Posted on 11/20/2006 11:26:36 AM PST by Teflonic
WASHINGTON -- Can George Washington and Thomas Jefferson succeed where Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea failed? The U.S. Mint is hoping U.S. presidents will win acceptance, finally, for the maligned dollar coin.
The public will get the chance to decide starting in February when the first of the new coins, bearing the image of the first president, is introduced.
Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are scheduled to grace the coin in 2007, with a different president appearing every three months.
The series will honor four different presidents per year, in the order they served in office. Each president will appear on only one coin, except for Grover Cleveland, who will be on two because he was the only president to serve non-consecutive terms. To be depicted on a coin, a president must have been dead for at least two years.
The idea of rotating designs borrows from the highly successful 50-state quarter program. Since its launch in 1999, that program has featured five state designs each year in the order the state joined the union.
The quarter program has been widely successful, introducing millions of people to coin collecting for the first time. The Mint hopes the presidential program will enjoy similar success, in part because of the bold designs on the new coins.
Those designs were being made public during a ceremony today at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery, home of some of the famous paintings that served as models for the coins.
Copies of the designs were made available in advance.
"These designs are beautiful and so eye-catching that a lot of Americans are going to do a double take when they get them in their change the first time," Edmund Moy, the director of the Mint, said.
The coins will be the same size as the Sacagawea dollar -- a little larger than a quarter -- and the same golden color as the Sacagawea.
The image of the president will be on one side and the Statue of Liberty on the other.
The images will be slightly larger than those on a quarter, because space was freed up by moving some of the traditional wording such as "In God We Trust" to the edge of the coin.
Really looking forward to the Bill Clinton coin.
Too bad there won't be a Jefferson Davis coin.
I still don't think it will work. People want their paper dollars. Even if you have only 1 in your wallet, you feel richer than if you only have a pocketful of change.
OK, Photoshopers: What would the Bill Clinton and Jimmny Carter coin look like?
"Too bad there won't be a Jefferson Davis coin."
Yeah, and no Benedict Arnold coin either.
I think this is great idea and I hope it catches on.
I thought Clinton was going to be on the 3 dollar bill.
Say, isn't George on another coin already?
The democrat party by decades end will be demanding Al Gore and John Kerry Presidential dollars.
I could tell you but then they would have to pull the thread.
As is Tom. Bring back the Ike dollar.
I agree. It always depresses me to look in my wallet to find it empty. All the change I carry around in my pocket at the end of a day goes into a jar at home.
"Heads" or "Tails"?
...where it will rarely be seen and rapidly wear off.....am I - not a devout Christian at all - wrong for seeing something in this decision? In light of all of the other (daily) attacks on religion these days.......
Great observation.
I don't know why, but this was pulled from the other thread on this subject.
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