The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-04-29

The act of April ?, 1892, which estab-
lished a mint in Philadelphia, then the
seat of Government, provided that upon
one side Of the gold and silver coins of
the United States there should be an
impression emblematic Of liberty with
an inscription Of the word '.liberty" and
the year of the coinage, and upon the
reverse the figure Or representation of an
eagle, with the inscription Omitted Sta
tes Of America" The act of January,
1887, made similar provisions, and when
the Silver bill providing for the restora-
ton of the ''dollar of our daddies" was
enacted, it was provided that the same
inscription should be placed on the stan
dard dollar But few people outside the
mints understand the care and delicacy
required to produce well finished coins
but the work of coming or perfecting q
piece is as nothing compared with the
designing and engraving of a die. The
extremely limited space presented by the
surface of coin for display of artistic
embellishments is of itself a very unfayo-
rable condition imposed upon the inven-
tive faculty Of the artist. and when the
more rigid limitation upon the relief is
considered it Is obvious that the artist
has to work with fetters on his hands to
an extent unknown in any other depart
ment of art. 1t has often been the case
that artists of well known regulations,
but having no experience in the en2Tav-
ing of coins, have had designs Of great
artistic merit rejected simply for the
reason that such designs were not adap-
ted to the purpose for which they were
intended
The device of our coins, emblematic of
liberty, is no doubt devised from a sim
liar device on the coins Of the Roman
Republic anterior to Augustus, and has
much Of classic authority in its favor.
It's adoption does not seem to have been
determined by any specific act or in
structions, and. in fact, the journals of
the Senate and other proceedings of
Congress show that the head Of the
President was at first intended as the
device for one side of the coins.
The first coins struck were cents, in
1898. on which the emblem was a female
head, with hair flying wildly behind. In
1895 the cap Of liberty was introduced,
supported on wand projecting behind
the head. In 1886 or 1871 the cap was
discarded.
The first silver coins were struck in
1891. The head of Liberty, with fow-
/ ing hair and without the cap, formed
/ the diverse. This style was retained,
with a slight modification, until about
+ the year 1903, when q more pleasing
head of Liberty, with hair dressed and
cap, was adapted. The device was taken
from life, and was considered a model in
good taste of the fashion of the time.
The inscription of the word Liberty was
at TIE time transferred from the margin
Of the coin to the head of the cap.
The first gold coins struck in 1885 were
ornamented with head Of liberty and
a cap head dress corresponding with the
fashionable head dress of that period.
This continued until 1907. when the
head dress on the gold coins was made
to conform to that on the silver Upon
the change of standard in 1881 the Iib-
erty cap Of the goddess was removed
from the head and the hair confined by
a band inscribed with the word Lib
erty.H The next change took place near
the end of the year 1888, the hair being
loopej up behind and entwined with
braids. a couple Of stray curls hanging
loosely upon the neck. and the front Of
the head embellished with tiara in.
seribed Liberty. Since then the chan
ges in the artistic devices and design: