The nickel’s new look

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, September 16, 2004

WASHINGTON – Thomas Jefferson appears bolder and bigger on the new 5-cent coins, marking his first makeover since he landed on the nickel in 1938.

The U.S. Mint revealed designs for two new nickels, due for issue in 2005. The unveiling Thursday was the latest in a series of design changes for the coins.

A new likeness of Jefferson will be on the front of the two revamped coins, giving the third president a “fresh, contemporary look,” Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore said. The opposite side also will be updated.

With the makeover, Jefferson will move from the center of the coin to the side, where he gazes in a close-up profile that shows more detailed features of his face.

“I wanted an image that was large enough so you could see the determination and intelligence in his eyes. The kindness of his mouth. His sense of humor. The main thing that was guiding me … I wanted you to get a sense of the character of the person,” said artist Joe Fitzgerald, who created the design for the front of the new nickel.

Also on the front of both new coins, the word “liberty” will appear in script, as Jefferson once wrote in his own hand. The phrase “In God We Trust” remains as well.

Daniel Jordan, president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and administers Jefferson’s Virginia home, Monticello, described the new likeness as “truly impressive, and it is entirely appropriate.”

Besides being a founding father of the nation, Jefferson was an avid coin collector, he said.

The back of one of the new nickels – which will be released early next year – features an American bison on a grassy patch, a design reminiscent of the buffalo nickel first issued in 1913. The words “United States of America” wrap around the top of the coin, above the bison’s image. The phrase “E Pluribus Unum” is below the bison, as is “Five Cents.”

The tails side of the second new nickel features a view of the water from a rocky coastline dotted with trees. There’s the phrase “Ocean in view! O! The joy!” – a quote from explorer William Clark’s journal and a reference to the Lewis and Clark expedition’s quest to reach the Pacific Ocean.

That nickel will be issued in the late summer 2005. In a circle around the edge of the nickel are the phrases “E Pluribus Unum,” “United States of America,” “Five Cents” and “Lewis &Clark 1805” – the year the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean.

Fore estimated that between 500 million and 750 million of each new nickels will be minted next year.

The new nickels are part of the Mint’s Westward Journey Nickel series, which kicked off earlier this year.

Jefferson was the force behind the Lewis and Clark expedition, and was also was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase, which at the time doubled the size of the United States.