Eisenhower Dollars And More

These are the issues as I remember them during the time of the SBA and Sac introduction:

The Ike dollars were big, bulky, and more used for novelty items and something people did not see very often. Anyone who saw them saved them b/c they "knew some day they would be worth something." Unfortunately due to the dollar losing value, most are worth a lot less than they were back in the day they were issued.

The SBA were an attempt to get Americans to actually USE a dollar coin - so the size was reduced thinking it would be more convenient. Unlike 10 to 20 years prior, the half was now considered too bulky to carry. The half used to buy everything you would need for a day at work, but now multiples were needed per day. Hence the SBA had to be smaller than a half.

The SBA was "advertised" as being in step with the times for featuring not only a womens' rights advocate, but also being the first US coin with an actual historical woman represented. Remember this was a time when the ERA and Woman's Lib was still a mainstream media focus (and in schools - I remember this distinctly).

The excitement over the new concept meant little engineering from a utilitarian angle was incorporated into the SBA design. These coins quickly became known as the failed "Carter Quarter." People hated them for being accidentally spent as quarters and for jamming up vending machines. Back then people were used to age old habit of feeling for a quarter in their pocket (it still bought something!). So these SBAs were seen as a nuisance - except by us collectors. I remember people back then saying if they had made it have many flattened sides around the rim, it might have caught on.

The Sac dollars were a second attempt to get the public to accept the dollar coin. The beautiful new look/design/metal and, again, a new concept of putting a different historical person on the OBV - and this time not just a woman, but a famous Indian woman - was the main goal to hopefully make US people like them more over the convenience of bills.

But bills are just too convenient. The public again rejected the coins.

The Presidential dollars were introduced after the states quarter program. I got a feel the mint was trying to take advantage of:
1. The successful new collecting-state-quarter-habit the US people had picked up and hoped it would carry over into the dollar coins;
2. Making more profit since the quarter program worked so well for them.

But again, the convenience of using bills again has the public rejecting them.

This is why I think it was easy to change the dollar coin designs as opposed to the forever-accepted-in-daily-use denominations.

Once (and if) the penny (or cent, if you must) is killed, you will really only have three denominations. Nickel, dime, and quarter.

The nickel has certainly had some changes. As have the quarters. But most people only see a quarter and could not care less about what design is actually on the coin. Even with the plethora of design changes on the quarter, it has not excited any great interest in collecting. Except, perhaps, for the occasional "error" collector.

With the continued increase in debit and credit cards, or the other ways to pay (passing your phone like a magic wand), I think the younger of us will see a day when coinage is nearly non-existent in circulation.

Watch how many people count the change they are returned if they make a purchase with cash. The percentage is zero.

Virtually no one looks at their change, let alone counts it, except, perhaps, for us.

And the Mints are doing a fine job of making so many different products in so many finishes and metallic content that only the very richest of us could possibly ever own one of each different coin, and/or set, produced each year.

Conder said:



I agree with this in that the public would have been forced to accept the dollar coin if there were no more bills. But I also remember people saying they thought the design was neat, but they still desired the convenience of bills (as in not more change having to be lugged around). This same concept has constantly surfaced throughout my life.

As a kid I wanted, all the time, for JFKs and then Ikes to circulate,. However, it always came back to people saying they did not want the weight in their pockets.

I think things would have played out differently if dollar coins had been made from precious metals. If a dollar still bought what it did when the Ikes came out, was smaller (and distinctively different shaped to avoid confusion when reaching into a pocket), and had inherent value that would not keep being lost over time, then a dollar coin would maybe have been received as useful in daily commerce much like the halves prior to the 60s were. Look at all the worn down walkers and Barbers. I believe these coins were used b/c of purchase power and convenience of only needing one in your pocket. They more than bought lunch when they were being toted.

Another thing is that I remember people saying about Sacs (after trying to pronounce the name - reminiscent of Teddy Roosevelt in "Night At The Museum") was they wanted a couple of the new coins b/c they "knew the coins would be worth something someday." However, beyond that, the people I asked again mentioned not needing/desiring more pocket weights.

I also knew a Walmart checkout employee who said that after a short time, she had people rejecting the coins and asking for "real money." I was always under the impression (and may be wrong) that this is why Wal Mart stopped the program - they were stuck with the coins like they had been the SBAs.

I also was impressed by friends the coins were seen somewhat of a politically motivated fad - the term political correctness was used at times. These seemed, for some, to be another case of media/politics being out of touch with society in the real world. So again - the design change was no big deal - people knew these would not be around for long and were a novelty item more than to be taken seriously (they would be "worth something in 20-30 years").


