My Weekly CoinWeek Column on the future of U.S. Coinage!

you bring up a good point. I didn't stress metalic composition, only because with a fiat currency system, composition really is not all that important. I kind of assumed that should something like my proposal come to pass that the new coins would be bi-metallic- like their European counterparts. One thing to keep in mind, the face value of a mint set, if my proposal was adopted before the end of the presidential dollar series would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 23.90. Ouch!

Enjoyed the article and the discussion of the historical values of our various coin denominations. I agree it's probably time to drop the Lincoln Cent as a circulation coin, and to make the five-cent piece our lowest denomination coin. I would be in favor, however, of keeping the Lincoln in Mint and Proof Sets for collectors -- no issue with production costs vs. face value in the sets!

In terms of a dollar coin vs. dollar bill, I think it's inevitable that we will get there at some point within the next 10 years. I often hear the "weight" argument from folks concerned with carrying around lots of dollar coins. From my travels, I can say that it doesn't take too long to adapt to regularly spending the high-value coins in daily transactions vs. continuing to use paper bills and accumulating the coins; I never wound up with a pocket overwhelmed by high-value coins on any of my trips. I'm confident folks in the US can adapt fairly quickly once the dollar bill is removed from circulation.

One quibble, I disagree that "the new ‘Shield' reverse looks like an afterthought, and the coin has never looked as ‘cheap' as it does now." I like the new reverse and find it a nice change after looking at the Lincoln Memorial for so long. I find the design of the "Shield" reverse to be simple, clean and uncluttered -- all positive characteristics for a small sized coin. I also like how the design of the shield is reminiscent of those commonly found during Lincoln's time.

Great article, but the dollar coin isn't circulating either.

And I don't see a half dollar circulating, even if the size is reduced, since it doesn't need to be used, because it is just the same as 2 quarters. It would be better to make a $2 coin about the same size as the $1 coin, with a different color than the $1 coin and quarter or a bi-metal coin.

Technically, you don't even need the dime, since it is just 2 nickels, but since the dime can be made for a profit, it is worth keeping.

It'll be interesting to see the nickel made of aluminum. It'll be light as a feather. I have some foreign aluminum coins and they are very light. Not sure how easily they'll get banged up against copper nickel coins bouncing around in your purse or pocket.

Our devalued dollar is all based upon inflation and the greed of this country. Inflation has risen greatly, because of the greed factor. That is why the value has dropped so much. Plus we don't manufacture as much as we used to. Hence we are dependent on other countries to import more goods. And that drops the value of the US dollar too. If there aren't many US products to buy with US dollars, why would the US dollar circulate world wide? Even India and China and a few other countries were thinking of switching over to the Euro instead of the US Dollar. Not sure if it ever happened though.

Tired from too much work CC to offer much commentary ... enjoyed the article and I as well quibble with the (Typo) about eliminating the $5 bill ... suspect that your editor missed that detail.

Great to have your expertise and broad-ranging knowledge being put to use with insightful articles such as this one.

David