Lack of numerical designations on US coins is confusing to some people

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs...0337/1078/news

"stonej" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs...0337/1078/news

The difficulty of learning how four circulating coin denominations operate
is second only to that of learning English as a second language. Something
must be done! I'm going to write my congressmen immediately.

Mr. Jaggers

stonej wrote:

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.../LOCAL/2021903
37/1078/news

Not just "some", I bet. On the other hand, US coins are made for
Americans, not foreign visitors.

And of course there are "good" explanations for all those little
oddities. Yes, that tiny dime once contained silver, so "it makes sense"
for it to be smaller than a coin worth half that amount. Yes, the word
"dime" is official, so you put "one dime" on that coin, and so on.

Fortunately there are only four US coin denominations that a visitor
typically comes across, and the 1c piece is differently colored anyway.
So you have just three where you need to translate those words into
figures. ;-)

I have one question though. The article says:
| In the case of the dollar coin, he said, legislation that created it
| required it to be called "one dollar."
Does that also apply to the presidential dollars? The Statue of Liberty
design that I have seen (probably not final yet) just say "$1" ...

Christian

No wonder all of those other coins need to be so plainly marked, since
their sizes, colors, denominations, and underlying currency changes
with every other generation. But in the US, an 18th Century half dollar
is about the same as a 21st and worth just the same at your local 7-11.
Cents are the new kid on the block and they have been the same for 150
years. So it may be really tough learning to tell four or five coins
apart, but we have had a heck of a long time to practice.

"Porfiry" wrote in message
ups.com...

No wonder all of those other coins need to be so plainly marked, since
their sizes, colors, denominations, and underlying currency changes
with every other generation. But in the US, an 18th Century half dollar
is about the same as a 21st and worth just the same at your local 7-11.
Cents are the new kid on the block and they have been the same for 150
years. So it may be really tough learning to tell four or five coins
apart, but we have had a heck of a long time to practice.


Hmm, I'm going to get me a job at the local 7-11 and wait for somebody to
come in and spend a 1796 half dollar. Then I'll substitute it in the till
with a Kennedy half, sell it, and buy a new Mercedes.

Mr. Jaggers

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 14:21:23 +0100, lid (Christian
Feldhaus) wrote:

stonej wrote:

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.../LOCAL/2021903
37/1078/news

Not just "some", I bet. On the other hand, US coins are made for
Americans, not foreign visitors.

This may well be true, but there are also many Americans or would-be
Americans that not long ago were "foreigners" and many didn't speak or
read English and many still don't it well.

Nevertheless, sorting out the money has gòt to be one of the first
things a foreigner (especially an immigrant, but also a traveller)
does!

When I went to Spain, one of the first things I did was try to equate
the prices of basics in pesetas with what I'ld have paid at home. The
other thing was to become familliar with the coins themselves. It only
took about 20 minutes to become acquainted with about 80% of the then
circulating issues.

Good thing poor Mrs Gokhale didn't visit Spain, what with (at that
time) its two sizes and two metal compositions for just about every
denomination they had! Plus, just about everything was a
commemorative, so none of the designs were consistent. She'd have gone
bonkers!

As for "Imagine being stuck in an international airport in Europe/Asia
...." I don't recall Chinese or Japanese or Korean coins being
particularly "user friendly" either. Otherwise, sour grapes for her!

And of course there are "good" explanations for all those little
oddities. Yes, that tiny dime once contained silver, so "it makes sense"
for it to be smaller than a coin worth half that amount. Yes, the word
"dime" is official, so you put "one dime" on that coin, and so on.

Fortunately there are only four US coin denominations that a visitor
typically comes across, and the 1c piece is differently colored anyway.

And pretty useless.

So you have just three where you need to translate those words into
figures. ;-)

Good thing the eagle never said "one eagle" on it!

I have one question though. The article says:
| In the case of the dollar coin, he said, legislation that created it
| required it to be called "one dollar."
Does that also apply to the presidential dollars? The Statue of Liberty
design that I have seen (probably not final yet) just say "$1" ...

Christian

Dunno.

