The Golden Dollar

nds76,

No one is really sure what's going on with the Sackie. The law you spoke of has been changed before, no big deal. What it really says is that the design cannot be changed more often that once every 25 years.

catman

This is all very interesting. The dollar coins put out by the United States will always fail in my opinion unless the dollar note is eliminated. Maybe these would be more widely used if the dollar note was discontinued when the sackie was released. I'm don't know if its too late do do something like that now.

David

Hi toast,
quick answer is I don't know. Morgan Fred likely knows the history cold. I do know that US coinage went through a great deal of change from 1868-1890. Weights of silver coinage changed, silver was essentially demonetized and replaced with gold, then bimetallism took hold, and also in 1890 western mining interests "won" and got congress to ensure that the mint purchased silver on a monthly basis. Basically, westerners and southerners wanted a silver system, northeastern banking and monetary players a gold system. Twenty Cent Pieces were introduced and disappeared, 2 and 3 cent coins were discontinued, Half Dimes disappeared.
Don

Didn't the Kennedy half dollar break the mold? Frankies were in the middle of their run, Kennedy gets shot, and then legislators feel they have to come out with a coin just like after when FDR died.

But this will be all for not as long as dollar bills continue to circulate.

Current legislation for the Presidential dollars call for the continued striking of the Sacagawea dollar as well. Have any of you given any thought to what a mint set or proof set is going to cost when they stick those "UNWANTED" dead Presidential dollars in them? Your looking at 4 per year in both sets so I think we will be looking at a $5 to $8 increase in both sets! Personally I think this will cost the Mint BIG TIME as most collectors DO NOT want this series and the Spouse's in gold, WHO CARES? That set of gold will probably be worth a fortune some day as I don't see but a few hundred sets ever being put together! One thing is for certain, I won't own one!

I've said this time and time again, but once more for the books;

The only way to introduce a dollar coin is as follows;

1) Introduce a coin and stick with it. (If you keep changing sizes, alloys, designs... you're just going to confuse people).

2) People will stick with what they know, so you must educate them with a period of grace, $1 coin and $1 bill circulate concurrently for say 6 months.

3) Only way to make the coin successful is to remove the alternative. Six months after introduction of coin cease issuing bills, a few months later announce that the bills are to be demonetised. This makes people worried that they're gonna get stuck with them and they therefore turn them in by the hundreds in order to get the coin which will still be worth $1.

4) Demonetise the bills and give a period of grace to allow them to be removed.


Problem solved and you're on the coin. This is what Canada, the UK and several other countries have done, most people can't even remember the notes now, nor would they want them back. Notes of such low denominations are not liked, even in the UK I think many would welcome a £5 coin (decent size permitting) because £5 notes often turn up in horrible condition, and because bank machines no longer give them out for withdrawals it means that they're often a shortage of £5 notes in shops!

And, if gas remains under the $2 mark, they will have to make more Lincoln cents to give change? Can't win for losing can we?

CiSco, I'm with you. Do the one and two dollar coin and be done with it! Mike