The following is an article excerpt from Coinweek During the late 19th century, a culmination of market forces led to a volatility of the silver industry that provoked populist anxieties. Proposals by Representative Richard Bland and Iowa Senator William Allison would appease both Greenbackers (a post-civil war political party that favored the use of paper money and opposed the use of specie payments) and Silverites (a political party that believed silver should continue to be used as monetary standard), but force the treasury to mint millions of silver coins every month. George T. Morgan's renowned Morgan silver dollar would prove to be a breath of fresh air for a mint being stifled by ballooning political pressures.
I enjoyed the article but have to disagree with the line, "For his lack of technical and artistic merit, we can ironically thank Charles Barber for this change in tradition at the Mint."
Barber had the technical knowledge of what a design needed to stand up in circulation. The fact that 50+ years after they were introduced they were still found in pocket change (think New York Subway Hoard).
I would agree with you on technical merit, Meadowview. Barber had the technical merit to understand coinage, but he did lack artistic merit, IMO. His designs were mediocre at best and were replaced fairly quickly after the legal limit.
Quote: His designs were mediocre at best and were replaced fairly quickly after the legal limit.
Reading correspondence from the time makes it clear that the mint officials were misinterpting the Act to 1890 to mean that coin designs HAD to be changed after 25 years, not that they COULD be changed.
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