Free Republic

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...

<p>WASHINGTON (Sept. 15) — The government Thursday warned consumers and businesses that it is illegal to use alternative money known as "Liberty Dollar" coins, which organizers promote as a competitor to the almighty dollar.</p> <p>"We don't want consumers to be fooled," U.S. Mint spokeswoman Becky Bailey says, noting U.S. Attorneys offices across the USA have noticed a marked increase in inquiries about the coins.</p>

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (July 2) - In this village settled by thrifty Pilgrims, you can still buy penny candy for a penny, but tourist Alan Ferguson doubts he'll be able to dig any 1-cent pieces out of his pockets. He rarely carries pennies because "they take up a lot of room for how much value they have." Instead, like so many other Americans, he dumps his pennies into a bucket back home in Sarasota, Fla. Pity the poor penny! It packs so little value that merry kids chuck pennies into the fountain near the candy store, just to watch them splash...

WASHINGTON - The golden buffalo, the legendary symbol of the American West, will soon roam again — this time as the nation's first pure gold coin. The U.S. Mint will start taking orders in the coming week for the coins. Officials believe they have found a winning combination that will appeal to nostalgia buffs and investors. The coin will be slightly larger and thicker than a Kennedy half dollar, will contain one ounce of gold and will be designated a $50 gold piece. The actual price will depend on the market price of an ounce of gold, plus markups. The...

2006 State Quarter Designs Here are the 2006 State Quarters in order of release: Nevada The first commemorative quarter-dollar coin released in 2006 honors Nevada, and is the 36th coin in the United States Mint's 50 State Quarters® Program. Nevada, nicknamed "The Silver State," was admitted into the Union on October 31, 1864, becoming our Nation's 36th state. Nevada's quarter depicts a trio of wild mustangs, the sun rising behind snow-capped mountains, bordered by sagebrush and a banner that reads "The Silver State." The coin also bears the inscriptions "Nevada" and "1864." Nevada became a territory in 1861, several years...

Historic Nickel with Forward-Facing Jefferson Heads into Circulation WASHINGTON – Pouring hundreds of shiny, new 2006 nickels from a silver goblet designed by President Thomas Jefferson, officials at the United States Mint launched into circulation today the Nation’s first circulating coin that features the image of a United States President facing forward. The Nation’s coinage has depicted profiles of presidents for nearly a century. This new image of President Thomas Jefferson is based on a Rembrandt Peale portrait of Jefferson, painted in 1800. The United States Mint expects to ship approximately a billion of the new five-cent coins (nickels) to...

WASHINGTON - New dollar coins featuring all 37 of the nation's dead presidents will begin rolling out of the U.S. Mint in 2007 under a bill President Bush signed into law on Thursday. Lawmakers hope the coins — and an accompanying $10 gold piece for collectors that features former first ladies — will be a big money raiser for the government like the 50-state quarter program. They also hope the dollar pieces will spur interest in the Sacagawea dollars, which have been little-used. The front of the new dollar coins will depict former presidents, but not those who are living...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New dollar coins featuring all 37 of the nation's dead presidents will begin rolling out of the U.S. Mint in 2007 under a bill Congress is sending to President Bush. Lawmakers hope the coins - and an accompanying $10 gold piece for collectors featuring former first ladies - will be a big money raiser for the government like the 50-state quarter program. They also hope the dollar pieces will rev up interest in the Sacagawea dollars, which have been little-used. The quarter program had raked in roughly $4 billion in revenues by its midpoint, said Becky Bailey,...

A First for the United States: Jefferson to Face Forward on 2006 Nickel WASHINGTON – The Nation’s circulating coins have featured the profiles of presidents for nearly a century. The United States Mint is announcing that for the first time in history, the image of President Thomas Jefferson will face forward on the 2006-dated 5-cent coin (nickel). This new image, based on a Rembrandt Peale painting of Jefferson in 1800, is expected to grace the nickel for years to come. The United States Mint will launch into circulation the 2006 nickel, called “Jefferson, 1800,” early next year, concluding the Westward...

WASHINGTON (Oct. 5) - After nearly 100 years of depicting presidents in somber profiles on the nation's coins, the Mint is trying something different: The new nickel features Thomas Jefferson, facing forward, with the hint of a smile. "It isn't a silly smile or a smirk, but a sense of optimism that I was trying to convey with the expression," says Jamie Franki, an associate professor of art at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. His drawing was chosen out of 147 entries. In unveiling the design Tuesday, Mint officials said they believed the new image of Jefferson was an appropriate...

