Presidential Gold Coins
December 23, 2005 9:58 AM   Subscribe

Bush approves new "dead presidents." In addition to the new new silver dollars celebrating the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth, the US Mint will be making new dollar coins featuring all 37 dead presidents starting in 2007.
posted by Hot Like Your 12V Wire (53 comments total)
 
Obviously this is just an excuse to get Reagan on some money.
posted by TheWash at 9:59 AM on December 23, 2005


It's good to see William H. Harrison finally getting his props.
posted by gigawhat? at 10:05 AM on December 23, 2005


I don't think Reagan gets on ... "The front of the new dollar coins will depict former presidents, but not those who are living or have been dead for less than two years" ... I think he died last year?

I can't wait for my sweet, sweets Dick Nixon coin. Fuck that uppity bitch Sacagawea.

Dollar coins are not "little used" because of the people on them.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:06 AM on December 23, 2005


Now I'm going to feel guilty about throwing Bill McKinley coins in the air and shooting holes in them.
posted by maxsparber at 10:08 AM on December 23, 2005


But they haven't even finished all the quarters yet!
posted by Dr. Zira at 10:08 AM on December 23, 2005


The wording of this post just earned you a visit from the Secret Service.
posted by gottabefunky at 10:12 AM on December 23, 2005


I can't wait until Shrubya is on one of those coins.

The Nixon coins should have a chip and speaker saying "I am not a crook" and "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore".
posted by fenriq at 10:15 AM on December 23, 2005


No, it should just say "Sock it to me?" over and over...
posted by stenseng at 10:16 AM on December 23, 2005


http://sonnierart.com/sockit.wav
posted by stenseng at 10:21 AM on December 23, 2005




rather
posted by stenseng at 10:22 AM on December 23, 2005


ugh


I suck


link here
posted by stenseng at 10:23 AM on December 23, 2005


oh god.


CLEANUP ON AISLE 47815



(I'm going back to bed.)
posted by stenseng at 10:24 AM on December 23, 2005


I hope these stick around. Sure, they haven't thought it out very well--Taft should be on a special $1.50 coin--but if it gets more people using dollar coins, I'm for it. I can't wait to use an Andrew Jackson coin in a slot machine at a Native American casino.
posted by goatdog at 10:24 AM on December 23, 2005


Shouldn't Jimmy Carter be on a quarter?
posted by hangashore at 10:25 AM on December 23, 2005


So is the U.S. finally going take the plunge and take dollar bills out of circulation?
posted by bobo123 at 10:28 AM on December 23, 2005


Next year, President Bush King George the Fourth will approve coins depicting the Dead Constitution, the Dead Bill of Rights, and the dead and putrefying Congressional Oversight.
posted by orthogonality at 10:34 AM on December 23, 2005


Do people actually use these things? The only time in recent memory I've seen some was when I bought a train ticket in Penn Station and the machine gave me change in dollar coins.
posted by teferi at 10:48 AM on December 23, 2005


From hangashore's link: The TV series based on the Robocop movie, which was set in the near future, featured a $1 coin called the "Ronnie."

In Snow Crash, Reagan bills were called "Gippers" -- a much more likely term, IMO, though I'd opt for "Bonzos" myself. ISTR they were quadrillion-dollar bills. From the copy a rough estimate of their value in current terms would be between $20 and $100.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:55 AM on December 23, 2005


"I was thinking the big, heavy, $10 coin should be reserved for William Howard Taft."

with gold at $500/oz., how big and heavy could this be? $10 worth of gold is 1/50th oz. will you even be able to see it?
posted by muppetboy at 11:03 AM on December 23, 2005


I was thinking the big, heavy, $10 coin should be reserved for William Howard Taft.
It should be just large enough to plug the drain in the bathtub at the White House
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 11:08 AM on December 23, 2005


I really doubt that this will spur use of the coin.

Back when they first introduced Sacagawea dollars, I got $13 back from a post office vending machine. I then proceeded to pay for $13 dollars worth of goods at Target (Ann Arbor, MI.) The cashier said that it was not enough, I said to count again as those are dollars that she was holding not quarters. She claimed that they were not legal tender. She called over her manager who told me that he would accept the coins, but it would really upset accounting and tried to get me to pay some other way. I told them, too bad and left with my goods.

The only way we will use $1 coins, is if they take away the $1 bill.
posted by jessnoel at 11:26 AM on December 23, 2005


I don't think Reagan gets on ... "The front of the new dollar coins will depict former presidents, but not those who are living or have been dead for less than two years" ... I think he died last year?

