That Loony* Dollar Coin
(As you may notice, I’ve decided to change gears and aim for shorter, more frequent entries here at BTN. I might still throw in the odd epic every once in a while, but shorter stuff is easier both for me to write and, probably, for you to read.)
Daryl Lang highlighted an interesting coinage proposal at his new D103.com site Thursday: two members of Congress are introducing legislation to put the faces of U.S. Presidents in rotation on the golden dollar coin.
A more detailed story from Coin World and the press release by co-sponsor Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) indicate that the proposal is for four former presidents per year to start appearing on the front in 2006 (the sitting president is specifically excluded from the rotation), and for the Statue of Liberty to appear on the reverse. Whether living ex-presidents are to be included is unclear. If they aren’t, the program would run out at the end of 2015 (presuming that at least G.W. Bush, W’s successor(s), Bill Clinton, and either Jimmy Carter or G.H.W. Bush are still alive at that point); if they are included, the earliest it could end would be the second quarter of 2017 (if, as seems likely, they would hold off the 1Q 2017 issue until after 15 January for a 2009-2017 two-termer). Furthermore, the bill spells out some fairly specific design decisions: the drafters want full rim-to-rim images, which would require at least some inscriptions to be moved to the coin’s rim à la €2 and £2 coins.
I like the idea, though I’d rather not write detailed design decisions into law — leave those to the professionals at the U.S. Mint. Unlike Daryl, though, I doubt that the failure of the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollars had anything to do with having a woman on the coin. I think it’s more that two things will be necessary for any US$1 coin to succeed: universal acceptance in vending machines, and a rampdown in production of $1 bills. A tough, but not insurmountable, political problem for that second part is that there’s likely to be a psychological inflationary effect if the dollar becomes primarily a coin rather than a bill. I know that when I travel, I have trouble remembering that my pocket is likely to be holding around US$6 in coins rather than the usual $0.75 or so, and it was very easy in Paris to drop €1.80 (US$2.25) in a Métro-platform vending machine for a 500 mL Pepsi without thinking about the cost (“it’s just spare change”). And even though Washington would both remain on the quarter and appear on the first 2006 $1 coin, I’d expect some outcry over de-emphasizing George.
But I do like it, and hope it passes. From World War II through 1999 (when the State Quarter program began), U.S. coinage was about as boring as it gets. ‘99 was a good start, but I’m all for introducing a little bit more fun into our daily fumble for change in the lunch line.
* Bad pun on the CDN$1 coin’s name completely intended, as both the Sacagawea dollar and the proposed new dollar are the same size and color (though not shape — ours is round, theirs is 11-sided) as the Canadian loonie. It, by the way, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2006, as we (potentially) make our third effort to get $1 coins going.
12 March 2004 / 3 Comments / Tags: life