Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-06
ARE LITTLE OBSERVED
FEW CAN TELL THE DESIGNS ON
COINS AND PAPER MONEY.

"Pessimistic theorists delight in attempt
ing to prove one phase Of their pessimism-
that some Of us never learn the simplest
things in life. nor observe so as to remem-
Der the most commonplace things Of every
day occurrence" said bank cashier to q
Star reporter. land sometimes I am in
clined to think they are not far from
being right
ut can be proved this way: Ask the av-
erage man to tell you off-hand the face
design Of the fifty-cent piece and he will
hesitate, while it's diverse will completely
floor him. 1 have tried it hundreds of times
and the answers received are most anus
ing, yet these silver pieces are almost
constantly in hand.
TRY this on even cashiers in business
houses and in restaurants. with men and
women who make their living by handling
money and changing it, and you will be
amazed at the results from this source for
these people ought to know to the minutest
particular every detail of the coins and the
bills they handle. but they don't. They
will miss one or two of the face-side de-
tails and about half of the diverse. And
when it comes to a description of the bills
the average man is lamentabiy at fault as
to the face of the bills Of the lower denomi-
nations, practically at sea as to the diverse
and wholly at sea on the larger denomina-
lions. OF course. they know the bills and
coins when they see them. but they can't
describe them II they faced a Jail SEN
tence. Just try 1t.
IT will tell you something interesting
about these coins and bills. The fifty
twenty-five and ten cent silver pieces have
a bas relief head of the Goddess of Liberty
facing toward the right, with the hair coll
ed up in knot on the top Of the head. over
which is entwined a laurel leaf wreath.
ha fret piecaC have 70 of
base, the thirteen original stars on each
side of the face and the words In God We
Trust at the top Of the coin, but for some
unknown reason on the ten cent piece the
words trusting in the divinity are absent
and United States of America takes their
place and of the thirteen stars. On this
point alone you will floor even cashiers by
the dozens when you test them.
1.-The diverse of the first two pieces is
identical, except that each specifies its
different denomination. But when they
coined the nickel piece the treasury off,
Gals consulted a different hair dresser as
to the arrangement of the hair of the fair
goddess, and also different sculptor, who
drew the features of the lady more like
those of a woman. On the first three
named pieces it is a toss up to decide
whether the features are those of a man
woman, with the odds in favor of the
former. And here is where you will catch
even the smart ones, who will declare to
a man that these faces on our coins are
all the same.
Far from it. The nickel piece hair
dresser coiled the goddess locks into a
tight little Psyche knot on the back, and
not the top of the head and added a
diadem over the brow, with the word Lib
erty' lettered thereon. Then the diemaker
got busy, and instead of having the god
dess' face toward the right, as in the other
coins, he turned her classic features to-
ward the left and again you would fool
even the smart ones in money handling
The Indian chiefs head on the copper cent
is also turned toward the left, still another
puzzling incongruity.
And here is ANOTHER curious thing about
the nickel piece that not one man in
million knows. The diverse is turned up
side down with the top Of the face and,
in fact such is the case with all of our
coins of the nickel. silver and copper de-
nominations, though fail TO see any log
ical reason therefor. 1t is not so with our
treasury notes. These have top and a
bottom, and the diverse top and bottom
agree with the face. Why not with the
coins? It is as easy to make dies agree
as 1t is the fiat plates from which the bills
are printed.
III you wish to win the drinks some
night ask the average man or even the
money handler to call onhand the