The Decimal Coins

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31088, 17 June 1966, Page 8

The Decimal Coins

Sir,—The Government submitted designs to the Mint for comment, and no whisper of such action reached the public. Finally these designs were reproduced and adverse comment was so unanimous that the Government took another look at them. The “extraordinary pains” taken to “consult and satisfy public opinion” were not Govern-ment-sponsored; it was the more enterprising and interested editors of several newspapers. If the man in the street will be unaware of the motifs on his new coins, by what reckoning will he come to regret missing the opportunity to strike a coinage of such erudite design as suggested? The chosen designs are pleasant and must seem to many to possess a unifying theme, and it ill becomes anyone to so contemptuously belittle the New Zealand character as to label it “pleasant, but trite.” And how would one convey a country’s way of life and culture, particularly distinctive culture, on a coin?— Yours, etc., D. E. MITCHELL. June 15. 1966.

Sir, —I am most surprised that your second leading article on the decimal coins should go so far as to presume that experts abroad may see our choice of design as indicative of the New Zealand character. Surely the man in the street in any country, when asked for an opinion on art, will choose what is pleasing to his eye, but of course he would not expect an expert to agree with him. Nor would he expect his Government, which is served by experts, to select his choice. Poor Kiwi in the street, having had his opinion accepted, is now told in yOur leading article that knowledgeable visitors and numismatists alike may well, from his choice, judge him to be trite. My dictionary gives the definition of trite as commonplace, hackneyed, or worn-out. What a thought when next selecting a picture for my lounge! But then, as my friends are not clairvoyant, they would not be able to forecast an expert opinion of, I hope, my pleasing choice.—Yours, etc., MAMBO. June 17, 1966.