suitable for the twenty-cent piece; he got his way on the reverse. The eagle carries the arrows of war in its right, or dominant claw, and the olive branch of peace in the left, in heraldry preferring war over peace. Art historian Cornelius Vermeule described the twenty-cent piece's obverse as "a pleasing synthesis of traditional elements". He was less complimentary about the eagle on the reverse, calling it awkward and a fatter version of the eagle on 18th-century American coinage. Vermeule admired the pattern designs made by Barber, especially the "Liberty by the Seashore" motif, which the historian believes owes a debt to the British copper coins of that period depicting Britannia—Barber was an Englishman by birth. He deemed it appropriate that the ship that is visible is powered by steam. Numismatist Yancey Rayburn, in his 1970 article, wrote that the twenty-cent piece is bare of much of the lettering common on US coins: neither "In God We Trust" nor "E Pluribus Unum" appears on it. At the time, "E Pluribus Unum" was required on American coins under the 1873 act; "In God We Trust" was included on different coins at the discretion of the secretary of the treasury. The mottos were excluded as the coin was considered too small to contain them. The act creating the twenty-cent piece did not dictate its design, but provided that the new coin was to be subject to the terms of the 1873 act. Rayburn also admired that the full denomination, "twenty cents", was spelled out; at that time the quarter and fifty-cent piece had the word "dollar" abbreviated as "dol." Production, aftermath, and collecting The design for the twenty-cent piece was approved on April 12, 1875. It was, however, immediately revised to better define the olive leaves at the right end of the branch (over the N and the T in "cents"); on the original design, the leaves overlapped with each other. An amended approval was given on April 15. Production began at Philadelphia on May 19, on June 1 at the Carson City Mint in Jones's home state of Nevada, and between June 1 and 17 at the San Francisco Mint. Only about 40,000 were struck at Philadelphia; the bulk was at the two Western mints with 133,290 minted at Carson City, and 1,155,000 at San Francisco. The price of silver had not dropped to the point where Congress was willing