Is There A Coin/Note That You Can't Stand?

Hey!

Atleast we had the current head of state on those coins, not just some old presidents

I won't lie though, those were my least favourite coins to get when they were still in use. I don't think I've ever liked them.

I for one actually like the Euro common designs, it's just that they're decorated as uncontroversally as possible - which leaves nothing but the denomination and a map of Europe.

I can't say I either hate or love any of the UK shield or Ironside designs. I think I prefer the Ironside pieces but they're not as nice as the could get. The shield puzzle is an interesting concept but doesn't make much sense with single coins other than 'abstract art'. I do however not at all like the Standing on shoulders of giants design on the £2 - looks like a mess in my opinion. The only thing I like about it is the latent image in the centre and the fact it's bimetallic. I do much more like the new Britannia design.

Except that since they don't circulate no one would ever see the commemoratives. Just like the President dollars, changing the design on a coin no one ever sees does not make people want to use it.

I forgot about it until I seen one CRHing today, But I also can't stand the Mississippi quarter!

I'm with Carl on the quarters.

Cent design and quality started to erode about half way through 1982. The lower relief and propensity for nasty oxidation was just a harbinger for what was to come in 2010. Shields on nickels were bad enough but at least we have the luxury of only looking at those if we (you) want to collect them. I hate the shield cents.

The worst though, by far, are any coins/notes from the [German Nazi] Third Reich. That swastika makes me want to go strait to the anvil and 3# hammer. I don't care if they have numismatic value. Pound them down, melt them, or just blow them up.

As much as I dislike all of the Presidential dollars, the Kennedy one is particularly bad. All of the others are respectably posed. He looks like he's just been shot or something -- his head looks down and to the left. Down, and to the left. Down, and to the left.

Kennedy has a dollar?

Another vote for the shield zincoln penny. If the plan is to make a coin so ugly that people will demand its withdrawal then the plan is working.

Runner up: the Shield nickel.

In fact I'm not a fan of any shields on coins with the exception of this one:



That's an ancient Roman Republican denarius showing the vestal virgin Tarpeia being covered with shields. From Wikipedia:

"The legend tells that while Rome was besieged by the Sabine king Titus Tatius, Tarpeia, daughter of the commander of the citadel, Spurius Tarpeius, approached the Sabine camp and offered them entry to the city in exchange for "what they bore on their left arms". Greedy for gold, she had meant their bracelets, but instead the Sabines threw their shields—carried on the left arm—upon her, crushing her to death. Her body was then hurled from (or, according to some accounts, buried at) a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill. The Sabines were however unable to conquer the Forum, its gates miraculously protected by boiling jets of water created by Janus."