Coins

I was sorting through some old coins from a friend who asked me to look at them. The one I went to first was one I had not seen before -- a Quarter Eagle, worth $2.50 or one fourth of an Eagle, a $10 dollar coin. This series of gold coins has the image impressed into the gold rather than raised and this particular one is very small -- smaller than a dime.

She also showed me another coin I had never seen or held before. It was a half-dollar from the early 1800's, called a Capped Bust Liberty coin.



Finally, another coin I had not held -- an 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter.



I looked closely at them, using a magnifying glass to bring out detail that my progressive lenses didn't. There were symbols and words on them ...

... Stars, thirteen of them for the founding states.
... The Eagle's breastplate shield has thirteen stripes.
... In the 19th Century coins, the Eagle held both arrows and an olive branch in his talons, but his head was favoring the olive branch.
... In the 20th Century coin, the Eagle is only holding an olive branch.
... The slogan "E Pluribus Unum" -- out of many, one -- is on each coin
... The slogan "In God We Trust" went on coins first during the Civil War, and is on the latter two coins here.
... Lastly "Liberty" is on every coin.


I worry about our country and pray that we can still feel and appreciate those words and symbols in our divisive world today!