I have been pleasantly surprised by the popularity of my first post on this topic:
Coming Soon: The Presidential $1 Dollar Coin Program
Well, the day has arrived. It’s November 20th, and the US Mint has officially taken the wraps off the first four Presidential Dollar coins, the ones that will be issued in 2007.
The first four coins represent the the first four Presidents of the United States. The US Mint is really going out of their way to make this an educational program. They have a page set up for every design, with historical facts about each president:
They have a nice Flash demo up that highlights the new features of coin. Basically, it will be the same size and color as the Sacagawea dollar, but they have expanded the space for the portraits by moving some of the text to the edge of the coin.
The reverse of the coin features the Statue of Liberty, as a sly nod to previous efforts to feature prominant women from US History on the dollar coins.
This coin is a great idea, as it will definitely bring in revenue to the US Mint from collectors, and will spark a whole decade of fun, historical exercise with children.
The one mistake this program is making is not tying it to the removal of the $1 Bill. As Canada has shown recently, eliminating the $1 bill does not have to be traumatic. However, it is necessary if you want to force adoption of the new coin by both consumers and by retailers.
I’m excited about this program, although I’m a little disappointed to hear that they will not be making a precious metal version of the dollar coins. Gold & silver are better base metals for collectibles, since they also have intrinsic value. I would love to see them make a special edition gold version of each coin for collectors.
Unfortunately, they have decided to only make special edition gold coins of the First Ladies for each President… and I’m not sure I’m willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a group of people with dubious historical significance… OK, I might pony up for Jacqueline Kennedy coin… 🙂
Here is the release schedule for all the coins, in case you haven’t seen it. They have only plotted out until early 2016 (Richard Nixon), as I think that’s the point where they start running into live Presidents. We have quite a few living ex-Presidents now (Ford, Carter, Bush, Clinton), so they won’t get coins unless something unfortunately happens before 2016.
Psychohistory 
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At first glance, I was excited about this. Finally, they’re taking the “in god we trust” bit off our federal money. But no. It’s still there, only on the edge now. Well, at least it’s a step in the right direction. Separation between church and state, people. We’re *way* overdue on implementing this concept with regards to our currency…
You will never live long enough to see IN GOD WE TRUST takin off of the coins, this is our national motto, and it would cause a revaloution if they did, 85% want it on the money, 7 % don’t care 8% are where you are
There is a very good Wikipedia entry on the history of “In God We Trust” on US money, dating back to the civil war in 1861. It became our national motto only in 1956. Interestingly, Theodore Roosevelt argued against putting the phrase on money largely because he felt it was improper to associate divinity with common money.
Elimination of the dollar bill in concert with the issue of the dollar coin as some would recommend would kill 75% of the vending machine business.
Hi Kenneth,
That would be true if they eliminated the dollar bill tomorrow. If, instead, they announced that starting in 2010, there would be no more dollar bills produced, the vending machine industry would work out upgrades to address the change.
The size of the vending machine industry and the relative tax revenue that it generates is really not comparable to the amount lost producing bills on an annual basis.
Alternatively, we could keep the dollar bill, and ask the vending machine industry to pay a special tax to fund the continued production of the bill.
– Adam
Great,hundreds of millions of these things sitting in a vault for the rest of eternityand, at what cost to taxpayers.Iwould say far more than the paper bills they are suppose to replace.Who are these idiots,that come up with these brain dead schemes?The Ike,Susan B. and Sacagewea were all duds and still sitting around somewhere.I had a local bank sell Susan Bs for 90 cents,trying to get rid of them.Want to save money, quit making the half dollar.
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In regards to Johns post….
FYI.. I know where that “somewhere” is.
Many of the Sacagewea coins are in fountains in Las Vegas. They were used as “Make a wish..throw a coin.”
Now that’s good spending of our tax dollars…NOT!
John/Patti,
Of course, since it costs far less than a dollar to make the coins, and people have to pay the US Government a dollar to get one, they are hardly the cause of us losing money. I don’t think they are building new vaults to house them either.
The real crime here is the waste of money on paper $1, which costs us almost $500M a year based on the fact that paper money expires every 18 months, while coins last 30 years.
What I’d like to see is a surcharge or tax on everyone who claims they “have” to have a dollar bill, to fund this extra spending. Most other countries have long since moved to coins for this low value amount. Even the British Pound, which is worth double the US Dollar, is in a coin. In some countries you see coins for $5 amounts as well.
I’d like to see a $1 and $2 coin in the US ASAP, combined with the end of production of the $1 Bill.
Adam