liveliness” perstown’s pride and joy—an occasion at of today’s baseballs or the relative merits least as important as the 100th anniver- of current ballplayers and those from the sary of the Lions Clubs International, for past. But why, in the names of the gods of which Congress has seen t to authorize a baseball, would I care which coin designs YOUR SOURCE special silver dollar in 2017. they like. The Baseball Hall of Fame will get not Judging art is a job for artists, not ath- for rare, collectable, one, not two, but three special coins: a half letes. But then, the Mint has distanced eagle ($5 gold piece), a silver dollar and a itself from the nation’s top sculptors, med- scarce or unique coins! copper-nickel “clad” half dollar. As usual, alists and art organizations and has no the Mint will add surcharges to the cost of apparent frame of reference on what con- minting and distributing the coins—$35 stitutes beauty in coin design. Instead of www.southparkcoins.com for each half eagle, $10 for each silver dol- marvelous artwork, we’ve seen a decades- lar and $5 for each clad half dollar. This long procession of technically superior revenue—potentially as much as $9.5 mil- but artistically sterile coins fashioned by lion—will be given to the Baseball Hall of overworked Mint engravers and less-than- Fame, perhaps to nance its soup kitchens exceptional outsiders “infused” into a for indigent former ballplayers. highly awed program. Presumably, it won’t be long before the The Mint arranged for two separate football, basketball, bowling and rock- design competitions—one for entrants 14 and-roll Halls of Fame come calling on and older, the other for children 13 and Congress for similar largesse. And now younger. The children’s contest seems to that the Lions have mined this same moth- have been a feel-good exercise with no real er lode, it isn’t hard to imagine lobbyists point, since the youngsters’ designs were for the Elks, the Moose, the Eagles and ineligible for use on the coins. Given the Shop on the web or other animal-themed fraternal organiza- “artwork” on recent U.S. coins, could they tions queueing up at the Capitol to claim really have been any worse? Download a catalog their pieces of the pie. One wonders how Brooks Robinson, But I digress. Ozzie Smith and their fellow-judges would TODAY! What really caught my eye was the have felt about having medallic artists call- Mint’s agreement to entrust the judging ing balls and strikes when they were at bat. in the baseball design contest to ve ath- All were great ballplayers in their day. letes who probably don’t know an obverse But when it comes to coin design, all of 800-332-2646 from a reverse, much less the difference them are way out in left eld. 6 www.coinagemag.com COINage 2 cents.indd 6 5/13/13 2:26 PM.

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