Topping the agenda of the Feb. 28 meeting of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee was a review of new designs for the Presidential $1 obverse.
At its Jan. 25 meeting, the CCAC, while going over Presidential $1 obverse design possibilities, asked for the new renditions from the U.S. Mint?s Artistic Infusion Program.
?One thing that was mentioned at the meeting was the committee?s appreciation to the people at the Mint to be willing to solicit new designs under such a tight timeline,? said Mitchell Sanders, CCAC chairman.
The CCAC chose images for the first Preisidential dollars due out in 2007: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. All of the chosen designs feature forward-facing portraits turned at a threequarters angle ? a design element the CCAC voted for unanimously, 9-0. They?re similar to the 2006 Jefferson nickel with the forward-facing portrait. Obverse images were not available at press time.
Later, the CCAC reviewed designs for the Presidential $1 reverse and chose one with Lady Liberty looking straight-ahead. All of the reverse image options can be seen on Page 34. The Commission of Fine Arts reviewed these reverse designs Feb. 16.
In a related item, the CCAC also recommended where the Presidential information ? name, the order in which they assumed the Presidency and the dates of service ? should be put on the obverse of the coin.
The CCAC recommended uniformity in the series, with the name around the top of the coin and the rest of the information running along the bottom. The committee also advised that the order of the term not be written out. Instead, the CCAC wants a numerical designation.
As for the edge lettering of the coin, the CCAC voted to order the date, followed by the inscriptions for ?E Pluribus Unum,? and ?In God We Trust.?
Unexpectedly, the CCAC also had to go back to the Jamestown commemorative issues. Some designs were removed from eligibility by the U.S. Mint, one being the reverse image for the $5 gold that was chosen by CCAC at its last meeting. This time, the CCAC chose a design featuring four ears of corn and the inscription, ?A basket of corn is more precious than a basket of copper.? The quote is from Powhatan.