The coins start in 2007, so by then he will have been dead 3 years.
posted by Pollomacho at 11:29 AM on December 23, 2005


I want my Clinton dollar!
posted by stratastar at 11:42 AM on December 23, 2005


Dammit, I wanted Reagan coins to go with my Reagan t-shirt.
posted by Captaintripps at 11:44 AM on December 23, 2005


Why not a coin with "Terrorists are behind you!" on it, spread the word a bit?
posted by fire&wings at 11:46 AM on December 23, 2005


Clinton dollar coins will be valued at .75, reflecting the "cheap money" (low interest rates) of the era.
posted by stbalbach at 11:49 AM on December 23, 2005


Dollar coins are not "little used" because of the people on them.

Agreed. Everyone hated the Susan B. Anthony because it was close in size to a quarter, and the Sacagawea followed suit. Supposedly they didn't want to necessitate the retooling of vending machines that were already configured for the Susan B. Looks like these dead prez coins will be the same as the the Sacagawea's, but with different images on front and back.

Why does design at the US Mint suck so bad? The new bills with the larger portraits are ugly, as are the new nickels. And why the insistence at making dollar coins that the public won't use? How about a little market research here?

Personally, I'd use a dollar coin if it were widely accepted -- I liked using the coins for the Euro, and previously the pound and the 1000 lira. But there's so much resistance in the US against it. There's the idea that coins are only for making change. Cash drawers won't have room for an extra coin compartment and banks try to avoid handling coins as much as possible (as I learned when I came back from Canada with a pocket full of loonies and toonies and couldn't exchange them.) Lots of people don't even look at their coins, they just unload their pockets into the change jar when they come home.

jessnoel -- Isn't it odd that the vending machines at the post office is the only place where dollar coins are in common use? I've learned to avoid them unless I've got close to exact change. It's almost like the US Post Office has their own special currency.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:50 AM on December 23, 2005


The only thing that I ever use coins for are quarters for parking meters. Other than that, they just go into the jars in the kitchen for eventual rolling and depositing at the bank.
posted by octothorpe at 12:04 PM on December 23, 2005


Four coins a year means nine years or so. Starting in 2007. That means the program will go to 2016.

By 2014 (the cutoff for inclusion) :

Gerald Ford will be 101 years old.
Jimmy Carter will be 90 years old.
George H.W. Bush will be 90 years old.
Bill Clinton will be 68.
George W. Bush will be 68.

If this program is successful (like the quarters have been), there must be some accountant at the department of Treasury thinking that if they're lucky they just might get an extra year out of it.
posted by obfusciatrist at 12:04 PM on December 23, 2005




The new Franklin designs sucketh.
posted by darkstar at 12:16 PM on December 23, 2005


I only make purchases with dollar coins. Inconvenience the system man!
posted by panoptican at 12:18 PM on December 23, 2005


"featuring all 37 dead presidents"

38, isn't it? I mean, if you count from the neck up.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:43 PM on December 23, 2005


There they go redesigning our coins improperly again. I saw over a dozen new designs on that page and they still haven't figured out how to depict a coin's value in numerals.

So we've got coins in all different colors. We've got coins in different weights, diameters, and thicknesses all out of order. None of them show their value in actual numerals.

I'm sure no one working at the mint has ever had to visit a different country and try to use their money before. What a bunch of idiots.

My cousin visited me from Argentina for the first time a few years ago. He tried to buy some chewing gum with change. He pulled out all the coins he had in his pocket, looked at them for a while, turning each one over, and asked me "how do I do this?" I never realized that our coins made no sense before that. It was like first learning that no one is actually drinking any beer in beer commercials.
posted by redteam at 12:46 PM on December 23, 2005


The new bills with the larger portraits are ugly, as are the new nickels.

I dunno, I like the new nickels. You can see the buffalo's dingle.
posted by bigbigdog at 12:56 PM on December 23, 2005


I've already got a dollar with a dead president on it.

hydrophonic made the point earlier about the dollar coin's size. I really liked the old Ike's - it was a heafty coin that really felt like a dollar.

When the Sac Dollars came out I tried to help circulate them, but just like redteam, I found stores that didn't believe they were dollars, or thought they were quarters, or just didn't want to deal with it. We use them now as Tooth Fairy money, so the kids have quite a few. My daughter once tried to by some gum at a grocery store with a Sac dollar and the checker refused to take it saying "it's a special coin and you should keep it". The checker paid for the gum herself and sent my confused daughter on her way.

However, I've been collecting the state quaters and I'll probably collect the Dead President Dollars too.
posted by jazon at 1:00 PM on December 23, 2005


I think they are counting on people collecting these and taking them out of circulation. I have read that the quarters have been a decent money maker for the government.
posted by thirteen at 1:14 PM on December 23, 2005


with gold at $500/oz., how big and heavy could this be? $10 worth of gold is 1/50th oz. will you even be able to see it?

