Jefferson gets a makeover.The Jefferson nickel has been around since 1938, but a redesign of the five-cent coin features a more realistic portrait of the third President. The new coin was designed by Joe Fitzgerald Joe Fitzgerald (born in Washington, D.C.) is the chief of graphics at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland and is one of the designers of the 2005 United States nickel. , an artist in Silver Spring, Md. He based the portrait on an 18th-century marble bust that was considered to be an exceptional likeness. Fitzgerald gave Jefferson a larger, more accurate nose, cropped the portrait, and placed it on the far left side of the coin. He included the word Liberty in Jefferson's own handwriting and floated it in front of the mouth in the style of an early political cartoon. The U.S. Hint asked Fitzgerald to age the President's face to approximate how he would have looked in 1805, when the Lewis and Clark expedition Lewis and Clark expedition, 1803–6, U.S. expedition that explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and the country beyond as far as the Pacific Ocean. was under way. Two commemorative com·mem·o·ra·tive adj. Honoring or preserving the memory of another. n. Something that honors or preserves the memory of another. com·mem versions of the nickel are being minted this year. The first, released in April, depicts an American bison American bison see bisonbison. on the reverse; in August, a second version will, depict de·pict tr.v. de·pict·ed, de·pict·ing, de·picts 1. To represent in a picture or sculpture. 2. To represent in words; describe. See Synonyms at represent. Lewis and Clark. In 2006, a permanent version will return Monticello, Jefferson's Virginia home, to the reverse of the coin. |
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