Welcome back to Something About Coins! There's been a lot of talk recently about dollar coins, so here are several articles covering them. The first one is a rant about their inconvenience, and the second one puts a whole new spin on anti-counterfeit coins. There is a true supporter of the dollar coin, discussed in the third article, and the effort being made by the Mint to promote them is in the fourth. A story about an error dollar and finally striking the coins wrap up today's post.
Dollar coins belong in pirate’s chest, BostonHerald.com
The deal is supposed to be simple: If I insert a $10 bill for a $2 item, the machine coughs up eight bucks in return. So why are the MBTA Charlie Card machines dumping out Chuck E. Cheese's tokens? I usually pay my subway fares with a credit card, so I was stunned when the machine at Alewife went into jackpot mode and dispensed a handful of golden one-dollar coins. My change included some Sacagaweas - the tribute to that gorgeous tour guide of the Lewis and Clark expedition - and some obscure U.S. presidents who usually only ... Click for coin article
Mint's stealth anti-counterfeiting campaign, Blog.NumismaticNews.net/buzz
Efforts to get the Presidential dollar coin to circulate widely in the United States might be failing, but there is a silver lining. It was reported yesterday that the British equivalent of our $1 coin, the one pound coin, is widely faked and that 2.81 percent of all one-pound coins in circulation in the United Kingdom are counterfeit. Though the percentage might seem low at first glance, it is apparently the threshold at which merchants burned by bad coinage will refuse to use it. That would force the Royal Mint to come up with a completely new ... Click for coin article
St. Marys lawyer to meet with Treasurer over dollar coins, Jacksonville.com
Charlie Smith's outspoken disdain for folding dollars has reached high places. The U.S. Treasury Department has invited the St. Marys lawyer to a meeting in Washington to talk about it. Smith's ongoing campaign to encourage people, banks and merchants to circulate dollar coins has attracted the attention of treasury officials. He is scheduled to meet with U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios in September to discuss his ongoing campaign. Smith said the meeting will also include representatives from a coalition supporting dollar coins ... Click for coin article
Army and Air Force Exchange Service Promotes $1 Coins, CoinNews.net
Military exchanges around America are beginning to promote the use of $1 coins in daily transactions, according to an announcement by the United States Mint. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) has kicked off an initiative at several retail stores to encourage and use Presidential and Native American dollars regularly, with plans to eventually expand their usage in all 1,703 AAFES locations. "AAFES's main focus is on improving troops' quality of life through initiatives such as the $1 Coin Program, which not only ..." Click for coin article
Adams Presidential Dollar Double Edge Lettering Errors, Coins.About.com
These coins went through the edge lettering machine twice. While everyone is focused on the so-called "Godless Dollars," (the Presidential Dollars that are missing the edge lettering, and therefore have plain edges,) I have been fascinated by the coins that actually got two sets of edge lettering! The Adams Presidential Dollars shown here went through the Schuler edge lettering machine at the Philadelphia Mint two times. The first specimen, shown in the first six photos, got the edge lettering applied in the same direction both times. The second ... Click for coin article
From metal to money: Making America's coins, News.cnet.com
Staring at the bin in front of me, stacked high with thousands of dollar coins, it's hard not to make like Scrooge McDuck and jump in headfirst. Except, of course, that security would grab me and I'd have to deal with having a felony on my record for the rest of my life. Also, there's this small detail: These aren't actually dollars. Yet. I'm at the U.S. Mint here, the largest mint in the world, and a place big enough--at around 600,000 square feet--that all the rest of the American mints could fit inside. I've come here on Road Trip 2010, and my visit is ... Click for coin article
The next U.S. dollar to hit the streets will be the James Buchanan $1 coins on August 19. It will be the third new Presidential dollar coin this year, and the fifteenth coin in the series.
Thanks for reading!
