Sad Story Of Americans Not Knowing Their Coinage

I totally agree!

I think that this topic does also raise an important issue about circulating commemorative coins. Coins have historically been valued due to confidence by the public that it is in fact genuine. So I just wonder if in this day & age having so many commemorative types of coins is causing confusion as to the legitimacy, and therefore value, of some coins. I too wonder just how people will react to the new Cent design when they are released in the coming months.

When was this, ratman? When I was a kid, I too, knew what they were. But we also learned about our coinage in school. Do they teach kids about half dollar and dollar coins in school?

Does you being a coin collector have anything to do with your kids knowing what they were?

One last thing...yes, you can turn it over and read it. But, if you have never seen one, or no one has ever told you they exist, how do you know it's real?

I don't think it is completely fair to say that today's youth are being poorly educated, but just in a different manner. Yes, it is horrible for an American to not know who Benjamin Franklin is, but it shouldn't deem that person to have been poorly educated. Unlikely as it might be, the person who told you they didn't know who Franklin was, might be a physics genius. They might turn around and be disgusted at the fact that you might not know something that is simple math for them. Then again, if I said to someone "Hey, I know who Benjamin Franklin is, he wrote Poor Richard's Almanac." I bet a lot of people would say, "That's great, I already knew that". People just don't care if you know simple facts, but as soon as you don't they go ballistic. I don't mean to offend anyone, but just wanted to give my feeling on today's youth since I myself am 17.

Yes, when I was a kid, they taught money. I'm talking about the 1990's and I'm talking about MY KIDS. I guess they were smart enough to understand if a quarter dollar was 25 cents, than a half dollar was 50 cents.


No, my kids never had any interest in coins other than spending them. In fact my collecting was on hiatus while I was raising them.




First we'll start with the half dollar (the denomination the OP had a problem with). This is not a new denomination. It has been minted for 200 years. The current design for over 45 years. Same composition as the current clad coinage. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that there is probably a denomination between 25 cents and a dollar (since there are 2 denominations between 1 cent and the quarter).

The dollar coin has also been around on and off for 200 years. Granted they also see little circulation. The small dollar design has been around for 30 years. I will admit that the Presidential dollars (and maybe the SACs) could confuse people, but the SBA and the Ikes are same composition as the rest of the clad and are easily identifiable. The reverse design on the presidentials are different and could cause confusion.

Like I said, my kids had no problems with half dollars or SBA's, Sacs or Ikes. They read the back of the coin.

I wonder how many people here had the same problems when they were younger and got their first quarter from their Grandmother? Had they never seen one before...so therefore it wasn't real? There has to be sometime that common sense kicks in.

I myself don't really want to see the government spending billions of dollars promoting money. If they really want to see the dollar coins in circulation, than they need to kill the dollar bill. Just quit printing them.

So some American kids have problems with their coins? Just think of the confusion created in Great Britain in 1971 with the introduction of decimal coinage. Back then it was the older people who took longer to get used to it. Although I only had to deal with "good old Christian money" (that is shillings and pence) for the first 18 of my current 57 years I do still, occasionally, relate current prices to the old system -- "Back in my day you could have a night out at the pictures, a couple of pints then a fish supper and still come home with change from a half crown". Okay I exaggerate slightly.

I know you were talking about YOUR KIDS. That is MY POINT. I'm saying things are different today. (maybe they are different? I was asking a question)

I never said anything about it being hard to understand that a half dollar is worth 50 cents. I meant, if you have never seen or heard of the DESIGN on the actual coin, how you can you be sure it is real? Especially when you are at a till taking money from people and will get a butt chewing if you take something counterfeit! If it says "50 cents" that automatically makes it worth 50 US cents?



Quite a different situation. A 3 year old receiving a quarter as a gift from grandma and a 17 year old accepting money from a stranger for products at his/her workplace are two different things. In fact, wouldn't "common sense" dictate that you question something that you have never seen before?!?!



Great idea, but they haven't done that yet. So, that means they need to educate the public about the money that they expect us to use.

I totally agree.


I think I'll carry a few halves just to see what happens. Actually, I've spent halves before, and no one gave me any trouble, but I think I'll try it again. Maybe get some "Gold Dollars" too!

I've said it before,somemany most people simply do not care. Tell someone they're about to spend a 100 year old coin, they say "oh ok" and then spend it. Tell someone you spent $40 on a penny and they're little minds just can't understand. They see a penny as a penny, nickel as a nickel, etc. Nothing more.

With your reasoning, we really don't need the dime then, two nickels would do just fine. And I guess we really don't need the dollar bill or dollar coin since 4 half dollars make a $2.00 bill. Like I said previously, the half dollar has been around for over 200 years. Obviously the government saw the need for them in our coinage.

I don't think a 17 year old would lose their job or get yelled at for taking a half dollar from their customer. The manager would probably appreciate the fact that somebody used their brain instead of potentially ticking off a customer and having to deal with the customer complaint either at store level or through the corporate office. (I've been there) I mean come on, we are talking about 50 cents. It's not like we are talking about a $500.00 bill.

Again, I am against the government spending billions of dollars educating people about money. Retailers need to do a better job educating their employees. I mean most cashiers don't even know how to count change back properly. Even now, with all the changes in the past decades with our paper money, some of these younger people may have never seen an old style (small portrait) $20.00 bill. Should they not accept it because they've never seen one? Or should the government spend our tax money to educate the younger generation on all circulating currency? I think it should be up to the retailer to educate the employee. Or, we can use some common sense.