Thankfully when Sacs and others were rejected after the initial "cool" wore off, the elected officials still cared enough about American people's choices to let them decide what they wanted to use.

I, for one, am glad we still have Sacs coming out yearly in the proof sets. I don;t know why JFKs are not done the same way. With but one exception, I like the REV designs of recent.

Moxking said:



I believe initially the states quarter program DID incite new collector interest. I remember a lot of State Quarter albums being sold and people like parents/grandparents were starting sets and collecting them with their children/grandchildren. My own parents and in-laws also did this.

The initial "cool" of the new designs wore off though. Remember up to this point the only new REV designs has been the bicentennials, so a new design was WOW.

I think what killed the collecting was so many "new" designs soon made the wow factor die off. "Special" was not longer special. When they extended new designs passed through the 50 states design phase, the coins became even more ho-hum to the masses in general. Everyone knew about the states quarter program, but I doubt many can tell you what the designs were about after the fiftieth state was reached. As you said, no one looks at change anymore.




Very sad - but true. This also will enable every penny spent by everyone to be tracked/recorded.

I wonder what makes the mint think that people will accept these dollar coins when they refuse to remove the paper notes? What will the mint do with the billions of these dollar coins sitting in government vaults?

If we look at the countries who have discontinued their smallest coin denominations, as our friends to our immediate North have done, you will notice that there is virtually no complaint from anyone. Especially when those coins cost more to produce than their face value. Perhaps a few miners who produce those metals, might be unhappy, but I'd guess those are the only people who would be concerned in the least.

However, for those countries who have discontinued their smallest currency denomination, it is not always true that the coins made to replace them have seen much circulation.

Regardless of the type (with the possible exception of early examples such as Seated and Bust), the dollar has never circulated well in the United States. Most of the Morgans sat in vaults forever. Peace dollars were a neat present for a grandchild. Ike dollars were saved by the insane (no offense to you, JBuck), although they almost never circulated. Then our line of "new" small dollars that just sit in vaults somewhere and cant be destroyed as it would mess up the accounts big time to melt $100,000,000,000 in coins for a metal value of 12 cents (a SLIGHT exaggeration).

Even if the dollar bill is FINALLY discontinued, I'm somewhat doubtful of the number of the "new" dollar coins, stuck in some vault, that would make it to the street.

Spend a little time at your favorite convenience store some time and see how many people pay with cash in a place that would certainly seem to be a location where it would be spent.

Not many.

I knew my comment about the Ike's would get you out of the weeds

Thanks for the clarification Conder about the Walmart plan only being one month.

Interesting - one Walmart could not get enough and the one I was near was stuck with them

Also I mean to correct an error - when I made the statement of Walmart being stuck with the coins my words were:



I did not mean Walmart ever did a distribution of the SBAs although the wording sounds like that. I meant that I remember seeing SBAs sitting in side trays of cashiers all over and no one wanted them.

I was told that at least the government found a good use for them eventually - Baltimore subway tokens.

I have a feeling (and mind because of the wasted lack of forsight/cost in making them in the first place) that the Presidential dollar coins in storage will someday just become a good source of srap metal for some other government project. Except for people on this forum, I have not found anyone who likes them or wants to use them.


I think it is too late for the dollar coins. Canada did it (not with citizen approval for the most part as testified in other threads on this subject) back when their dollar still could buy a decent amount. And, then again, for some odd reason Canadians always used 2.00 bills as readily as 1.00 bills - so it seems they are a bit more open to variety.

As to getting rid of the penny - the Canadian cent was missed by many ( threads available + the commemorative coins made about the penny), but I think more for nostalgia and sentiment. We do have a thread of "rounding stories" (or some such wording) on the Canadian forum here. And really, if you think our cent is worthless - remember the Canadian one is typically worth about 20-25% less than a US cent.

I don't like the idea of dumping the US cent - but not for any logical reason at all. It should be done.

So would all gas stations, instead of having prices per gallon such as $2.10 choose to go down to $2.05 or up to $2.15? I think I know.

Hmmm. PA state tax... would it go from .06 on a dollar down to a nickel, or up to .10 per dollar spent? I think I can answer that one also.

You know one thing about money in the 21st Century is that my money including coins hit the bank electronically. My bills are paid via internet or electronic debit. I never even see coins or bills unless I just get out a few hundred bucks to just line my wallet so I feel like I have "Walking Around Money". Actual physical money is going the way of the Dodo bird.