They should mint the coin to be $10 worth of copper.

That Franklin design is ugly. The US mint needs to hire the designers from the Perth Mint or Chinese Mint. Kookaburras, Lunar series and Pandas are all much nicer than what comes out of the US Mint.
posted by ryoshu at 1:18 PM on December 23, 2005


hydrophonic-- Agreed, the USPS is the only place I can think of where you get dollar coins as change. Then again, I can't remember the last time I got more than a 99 cents in change from a vending machine to test if I would get it all back in quarters or not.
posted by jessnoel at 1:47 PM on December 23, 2005


ryoshu, we'd have that, except that the Bush Administration doesn't want to remind anyone that there's an environment out there.
posted by Citizen Premier at 1:58 PM on December 23, 2005


Heckuva job, crashie!

Will they be making the 911 bill into a coin anytime soon?
posted by fenriq at 3:46 PM on December 23, 2005


Cash drawers won't have room for an extra coin compartment and banks try to avoid handling coins as much as possible

Most modern, standard format cash registers have 5 coin & bill holders. The slots closest to the left are usually used for holding wrapped change & large bills or checks. Dollar coins are usually put in the left most slot as it is.

Money in a cash drawer is usually largest to the left to smallest on the right, starting with the second slot. This is so that the most used bills & change (dollar bills & pennies) end up closest to the right hand. Bills are usually placed over the closest similar amount in change ($10 over 10 cents, quarters under twenties, etc).

Putting the dollar coin in a coin slot and removing the dollar bill slot upsets the balance slightly. Should you put dollar coins in a bill slot or put the dollar coins under the $100s & Checks? Do you move the Fives closer to the right, leaving two empty bill slots to the left or leave an empty bill slot to the right, just in case you get a dollar bill?

I don't think the problem is going to be redesigning cash drawers, but rather retraining millions of people on how to put money into the drawer, and where to reach once it's in there.
posted by aristan at 5:02 PM on December 23, 2005


The US Mint stopped making dimes & pennies in 2004?
posted by rxreed at 5:19 PM on December 23, 2005


The US Mint stopped making dimes & pennies in 2004?

FWIU The penny & dime are being redesigned, but to much less extent. Therefore the '2004' mark means that it applies to the old design.
posted by aristan at 5:25 PM on December 23, 2005


Let's hope something happens to make him the 38th coin. Soon.
posted by wakko at 5:36 PM on December 23, 2005



Let's hope something happens to make him the 38th coin. Soon.


Unlike comic book villains, W's castle won't explode just after he dies.
posted by Citizen Premier at 6:21 PM on December 23, 2005


So all US coins and most bills have been redesigned during President Bush's time in office? Has this happened before?
posted by rxreed at 6:22 PM on December 23, 2005


But large value coins are for those european people and flaming homosexuals!

Maybe you should call them freedom ingots?
posted by Talez at 6:57 PM on December 23, 2005


The only thing that I ever use coins for are quarters for parking meters.

You must be quite rich.

I use dollar coins occasionally. I prefer getting dollar coins from a vending machine than the alternative, which is quarters.

But yeah, dollar coins will never happen until cash registers cooperate.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:58 PM on December 23, 2005


NJ Transit and SEPTA ticket vending machines give dollar coins as change. I don't know if MetroCard and Metro North/LIRR vending machines give dollar coins, because I usually pay with plastic.

And yes, it's far better to get dollar coins than quarters, especially if you have to pay for a $7.50 ticket with a $20. You really don't want fifty coins back, do you? (I don't.)
posted by oaf at 7:41 PM on December 23, 2005


Ugh. Thirty-seven more horrifyingly ugly coins in my pocket. The United States has some of the ugliest, least-interesting money in the world.

I'm actually embarrassed to spend the New Hampshire quarter. They put rocks on it. Rocks.
posted by Mo Nickels at 5:37 AM on December 24, 2005


TheWash writes "this is just an excuse to get Reagan on some money."

Wouldn't it wax their tadpole if Bill up and died before the deadline expires. And George makes it to the ripe old age of a 105.
posted by Mitheral at 1:23 PM on December 24, 2005


"38, isn't it?"

37. Because his two terms were non-consecutive, Grover Cleveland is generally counted as the 22nd and the 24th. No, it doesn't really make sense.
posted by pnh at 7:06 AM on December 25, 2005




"Liberty 1706-2006". I guess that means it's going away soon...
posted by purple_frogs at 1:25 PM on December 27, 2005


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