After a family asks U.S. Mint to authenticate 10 old coins, gov't grabs them. Potential value: $10M. A Philadelphia antiques dealer plans to sue the U.S. Mint to recover rare gold coins worth millions of dollars that the federal government has seized because it says they were illegally obtained. Ten "Double Eagle" $20 coins minted in 1933 were discovered in September in a Philadelphia antiques and jewelry store and voluntarily handed by its owners, the Langbord family, to the Mint for authentication. In June, the Mint confirmed they were the coveted Double Eagles but informed the Langbords that the coins...

NEW YORK (AFP) - The American 20-dollar 1933 "double eagle" is one of the rarest and most valuable coins in the world. Joan Langbord of Philadelphia found 10 of them, and now the US government has taken them away. Compounding Langbord's sense of loss -- a double eagle auctioned in 2002 sold for a world-record 7.6 million dollars -- is the fact that it was her own decision to inform the government of her discovery that led to their confiscation. The 10 coins were hidden for decades in the possessions of Langbord's father, Israel Switt, who ran an antique jewelry...

PHILADELPHIA - The U.S. Mint seized 10 Double Eagle gold coins from 1933, among the rarest and most valuable coins in the world, that were turned in by a jeweler seeking to determine their authenticity. Joan S. Langbord plans a federal court lawsuit to try to recover them, her attorney, Barry H. Berke, said Wednesday. Langbord found the coins among the possessions of her father, longtime Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt, who had acknowledged having sold some of the coins decades ago. She now operates her father's business. David Lebryk, acting director of the Mint, had announced in a news release...

QUANTICO, Va. - A 1945 photograph taken at Iwo Jima was memorialized in a commemorative coin released Wednesday celebrating the 230th anniversary of the Marine Corps. The silver dollar, featuring Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's historic flag-raising photograph, was released during a ceremony at U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico. At the ceremony, officials including U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore presented two shiny, new silver dollars to retired Lt. Gen. Ron Christmas, president of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the coins will go to the foundation to help build the new National...

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2005 – The U.S. Mint at Philadelphia celebrated National Military Appreciation Month May 25 with the ceremonial strike of a new commemorative coin, the 2005 Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar. Current and former Marines cheered as Director Henrietta Holsman Fore and other dignitaries struck the coins in the Proof Room where the silver dollar will be produced. The official launch of the Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar will be at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., on July 20, U.S. Mint officials said. This is the first time the United States has honored a branch of...

The U.S. Mint is unveiling a new coin to honor the 230th anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps - the first time the government has struck a commemorative coin to salute a branch of the military. The new silver dollar will feature on one side the famous photograph of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima taken by Associated Press Photographer Joe Rosenthal, and on the other side the official Marine Corps emblem of an eagle, globe and anchor and the Marine motto, "Semper Fidelis" - always faithful.

...The interest in coins comes as sophisticated investors are increasingly looking for assets outside of the U.S. stock market, which many market observers expect to post only modest gains during the coming year. In buying rare coins, individuals not only acquire a collectible asset, but they are also getting exposure to precious metals. The prices of gold and silver, from which many popular U.S. coins are made, are both rising smartly. The Internet and coin-grading services are playing a part in drawing a new breed of coin investors. The Internet allows collectors to buy and sell rare coins at locations...

WASHINGTON - There's change in store for Thomas Jefferson — on the nickel that is. He's getting his first makeover since his likeness was put on the coin in 1938. The makers of the nation's coins, the U.S. Mint, was unveiling Thursday designs for two new nickels. It's the latest in a series of design changes for the coins to honor two important events in U.S. history: the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The revamped nickels will be issued in 2005. A new likeness of Jefferson, the third president, will be on the front of the two...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Putting the faces of U.S. presidents on dollar coins would entice collectors, but there still would be challenges in getting the coins into cash registers and people's pockets, the chief of the U.S. Mint said Wednesday. The comments of Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore came during a House hearing that, among other things, explored a legislative proposal aimed at breathing new life in the little-used Sacagawea dollar coin, also called the Golden Dollar because of its golden color. The proposal would replace Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone Indian who helped Lewis and Clark find their way to the...

U.S. Mint Rolls Out New Nickels By JEANNINE AVERSA ASSOCIATED PRESS Today: March 02, 2004 at 15:35:41 PST WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of shiny nickels sporting their first new look in 66 years are being shipped to the Federal Reserve, the supplier of the nation's cash, officials of the U.S Mint said Tuesday The new nickels - which honor the 1803 Louisiana Purchase on the back but retain Thomas Jefferson on the front - should start showing up in cash registers in several weeks, Mint officials said. A total of 180 million new nickels have been sent to the Federal...