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 Replies: 32 / Views: 4,831 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1003 Posts |
Has the US Mint ever made a 2 dollar coin? All help appreciated.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3278 Posts |
Lots of 2 and a half but no two dollar coins (as far as I know)
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
837 Posts |
 with nalaberong  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1003 Posts |
Okay. Kids at school were trying to convince me that there was a 2 dollar coin. I wasn't convinced.
Kenny
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4901 Posts |
There's a 2 Euro coin....I just returned from Paris and it's a very convenient concept..and their 50 cent coin is golden and about the size of a quarter...another cool coin (great as a ball marker on the golf course)
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1682 Posts |
The UK has a £2 coin which is worth more than the 2 Euro coin.
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Moderator
 United States
187803 Posts |
Quote:
Kids at school were trying to convince me that there was a 2 dollar coin. There is... in Canada. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3278 Posts |
We have had 2.5, 3 and 4 dollar coins. the 4 dollar coin being particularly interesting ($$$$)  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
927 Posts |
Logically, a 2 dollar coin makes sense (cents?) but the U.S. has never made one. Even back in the old days when higher denominations were gold, it would have made more sense than 2 1/2 dollars. And why they ever decided to make a 3 dollar coin is beyond comprehension (dumbest idea ever). If the government ever gets smart and discontinues the 1 dollar bill, I think a 2 dollar coin would not be far behind. It would be nice.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
997 Posts |
Remember that the larger gold coinage was based on Eagles, a $10.00 base unit of coinage. There were half-eagles ($5.00) and Quarter Eagles ($2.50) and later Double Eagles ($20.00). If they had been based on the dollar coin then a $2.00 coin would have made more sense. It is kind of the Quarter vs. the 20-cent piece argument on a larger scale...
($3 coins were a bust and only minted in small numbers, the $4 piece was actually just a pattern and never circulated.)
Gold coins in general didn't actually circulate much anyway in regular commerce. They were used more as a method of storing value and backing paper money and deposits as well as used for large transactions, especially internationally.
Now that $2.00 is considered pocket change it is more logical to have higher value coins. This however is offset by the large size of existing coinage compared to purchasing power. Even with the reduced size of the current dollar coin, it is too big to be comfortably carried in quantity, a $2 coin would be worse. This is why the $1 and $5 bills remain in circulation, unless the size and weight of coins are reduced for these denominations larger value coins will be unpopular.
Eventually one of two things will likely happen. Inflation will continue and existing small change (cent, 5-cent, dime etc.) coins will become unnecessary, making larger value coins more practical and smaller or the entire coin and currency system will be replaced by electronic money. I bet on the latter.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
"Too big to be comfortably carried"
This is a silly, silly argument. I imagine the miserable masses shuffling along, pockets groaning as they all have to carry kilograms of ENORMOUS coins. Occasionally, a tearing is heard, followed by a high-speed jingle. A pocket has burst, seriously harming those in the path of the flying (huge) coins. The wearer will be a social outcast for the rest of his life. If only, they murmur... if only they had kept the dollar bill!
Are these the same people who carry smart-phones and wallets every day? The Canadian toonie is just 28 mm (I think this is barely more than an inch), and (unfortunately) I have yet to get those bulked thighs that all that extra coin-weight will surely lead to. What's with this size obsession?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
997 Posts |
Size matters...
Obviously it does with dollar coins, look at the difference in size and weight of the Ikes and and our current dollars and the very similar sizes for Canadian dollars. While size and weight are not tied to metal values so much these days there should still be a relative size to value ratio. Dimes, quarters, half dollars and older large dollars did have a relative weight ratio (10 dimes were the same weight of a dollar coin etc.) the dollar coin no longer follows.
It is a fact of life that larger coins are less convenient based on purchasing power, and for some coins it is impractical to reduce the size enough to make them worth while (read cents....). Reduce the size to something more manageable and the public may take a shine to them. Look at the British 1 pound coin, manageable size, easy to pick out by feel and popular.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
The current dollar coin is completely fine to carry, and the toonie is an okay size as well... what is "too big"? Does your hand get stuck in your pocket? Are your legs weighed down by the sheer bulk of metal?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
Okay. Kids at school were trying to convince me that there was a 2 dollar coin. I wasn't convinced. Copy all the info from the replies and hit them with that. Then throw in info about Mills, 1/10th of a Cent and 1/2 Cent. You could end up being the money expert of your school. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
997 Posts |
The current US and Canada dollars are comparable in size and weight, the Twooney being a little thinner but bigger around. Since Canada dropped the paper dollars and $2 bills in favor of these coins they have worked well in Canadian commerce. For now the size, while large, is tolerated, partly due to the "Ain't anything else" factor. In the US the public has given dollar coins a resounding belch since we still have paper dollars. It is just too easy to carry a few singles than a few dollar coins. Get rid of paper dollars ($2 bills are not a factor here) and dollar coins will be tolerated for the same reasons Canadians do.
As inflation marches on these larger coins are going to be worth less and less. Already what I could get for a dime when I was a child was a full sized candy bar and a bottle of RC. That same treat would cost me 2 Twooney's these days in the GWN and 3 dollar bills here. See where I am going here?
Coins sizes are too large for their purchasing power these days but traditions won't allow then to be reduced to more relevant sizes. Canada now has 3 coins all about the same shape and size: half, dollar, $2. While I have never seen a circulating half in Canada I hear tell they are out there someplace. While they have done well to allow a Twooney to be separated from a dollar coin by feel, it is still impractical to carry enough coin around to match the purchasing power of a pocketful of change from 20, 30 50 years ago.
The change to a more reasonable coin size will likely not be needed due to the proliferation of plastic and electronic transactions. Walk into a Tim Hortons or 7-11 and see how many small sales of under $5 are being made on debit cards these days. People are not using cash as much any more, coins have become used only to make change rather than purchasing devices in their own right. Dollar bills are getting pretty close to that status already, it is only a matter of time that $5 bills will be too.
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Replies: 32 / Views: 4,831 |
Posted 09/16/2013 5:40 pm
