I Heart Design

no. 18

SELECTED BYR.O. BLECHMANTHE BUFFALO NICKELDESIGNED BYJAMES EARLE FRASER

Back in the ’30s and into the early ’50s, this coin, minted in 1913, was something you touched every day, barely looking at it. But if you did, what you would see was a perfectly balanced, well-proportioned design bearing a finely crafted image (something a St. Gaudens might have done). It was handled daily, so its qualities must have insinuated themselves—by osmosis, if nothing else—to generations of Americans: the qualities of harmony, proportion, and craftsmanship.

Now compare this nickel to its 2010 counterpart. What we see is a bisected face of Thomas Jefferson, rendered in low relief, the missing half floating somewhere in the ether. Arching off to the side ...