No Weimar Wheat on US Coins

[chrisild]

Does this remind you of anything? Look at the design in the upper picture ...



Apparently this was the design that the Fine Arts Commission recommended to the US Mint for next year's Lincoln cents. But then somebody discovered that a similar "wheat" design had been used on German coins from the Weimar Republic ...

http://www.muenzauktion.com/weller/pic/g085.jpg
http://www.joerch.org/coins/de-r-1pf-1925-o.jpg

... and the result, according to Coin World is:
Mint withdraws 2010 'Wheat' cent design
Mint officials withdrew the 2010 Lincoln cent reverse design recommended by the Commission of Fine Arts after learning the sheaf of wheat design resembles that on coinage of Weimar Germany.
Source: http://www.coinworld.com/ (Reading the full text requires a subscription which I don't have.)

That design is not exactly thrilling in my opinion. Cannot be that hard to come up with something better. But the reason for withdrawing it is a little strange. Using wheat on coins is (even if we leave the US Wheat Penny out) kind of common ...

Christian

[BC Numismatics]

Christian,
  The wheat sheaf also appears on the Weimar Republic type coins of Nazi Germany (1933-36) as well.Perhaps,the U.S. Mint's officials also found this out as well,which could also be a reason for the design's withdrawal.

Aidan.

[Prosit]

Don't care for that design much, regardless of who used in in th past 

Dale

[chrisild]

Well, that design was in use on Weimar Republic coins (see the links above) between 1919 and 1933 - the nazis simply continued using it for three more years and then replaced it. Hard to imagine that their use of a Weimar coin was the reason for the US Mint's decision. But yes, this is a somewhat weak design indeed ...

Christian

[Figleaf]

Of course they don't care about the Weimar coins, they care about he nazi coins. Since they are bureaucrats this "reason" is a device for saving face. Apparently, the thing was to symbolize the concept of "one nation" (curious motive, for a civil war time president). Why not use a bundle of arrows with an ax sticking out? It's an old Roman symbol

Peter

[chrisild]

Well, if they care about nazi coins, they can of course use that wheat sheaf look, as that piece was designed many years earlier. Now the Mercury Dime could indeed be from Fascist Italy, but as you wrote, it is a much older symbol anyway. What I do not like about some of the "penny" designs is the way the denomination appears. Digits instead of letters are just fine, for several reasons. But the "¢" on a coin design ... hmm, don't like it.

Christian

See also: Weimar Wheat