The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 53, December 16, 2003, Article 17

THE THIRD DIMENSION

  Joe Boling writes: "Reference your note about state quarter
  designs, "The third dimension of relief never comes into play."
  That's because the mint won't allow it.  For years now they
  have designed coins with extremely flat relief, in the name of
  manufacturing efficiency.  Look at how the dies for the half
  dollar were changed in the late 1980s  (I don't have enough
  half dollars here to tell you what year the hub was changed)
  - the shield on the reverse went from having a conspicuously
  raised chief to having a very flat chief. Similarly with the cent -
  the relief is now so flat that a road kill coin has its date
  obliterated very quickly. The old bronze cents take a hard
  beating before becoming illegible (and it's not just because
  bronze is harder than zinc)."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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