Wikipedia:Peer review/Indian Head gold pieces/archive1

Indian Head gold pieces

This peer review discussion has been closed.

I've listed this article for peer review because… I intend to nominate it at FAC in due course and I'd like some feedback.

Thanks, Wehwalt (talk) 01:06, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

It's a really fun article too. And I used my own coins this time to avoid all the image problems!

Brianboulton comments: I am fairly familiar with this series, and can generally anticipate how things will proceed on the cock-up and mortality fronts. So my comments are likely to be mainly nitpicks.

• General: There's a couple of dablinks that need fixing.

Lead

• The opening sentence is very, very long. There's a bit of redundancy: "...were two coins struck by the...", and a couple of unnecessary "thens" later on. The sentence isn't that easy to split without adding text; my best effort is "The Indian Head gold pieces or Pratt-Bigelow gold coins were struck by the United States Mint intermittently between 1908 and 1929. A two-and-a-half dollar piece, or quarter eagle, was struck from 1908 to 1915, and again during 1925–1929. A five-dollar coin was produced from 1908 to 1916, and again in 1929".
• "Identical": we are straying into Tim Riley territory here, but I don't think that you can say the pieces are "identical except for size", since identical means alike in every respect. In geometry we call triangles that are identical in all respects but size "similar". The designs may of course be identical, regardless of size.
• "President Theodore Roosevelt, beginning in 1904,..." Personally I would either switch this to "Beginning in 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt..." of "From 1904,..."
• "Before his August 1907 death..." – as distinct from all his other deaths? Or "Before his death in August 1907..."
• "The coins were struck continuously through 1916, when gold ceased to circulate because of the wartime situation and then again in the late 1920s". I'm not sure this is expressed clearly enough. Per the opening sentence, only the half-eagle was struck through 1916. I think, also, you need a full stop after "situation" then "Production of both coins resumd in the late 1920s".

Innovation

• I wonder whether Lodge's political identity is relevant to this article. The link is there for those who want to know who he was.

Fair enough, it will save bother in future articles, although the coin series is winding down.

• "Roosevelt friends" → "Roosevelt's friends"
• Length: "Bigelow was one of a number of Roosevelt friends given early specimens of the double eagle, and wrote to the President on January 8, 1908 praising the Saint-Gaudens coins and stating that he was working with a local sculptor (who proved to be Bela Pratt) on an idea which would allow coins to be struck in high relief, with the designs still protected from wear and the pieces able to stack easily (both problems with high relief coins)". I'd say there are three reasoable-length sentences here.
• "Working, correctly, on the assumption the bill would succeed, Leach had Barber continue with his work..." First two words unnecessary, and lead to "Working ... work".
• "(a project that did not go beyond the talking stage) Can you clarify precisely what "a project" refers to here?

Would it help if I changed it to "proposal"? It's giving the eagle (which had already been redesigned) similar treatment by dropping its design under the level of the field.

• A little wordy here: "The opinion must have been satisfactory, as Roosevelt approved the obverse design, by Pratt, in mid-May, subject to minor changes which were requested by the Mint and made by Pratt". Suggestion: "The opinion must have been satisfactory, as Roosevelt approved Pratt's obverse design in mid-May, subject to minor changes requested by the Mint".
• Is it possible to rephrase and thus avoid the three word sentence "Pratt's was adopted" - especially as the next sentence starts: "Pratt..."
• Is Barber's holiday location relevant?

As I had mentioned it in several of the other Great Recoinage articles (usually he is getting called back for some emergency), I'd like to keep the same level of detail here.--Wehwalt (talk) 18:07, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

• "cracked down" reads to me a little colloquially:
• "the only pattern not to be melted" - presumably, the only one of this pattern not to be melted.

I can say "pattern coin if you prefer. The two terms are identical in coin collecting, indeed "pattern coin" is considered wordy, but I think justified here.

I'll come back and do the final two sections soon. Brianboulton (talk) 17:48, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

If I haven't commented, it means I agree. Thank you for your work.--Wehwalt (talk) 18:07, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Up to date, I think, though I did some in my own words.--Wehwalt (talk) 02:52, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Here's the rest:-

Design

• You will need to reword this: "Aside from the eagle, only Mint Chief Engraver James Longacre had attempted to depict Indians on US circulating coinage..." That reads as though the eagle preceded Longacre in depicting Indians on US coinage. This is another of your extra loooong sentences and it perhaps needs attention on that score, too.
• "Art historian Cornelius Vermeule dismissed complaints from the time of issuance..." Do you mean "at" rather than "from"? Otherwise the sentence reads rather oddly. Also, you need a full stop, not a comma, after "too thin"

I've clarified. Vermeule wrote in 1970. This is mildly awkward, he's really talking about Chapman's comments but it would be difficult to move this section to the end.

• Sentence length is again a problem in the final paragraph.

Production

• "In commerce, the new coins proved to be thinner..." Surely, the coins were either thinner or they weren't, not just in commerce - though the effect of the thinness was mainly felt in commerce. Needs rephrasing.
• "Chapman wrote again, and had the correspondence published in the numismatic press, but no one at the lame duck Roosevelt White House bothered to reply, "the new coins were issued and would remain as they were for twenty-five years, or until Congress ordered them changed". Full stop required after reply. To whom is the quotation ascribed?
• "I was somewhat amused by their savage attack" - I know it's a quote, but who did he mean by "their"? It only seems to be Chapman that's attacking.

Probably people agreeing with Chapman. However, it is Chapman's attack which has come down to history, such as it is.

• "In addition, the economic unrest caused by World War I included a rise in the price of gold..." The initial "In addition" is not appropriate since this sentence introduces new, unrelated circumstances. Maybe: "An additional factor was the economic unrest caused by World War I, which caused a rise..." etc
• "All later mintages were under a million..." I'd use "these late" rather than "later" which reads confusingly. Does this mean the total minted was less than a million, or that the individual mintages at Pennsylvania and Denver were less than a million?

I am striking the sentence. I just looked at the entire series and the mintages were not exceptional. The highest mintage in the series was 1913, at 722,000.

• A final long sentence: "Gold coins not released were melted in the mid-1930s, along with those recalled from banks and private holders, after President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 ended the issuance of gold coins, putting an end to the quarter and half eagle series, which had begun in 1796 and 1795, respectively".

I have some doubt about the "Production" heading, as the section is mainly about the circulation history. Otherwise, that's all. Brianboulton (talk) 22:35, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

I've modifed it. Thank you for the review. This will go to FAC whenever the quarter clears the page. Only one chapter left in the recoinage saga, Walking Liberty half dollar which will be after these.--Wehwalt (talk) 22:39, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

All done, thank you. I will leave this open until a slot opens for this article at FAC.--Wehwalt (talk) 12:25, 21 October 2011 (UTC)