For many, many years, one of the favorite stories in the American coin hobby has been about the design change in the Standing Liberty quarter from the bare-chested type of 1916-17, to the chain-mail types of 1917-30 (‘17-24 and ’25-30).
But the American coin hobby is slowly discarding its conventional narrative of a loud public outcry about Miss Liberty’s “immodesty” having forced the design change. Despite very determined research, it seems there is just no evidence of such public protests. The redesign seems instead to have been initiated by the designer himself, because he was dissatisfied with the coin as it appeared in 1916.
MacNeil’s dissatisfaction may have begun with design details like the unbalanced placement of the eagle, but it seems clear that somewhere in the redesign process the feeling took root that the Standing Liberty quarter of 1916 was already a coin overtaken by events.
In November 1916, Woodrow Wilson had won reelection as president with the campaign slogan “He kept us out of war.” But the political environment changed almost immediately. Germany resumed its sinking of American (and other neutral) ships; the Zimmerman telegram further transformed public opinion. On 6 April 1917, the U.S. went to war with Germany.
And there, in that profound and rapid change in public mood and national purpose, seems to be the real reason for the design change of the Standing Liberty in 1917. Miss Liberty’s “immodesty” had little or nothing to do with it—except, perhaps, that her lack of cover gave the impression that she was fundamentally unprepared.
Below, the second (and better prepared) Miss Liberty of 1917.
v.
| Dateianhänge: |
|
DSCF5439.JPG [ 41.05 KiB | 9858-mal betrachtet ] |
|
DSCF5441.JPG [ 41.57 KiB | 9858-mal betrachtet ] |
