I decided to place this nice item under "Numismatic Artistry" attribute because of its enhancement and exposure of its main images to an innovative and creative aesthetic process.

Eagle Art in US Coins: Free Eagle in Flight Photograph By Ruben SafirDesign by Thomas D. Rogers, SrPhoto Editing: Ruben Safir 2008 Free Eagle in Flight enhances the extraordinary reverse of the Sacagawea Golden Dollar by lifting the eagle out of the limits of the coins context to better represent the freedom and uplifting dimension of the fight of an eagle. The presentation inspires viewers by focusing on the flight feathers of our bird, adding depth to the design with the judicious use of lighting to accent the feathers with reflective white light while accenting dimension with the darken tail feathers. The complete affect causes the image to nearly jump off the canvas into the viewers personal space.� From the beginning of US coinage the American Bald Eagle had taken its role as the national symbol and displayed both naturally and symbolically. Symbolic Eagles started with early Silver Dollars. The gamely representation of a proud, if not a bit perturbed bird with almost a folks art presentation. In truth, this early eagle was difficult to distinguish from a dove or seagul. But the representation and variations remain on American coinage until about 1798 or perhaps later when two different eagle designs came into use, one heraldic and symbolic, and the other more naturalized but with a stronger use of naturalist technique. An example of the Heraldic version can be seen on this 1804 owned by the Smithsonian Institutionhttp://www.coinfacts.com/silver_dollars/1804_dollars/1804_dollar_class2_rev.jpg With the Cap Bust the design the newer more natualized eagle remained in use with this serviceable basic design The break through of Eagle design came with the rare Gobretch Type sitting liberty dollars, who's design was lifted and used with only the slightest modification on the Flying Eagle small cent. Putting the eagle in flight gives the coin a more attractive look although the design seemed to challenge the technology of pre-civil war America and it wasn't again until the reverse of the Standing Liberty Dollar, $20 gold eagle and then when the Golden Dollar was released that the public then had a soaring eagle on a coin. It is worth mentioning that in 2009 the reverse of the Sacagawea Golden Dollar will change so it might be a long time before eagles soar on our coinage. Photography done with a Sony Cybershoot Camera with a Carl Zeiss Lens. Photo editing done with the GIMP Write up and HTML marked up in Open Office - All of which is Free Software

Really I try to be positive here and I hope that when I suggest something that would be well received rather than bruising feelings in improving blog posts. It's a learning process and I can tell you improving my writing skills has been life long. I continue to improve my writing skills today and I certainly welcome any feedback that improves my writing style.

Today I received the email from the Numismatic Guarantee Corporation (NGC) with the images from my recently submitted 1986 Gold Eagle coin.� At first I thought $13 was a little too much for "images", but I am really pleased with the product NGC provided.� For $13 you get 3 separate files; one being a composite of the obverse and reverse with an NGC background (4 MB), one being an image of the obverse of the coin (3 MB) and the other image of the reverse of the coin (3 MB).� When I submit my next coin to NGC, I will definitely continue to add in the imaging service.

Did you know that you could have the design of you own on� the revers of a coin. Well people as young as students in high school have had something like this happen to them all you need to do is do a little research and find out about a competition that the mint is having. One competition that I have found is the Mint announces design competition for 2019 Apollo 11 Moon-landing commemorative coin and what they want is "The convex (domed) reverse will be designed by a U.S. Mint artist, and will feature “a representation of a close-up of the famous ‘Buzz Aldrin on the Moon’ photograph taken July 20, 1969, that shows just the visor and part of the helmet of astronaut Buzz Aldrin, including the reflection of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the United States flag, and the lunar lander.”"� In this competition you could earn up to 5,000 if your design is chosen.