Author Roger Burdette writes:

By 1881, with Snowden firmly in charge at the Philadelphia Mint and a relatively weak, inexperienced Mint Director, Horatio C. Burchard, in place at Washington headquarters, the Superintendent had opportunity to impart his personal ideas for coindesign. In late 1881 he wrote to the director explaining his philosophy and designs for minor coins.

After outlining the confused history of minor coin designs and alloys, Snowden proposed a basic uniform design for 1-, 3-, and 5-cent pieces, similar to one offered in 1868.

Snowden's basic design specifications: "The devices were to be uniform on the obverse and also uniform in character on the reverse. The obverse was to be the head of Liberty surrounded by the words "United States of America", and on the reverse,a wreath composed of cotton, rice, tobacco, and wheat, the products of the country, surrounding the Roman numerals indicating the nominal value of the piece," were evidently given to Engraver Charles Barber, who dutifully prepared finished designsand pattern pieces. These 1881 pattern cent, three cent and five cent pieces share Snowden's simple design, including use of a Roman numeral as the only designation of value.

Figure 2. Snowden's minor coin designs as sculpted by Charles Barber. These are Judd 1665, J-1668 and J-1671, top to bottom. (Illustrations courtesy Heritage Auctions HA.com.)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MAY 3, 2020 : Were 1883 No Cents Nickels Released in 1930s? (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n18a22.html)