Speaking of new designs, I got a 2006 half disme today. There's one
wierd looking coin. A blast-from-the-past Monticello on the back with
Mr Jefferson on the front looking like he's peering through a
third-class porthole.

Can we have some of your euri until our Mint can relearn how to design
coins?

The Post Office has "stamps.com" where you can print your own postage
-- perhaps it's time the Mint offer "coins.com" where we can have our
own personally designed coins minted!

Padraic.

la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.

"Christian Feldhaus" wrote in message
. ..
stonej wrote:

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.../LOCAL/2021903
37/1078/news

Not just "some", I bet. On the other hand, US coins are made for
Americans, not foreign visitors.

And of course there are "good" explanations for all those little
oddities. Yes, that tiny dime once contained silver, so "it makes sense"
for it to be smaller than a coin worth half that amount. Yes, the word
"dime" is official, so you put "one dime" on that coin, and so on.

Fortunately there are only four US coin denominations that a visitor
typically comes across, and the 1c piece is differently colored anyway.
So you have just three where you need to translate those words into
figures. ;-)

I have little sympathy here after trying to decipher the characters on many
Asian and Arabic coins.

Bruce

Good thing poor Mrs Gokhale didn't visit Spain, what with (at that
time) its two sizes and two metal compositions for just about every
denomination they had!

Before the firsts 90's, we had 48!!!! different coins for just 8 values...
(1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 pesetas)

First time I was in US, asking "How much is one dime?" and having the answer
"10 cents" took me a couple of seconds!

But I think will be more confortable having numbers instead of texts. In
spain the first "10 pesetas" and "100 pesetas" coins had "Diez"
(http://tinyurl.com/prfq3) and "cien" (http://tinyurl.com/mhywo) instead of
the numbers (http://tinyurl.com/pctbj and http://tinyurl.com/l9xv3)

Padraic Brown wrote:

Good thing poor Mrs Gokhale didn't visit Spain, what with (at that time)
its two sizes and two metal compositions for just about every denomination
they had! Plus, just about everything was a commemorative, so none of the
designs were consistent. She'd have gone bonkers!

Yes, I think so g. And as Fernando wrote, some Spanish coins (we are
talking about the old pesetas cash here) used to have words instead of
numbers too. Don't think that different commem designs are a big problem
as long as you can easily "read" the value ...

Speaking of new designs, I got a 2006 half disme today. There's one wierd
looking coin. A blast-from-the-past Monticello on the back with Mr
Jefferson on the front looking like he's peering through a third-class
porthole.

Hehe, just a few days ago I got an entire roll of those. Want any?

Actually, given the political and technical "limitations" (had to be
Jefferson, had to be Monticello, had to be relatively low relief), that
coin and especially the portrait looks pretty good. Now such limitations
occur with practically any coin. Think of that map on the euro and cent
coins. ;-)

The Post Office has "stamps.com" where you can print your own postage --
perhaps it's time the Mint offer "coins.com" where we can have our own
personally designed coins minted!

Hmm, those custom photo stamps are fairly expensive. But with a coin,
you could try and find a sponsor. Put the sponsor's logo on the reverse,
et voilà ...

Christian

"Christian Feldhaus" wrote in message
. ..
Bruce Remick wrote:

I have little sympathy here after trying to decipher the characters on many
Asian and Arabic coins.

I don't expect any "sympathy" in that regard - as I wrote, it's your
money, and you can make it as verbose as you want. ;-) I just think
that the combination of the strange size relations and the absence of
any numbers indicating the value make them somewhat odd, from a
visitor's point of view.

Christian

I always take pleasure when visiting other countries to become familiar with
their coins and currencies beforehand. It's usually not too difficult and after
a few days there's no confusion. I also make note of the name of the country's
leaders as well as what its national flag looks like. Simple courtesy, IMO as
well as a good CYA move. We Americans are "ugly" enough as it is abroad without
having to show further ignorance among a group of locals. It's amazing how
little most of us prepare for a foreign visit, beyond checking the local
temperature and hotel locations.

Bruce