Post by blackcrowheart on Feb 17, 2006 8:28:05 GMT -5
Flip a coin for Jamestown Two federal commissions debate the
designs for two coins that could bring in millions of dollars for the
2007 commemoration. BY VICTOR REKLAITIS
<mailto:vrek@dailypress.com>
223-5682 February 17, 2006
www.dailypress.com/business/local/dp-73192sy0feb17,0,1308297.stor\
y?coll=dp-business-localheads
American Indian leader Powhatan and English colonist Capt. John Smith
could soon appear on special U.S. legal tender designed for collectors,
just in time for the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English
settlement in America.
The two men - apart or together - star in several proposed designs for
two commemorative Jamestown coins that the U.S. Mint will release next
year. In all, several dozen designs for a gold coin and a special silver
dollar are being considered.
In recent weeks, two federal commissions have offered differing
recommendations for the coins, a Mint spokesman said.
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee suggested four designs - two for
each two-sided coin. The committee said that the gold coin's heads side
should feature Powhatan and Smith together and that the tails side
should have an Indian girl carrying corn. For the silver dollar, the
committee said, the heads side should feature a black woman with a
pitcher standing next to an English colonist and an Indian, and the
tails side should have an Indian with a bow and arrow by a longhouse.
On Thursday, the other federal commission recommended other designs -
four for the gold coin and two for the silver dollar. The Commission of
Fine Arts said that the gold coin's heads side should feature Powhatan
alone and that its tails side should have Jamestown Church's tower.
Another option that it put forth for the gold coin would have Smith
alone on the heads side, with an Indian in a canoe on the tails side.
For the silver dollar's heads side, the commission suggested a trio
representing the three cultures involved in the settlement - just like
the citizens committee's proposal - but it picked a design showing only
the trio's profiles. On the tails side, it wants a design with the three
English ships that sailed to this region four centuries ago.
The final decision will rest with Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. The
Jamestown 2007 commemoration's steering committee is also weighing in, a
Jamestown 2007 spokesman said.
Other possible designs feature glassblowers at work and Jamestown's
triangular fort.
For buyers, the total price for the special gold coin - worth $5 as
legal tender - will be more than $200. Versions of the silver dollar
will sell from $35 to $39.
These prices include surcharges that could provide millions to Jamestown
2007 and the two Jamestown historic sites, according to the law
authorizing the coins.
There is expected to be a $35 surcharge on the gold coin and a $10
surcharge on the silver dollar.
The law allows for the production of up to 100,000 gold coins and
500,000 silver dollars.
That means the commemoration's organizers and the groups that run
Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement could split as much as $8.5
million.
Recommending the designs has been controversial at times, reports in
Nativetimes.com <http://nativetimes.com/> and Coin World said.
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee said the words "a gift from our
harvest" should be removed from its recommended design for the gold
coin's tails side, after one member suggested that Smith had stolen corn
from the Indians.
Some committee members also worried the designs that they were
recommending showed an inaccurate "Hollywood image" of cooperation
between the English and Indians, Nativetimes.com
<http://nativetimes.com/> and Coin World reported.
designs for two coins that could bring in millions of dollars for the
2007 commemoration. BY VICTOR REKLAITIS
<mailto:vrek@dailypress.com>
223-5682 February 17, 2006
www.dailypress.com/business/local/dp-73192sy0feb17,0,1308297.stor\
y?coll=dp-business-localheads
American Indian leader Powhatan and English colonist Capt. John Smith
could soon appear on special U.S. legal tender designed for collectors,
just in time for the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English
settlement in America.
The two men - apart or together - star in several proposed designs for
two commemorative Jamestown coins that the U.S. Mint will release next
year. In all, several dozen designs for a gold coin and a special silver
dollar are being considered.
In recent weeks, two federal commissions have offered differing
recommendations for the coins, a Mint spokesman said.
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee suggested four designs - two for
each two-sided coin. The committee said that the gold coin's heads side
should feature Powhatan and Smith together and that the tails side
should have an Indian girl carrying corn. For the silver dollar, the
committee said, the heads side should feature a black woman with a
pitcher standing next to an English colonist and an Indian, and the
tails side should have an Indian with a bow and arrow by a longhouse.
On Thursday, the other federal commission recommended other designs -
four for the gold coin and two for the silver dollar. The Commission of
Fine Arts said that the gold coin's heads side should feature Powhatan
alone and that its tails side should have Jamestown Church's tower.
Another option that it put forth for the gold coin would have Smith
alone on the heads side, with an Indian in a canoe on the tails side.
For the silver dollar's heads side, the commission suggested a trio
representing the three cultures involved in the settlement - just like
the citizens committee's proposal - but it picked a design showing only
the trio's profiles. On the tails side, it wants a design with the three
English ships that sailed to this region four centuries ago.
The final decision will rest with Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. The
Jamestown 2007 commemoration's steering committee is also weighing in, a
Jamestown 2007 spokesman said.
Other possible designs feature glassblowers at work and Jamestown's
triangular fort.
For buyers, the total price for the special gold coin - worth $5 as
legal tender - will be more than $200. Versions of the silver dollar
will sell from $35 to $39.
These prices include surcharges that could provide millions to Jamestown
2007 and the two Jamestown historic sites, according to the law
authorizing the coins.
There is expected to be a $35 surcharge on the gold coin and a $10
surcharge on the silver dollar.
The law allows for the production of up to 100,000 gold coins and
500,000 silver dollars.
That means the commemoration's organizers and the groups that run
Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement could split as much as $8.5
million.
Recommending the designs has been controversial at times, reports in
Nativetimes.com <http://nativetimes.com/> and Coin World said.
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee said the words "a gift from our
harvest" should be removed from its recommended design for the gold
coin's tails side, after one member suggested that Smith had stolen corn
from the Indians.
Some committee members also worried the designs that they were
recommending showed an inaccurate "Hollywood image" of cooperation
between the English and Indians, Nativetimes.com
<http://nativetimes.com/> and Coin World reported.