Love Silver: Celebrating Classic Pin-Up Beauty and Enduring Romance

Silver CoinsCoin CollectingEconomicsTrade War

May 25

1940s pin-up girl posing by fighter plane silver shield coins

“Pin-up” girls have been a favorite of men, and of calendar companies, since the Roaring 20’s.

pin-up girl daphne silver coin | silver shield — *2025 "Love Silver – Love, Daphne" Proof Round, by Chris Duane*

The girls depicted in the calendars were not what we’d associate with Playboy Magazine. Yes, they were considered “racy” at the time, but modesty still reigned, and nudity was never an option.

Many of the early images of the girls were done as either watercolor or oil paintings. But as photography developed, the industry embraced the new technology and began to use photographs of girls in their calendars as well. Chris’s new coin, Love Silver, Daphne, is the last in a series of four coins, which are reminiscent of those images. But his girls are now enshrined in silver.

chris duane designs silver shield coin love silver, love daphne pin-up girl — *“Love Silver – Love, Daphne” – Silver Coin Proof*

The height of the “pin-up” girl era was during World War II. Thousands of men were away from home while fighting the war in foreign lands, and the “pin-up” girls brought a smile to their faces and reduced their homesickness. Nearly every sailor or soldier had access to the calendars, and they stowed them in their lockers or their footlockers. The men would have lively conversations about whose “girl” was the most beautiful, and in some cases, they would create personalities and storylines about “their girl”. These images got a lot of guys through the war.

Betty Grable is still considered the iconic pin-up girl from that period of time. In her famous photo, which was taken from the back, she peers over her shoulder at the viewer. She has her blonde hair piled high on her head, while radiating her beautiful, hometown-girl smile. Her pose is both sexy and cute, which is reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe’s unique qualities, too. Betty’s stance was not a brilliant inspiration. It was actually a clever response to a necessity because at the time of the photo shoot, Betty was six months pregnant and showing. She and Harry James, the famous band leader, were expecting one of their two daughters.

Throughout history, men have revered, adored, and loved women. They daydream about them, plan their futures around them, and devote themselves to their girl’s happiness. Since the 1970s, radical, second-wave feminism has stolen the girl of men’s dreams. She is no longer receptive to his adoration as she once was. She rejects his attention and devotion because she is now an “independent, emancipated woman” on the road to a better job. She claims she doesn’t need him anymore.

But what does she have without him? A job, which she will be forced to retire from? A condo in which she lives alone with a cat for company? Trips abroad that she takes with a girlfriend? A nice car which she buys, maintains, and drives alone? Independence, which requires her to do everything for herself, only to die by herself as well?

Well, Chris’ coin, Love Silver - Love, Daphne, rejects that misguided ideology and reminds us of the unprecedented joy, happiness, and fulfilment that true love brings into a couple’s life.