An Argument For The Adoption Of Titanium Coinage

No I was thinking more of a Tesla coil coming up from the bottom with the denomination below the "Sphere" and the lightning bolts going up to form a roman numeral "V" with a bust of Tesla on the obverse

Vending machines have had magnets in them (to detect and reject
slugs) since the early 1900's, which is a 'crude' form of detecting a
magnetic signature, but yes electronic interfaces to fine-tune the
detection of magnetic signatures are a more modern feature.

There's a beautiful restored antique 5¢ vending machine (made in 1937)
sitting in an antique shop here in Denver, and it has an electric
magnet in its innards (which you could call 'electro-magnetic' ).

Yes, it accepts current Nickels (which are 'the same' to the machine
as the Buffalos it took when new). It's for sale, and is thus not
vending product, but the selected number mechanism works when a
Nickel is inserted.

Since coretj infers that a 38mm titanium coin would weigh about 11
grams, that would be about half the weight of a cupro-nickel Ike.

I had previously suggested on CCF a large $20 modern Liberty design
cupro-nickel coin made specifically for 'limited circulation' use
(base metal, matte finish, 10M per year target mintage). Collectors
could use them as 'poker chips', or spend them to promote the hobby.

Since this forum is full of people who have hoards of Ikes accumulated
from circulation (myself included!), some posters immediately
suggested the possibility of using Ikes in vending machines
that were made to accept such $20 coins.

I proposed 75% Copper and 25% Nickel for both durability and to
differentiate its metallic signature from Ikes. However, the weight
difference from a CU-NI Ike would indeed be very slight. Electronic
sensing would have been crucial in that case. Adding a mix
of titanium to the core would increase durability and reduce weight,
and an outer cladding of 75%CU/25%NI would be quite durable and
retain a 'traditional' coin appearance. ( A 100%TI coin would
obviously be closer to 'gunmetal gray' than CU-NI coin finish. )

As DNA pointed out the coins do not have to be made of pure anything. Metals can and are mixed all the time. Our Nickels now are made of mixed metals. Titanium could be mixed with almost anything to make it softer, lighter, harder, heavier, spongy, bouncing, stretchable, etc. A little exageration but miscellaneous mixtures could be done for numerous results. Even Radium could be added so they glow in the dark. Now when you drop a coin, it would be easy to find.
Regardless of any new materials used in coinage it would eventually just be fazed out since most coinage and most monitary systems will soon enough be replaced with all electronic systems.

Don't know about your life time but in many places already coins and almost all paper money is slowly fading away. My Son carries hardly no cash of any kind. He learned that in college where most kids today do not need money. There he had a food plan, laundry was done with a plastic card, etc. He showed me when he fills his car with gas he just uses a card right at the pump. All tolls are done with a thing on his winshield for IPASS lane usage. He uses credit and debit cards for all purchases including restaurants. Many people I know are really getting to be similar.
In the near future trading with other countries will most likely all be done by computer since converting any monitary system is time consuming and not always accurate.
YES, the present coins will then really be worth a lot more.

I know what you mean, I've actually been at a corner store where I tried to pay with cash and the girl behind the counter looked at me funny, had to cancel the sale that she had already rung up as credit/debit. Re-entered the order, then opened the register and needed help getting the right change.

You want to know the REALLY sad thing, she was in college... which means she graduated High School without basic math skills.

Sadly, I rarely ever use cash. It's just so much easier not to and there are very few places where cash is the only option (I can't think of any off-hand ... maybe occasionally for gratuities). It does suck for finding anything in circulation though.

So how do we go about petitioning congress and the mint to come up with a titanium coin?

Not always. If you hold on to it long enough, inflation will take care of that for you.

There are some places I will never use my credit card. Not so much for being traced to the location (a cell phone will already get you caught) but because I do not trust them with my data. For example, I will never use electronic payment at any TJX retailer.

Probably to keep their employer, spouse, doctor, or insurance carrier from knowing!

I do keep cash on me, it just takes me longer to go through it than I used it. A few years ago, I went to the ATM every week. Now it might be once a month.

By the way, I like the new avatar!