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 Replies: 53 / Views: 4,077 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Quote:
...I don't think I could SEE a coin made with a dollars worth of gold Just for fun, I calculated one dollar of gold to be roughly 0.0377 grams by current market price. Therefore a 90% coin would be ~0.04 grams. To give a sense of proportion, a current Lincoln Cent is 2.5 grams or 62.5 times the mass. A familiar object of similar weight would be a (small) 2-point diamond (or .2 carats). Consider the size of that diamond, and then divide the volume by about 5 since Au/Cu would be much denser. Suffice to say, cashiers would need microscopes to count money. We might as well buy stuff with pinches of gold dust, like the 49'ers  Edited by KurtS
08/25/2008 01:21 am
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Valued Member
United States
135 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
Jbuck said.... Quote:
That is correct, the simplest solution for getting the dollar coins to circulate is retiring the paper equivalent! Just do it and then there is no need for an advertising campaign.
 Simple as that.....enough said !...... 
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
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it would be nice to have an attractive design for the new coin, however that may be just wishful thinking!
If collectors push hard enough, you could try to get different designs on your dollar coins. Since '84, we have had about 13 or 14 different commemorative designs, as well as the standard mob of roos design. Add to that the mint mark dollars and various non circulating commemorative, and dollar collecting takes on a life of its own. As for carrying around a heap of big coins in your pocket, here is a pic of our $1 and $2 coins compared to a quarter.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
Sean, that was what caused the SBA's demise, it was to close to the size of a quarter and everyone kept getting the two mixed up. I remember everyone being excited when the SBA's first came out and then not long after everyone started complaining because they were mistaken for a quarter all the time |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
Our dollars are similar in size to our 10c. The decision was deliberately made to keep them a smaller size, despite the higher denomination, to help with acceptance. To make it easier to tell the difference, they are a different colour. And a pity about the SBA's, I have some thanks to some generous members here, and I really like them. |
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Valued Member
United States
76 Posts |
Maybe the answer is a combination of eliminating the dollar bill and redesigning our coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
As far as gold dollar coins go, can they make gold be 0.25 karat? I would rather see actual silver return to the dollar coins, but I don't see it happening.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
790 Posts |
I suspect that since coins are made by the US Mint and bills are made by the US Treasury, the two hands don't know how to talk to each other. The mint might want to drop the dollar bill and increase production of the dollar coin (and increase the number of jobs at the mint). The treasury probably does not want to lose that production (and jobs). Besides, I'd bet the treasury has some weird contract with the paper company that makes it impossible for them to stop ordering. Maybe those dollar bills are being used to track us!!
I've been watching old episodes of the X-Files and I'm in a conspiracy mood!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
The US Mint makes coins and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing(BEP) prints notes, both are divisions of the US Department of Treasury. The decision to continue/discontinue $1 bills and $1 coins ultimately lies with Congress, the Treasury can only make recommendations. You are close on the "weird contract" thing though- it is called having Kennedy and Kerry as the two Senators who represent the state that is the home of the exclusive supplier of paper to the BEP, Crane Paper Co.
Edited by biokemist6
08/25/2008 11:03 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
That's the real problem here, not the actual practicality of dollar coins--past and present. If Congress can't get past this business deal with Crane, a dollar coin will never work--they shouldn't kid themselves into thinking it's a marketing problem.  Edited by KurtS
08/25/2008 12:17 pm
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Moderator
 United States
187446 Posts |
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Suffice to say, cashiers would need microscopes to count money. It would also limit the creativity of the design! You think the Presidential dollars are lacking eye appeal?  |
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Valued Member
United States
84 Posts |
I was reading the other day about maybe making dollars out of a material like Tyvec. Very durable and almost last forever. So if the program doesn't catch on , could be the next option.
Edited by ken8400
08/25/2008 12:27 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Quote:
I was reading the other day about maybe making dollars out of a material like Tyvec. Very durable and almost last forever. Or the polymer notes Australia uses--I hear those are very durable too. Then again, they found some way to replace their dollar notes with coins.  Quote:
[gold] would also limit the creativity of the design! No doubt! You couldn't even legibly stamp "1 dollar" except perhaps with laser engraving. Taking this idea further, even 10 dollar's worth of gold would be 0.4 grams, or roughly 1/6 the weight of the current LMC--but much smaller due to density. You might be able to fit a "10" and an eagle's beak on that coin. I think there's a reason nobody pegs money to precious metals anymore--it's simply too volatile. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
With the price of gold today I don't think I could SEE a coin made with a dollars worth of gold. Not a problem. Revalue the dollar by lopping off two zeros. 100 old dollars = 1 new dollar. Gold is now about 8.5 new $ an oz. Reissue the double eagle at close to 1 oz with a face value of 20 N$ (current purchasing power $2,000). The gold N$ has about a 20th oz of gold and a purchasing power of $100 current dollars. |
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Replies: 53 / Views: 4,077 |
First Page
Posted 08/24/2008 12:47 pm
