Quick work needed to issue dollar in 2018

A second try for a decent pair of designs for the 2018 American Innovators dollar coin was taken Sept. 27 by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

It shows the Statue of Liberty on the obverse and various gears on the reverse.

Also included on the reverse is a reproduction of the signature of President George Washington, who personally signed the first patent granted by the new federal government.

These two designs were deemed acceptable by CCAC.

At a July 31 meeting, the CCAC had rejected multiple examples of Washington’s signature as the dominant design feature.

The new reverse design subordinates the signature to a position well under the four gears that old-timers like me might liken to the inner mechanism of a mechanical clock.

I agree that these designs are much better than those from July.

But I suggest that adding stars around the rim of the obverse would improve the empty look of the right half of the Statue of Liberty design.

Adding them would be a reminder of the process surrounding the evolution of the Seated Liberty dollar design by Christian Gobrecht in the 1830s.

Certainly 13 stars would be another reminder of the early federal government.

Whatever the decision, there is not much time left in the year to get this first coin finished and issued.

It will be the first in a series of 57 designs.

The next four designs will come in 2019, with the same number issued each year through 2032.

These will honor 50 states, five territories, the District of Columbia, and the American Innovators who came from them.

These coins will be struck in the same composition as Native American and Presidential dollars.

They will be offered to collectors in bags and rolls and in collector sets.

Details of how the solo 2018 coin will be offered have not yet been revealed.

One thing we already know for sure: the American Innovators series of dollar coins will not win their place in circulation.

Failure to circulate by Ike dollars, Anthony dollars, Sacagawea dollars, and Presidential dollars caused them to clog the banking system.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."