I usually don't mess with modern coinage, but I really like this one!

ElmerFusterpuck

Some of the American Innovation coinage has actually been eye catching, it's not hard to really like this "telephone" coin. It looks like you can dial the phone on it! Graded PF-69 by our host.

privatecoin

While I like some of the innovation dollars, the mints price now is just too high. I will just have to wait and see if the price is ever right in the aftermarket. And it's still frustrating to not see the date when it's in the album.

Panda4456

I’m not sure if I am going to collect these I just started building my Sacagawea proof collection. Bought my first one a couple days ago

ms70

I'd like it more if it didn't say "Massachusetts", but other than that, yes, it's cool.

coinsarefun

I do like that one

bsshog40

As much as I think they are pretty cool, I just can't justify the prices of this stuff anymore! It's like a new car, as soon as it leaves the mint, it's worth half of what you paid for it.

JedPlanchet

Rotary dial for the win - great coin! I still have a rotary phone that actually works on the landline.

/old numismatist

ms70

Now if it were from the RCM Mint you'd be able to spin the dial!

crazyhounddog

Very cool. I like it too. It brings back good memories.
👌👍

Mark

@ElmerFusterpuck You know, some of the YNs here are probably saying "What is this 'dial a phone' thing they speak of?"

abcde12345

Neat coin yet the use of four different fonts is distracting.

CoinHoarder

Personally, I have no interest in any modern coinage that does not contain precious metals.

johnny9434

I keep looking at that coin as well. It one of the very few that I like as well

WAYNEAS

out of my registry set

Jimnight

Nice!

bearcave

@JedPlanchet said:
Rotary dial for the win - great coin! I still have a rotary phone that actually works on the landline.

/old numismatist

Do you remember only having to dial 4 digits on phone? Then going to 2 letters and 5 numbers? I still remember the old house phone number, can't remember any cell phone numbers, but......

Forgot to add, I really like the coin!

JedPlanchet

@bearcave said:

@JedPlanchet said:
Rotary dial for the win - great coin! I still have a rotary phone that actually works on the landline.

/old numismatist

Do you remember only having to dial 4 digits on phone? Then going to 2 letters and 5 numbers? I still remember the old house phone number, can't remember any cell phone numbers, but......

Forgot to add, I really like the coin!

Too young for the 4 digit phone number, but I do remember that our phone number exchange was ALpine 6 !

JoeLewis

https://youtube.com/watch?v=zE_2AbY2qnY

Zoins

@ms70 said:
I'd like it more if it didn't say "Massachusetts", but other than that, yes, it's cool.

I appreciate the educational aspect of including it. With it, those who are curious will look up the invention of the telephone. Without it, many people would look at the dollar and continue to not learn anything.

I never knew a lot of the info here:

The World's First Phone Call Happened In Boston
[...]
Born in Scotland, Bell moved to Canada with his parents after his two brothers died of tuberculosis and he also began showing signs that he, too, might succumb to the disease. Bell’s father was an elocution teacher and his fascination with the human voice was passed down to his son, who himself became a skilled teacher of the deaf.

"So he moved to Boston where there was an excellent school and where he could meet the kind of people he wanted to mingle with," explained Gray.

The kind of people Bell wanted to mingle with were folks who shared his interests outside the classroom: Electricity, magnetics, and the quest to transmit the human voice.

"There were many scientists at this point – amateur and professional – working on what they were at that point calling the speaking telegraph," said Gray.
[...]
"Boston was very important because in the late 19th century it was kind of the Silicon Valley of the United States," said Gray. "There were a lot of workshops where he could take drawings and get people with much better engineering skills than him to build prototypes."

Gray says Bell was no businessman and, crucially, it was in Massachusetts that he also found a keen investor: Gardener Hubbard, a Cambridge patent lawyer who was the father of one of his students.

Mr. Hubbard. Gardener Hubbard. And he realized that his deaf daughter’s teacher was in fact someone who could make a fortune for him.

Bell is on the top left of this school photo:

https://www.wgbh.org/news/2016/03/11/science-and-technology/worlds-first-phone-call-happened-boston

Onastone

@bearcave said:

Do you remember only having to dial 4 digits on phone?

I do!

Zoins

@bearcave said:

@JedPlanchet said:
Rotary dial for the win - great coin! I still have a rotary phone that actually works on the landline.

/old numismatist

Do you remember only having to dial 4 digits on phone?

I don't, but with Alexa and FaceTime, you don't need numbers any more!

Onastone

For Christmas, I passed out over 40 of these Innobucks to co-workers. Not surprising, nobody had even known about the series. The funniest line I got back was from a high schooler, she said, " I didn't know Massachusetts invented the cellphone."

CoinHoarder

@bearcave said:
Do you remember only having to dial 4 digits on phone? Then going to 2 letters and 5 numbers? I still remember the old house phone number, can't remember any cell phone numbers, but......

Yep. And I also remember when we had one area code for the whole state.

Zoins

@Onastone said:
For Christmas, I passed out over 40 of these Innobucks to co-workers. Not surprising, nobody had even known about the series. The funniest line I got back was from a high schooler, she said, " I didn't know Massachusetts invented the cellphone."

Great job getting these out there and creating conversation!

Are Innobucks put into circulation by the Mint or are they purely collector coins?

WAYNEAS

Long Island Midland 3

bearcave

People here are up there in age for sure! 😂 I can remember old phone numbers but not the new cell phone numbers, just put them in your phone and forget about it. I am glad to see the mint recognizing Bell and the phone. There has been a lot of improvement over the years. (I still like the coin.)

golden

Interesting coin.

BLUEJAYWAY

@bsshog40 said:
As much as I think they are pretty cool, I just can't justify the prices of this stuff anymore! It's like a new car, as soon as it leaves the mint, it's worth half of what you paid for it.

Sorry,wrong number (price wise).

Onastone

@Zoins said:

@Onastone said:
For Christmas, I passed out over 40 of these Innobucks to co-workers. Not surprising, nobody had even known about the series. The funniest line I got back was from a high schooler, she said, " I didn't know Massachusetts invented the cellphone."

Great job getting these out there and creating conversation!

Are Innobucks put into circulation by the Mint or are they purely collector coins?

They are not put into circulation. That's why they make a great surprise gift or cool tip for a waitress....(if we ever get our restaurants back up & running}

coinkat

Interesting design- I like the rotary phone dial. I agree with Private coin as to the placement of the date... seems there are places for it. Perhaps the message here is to covey that innovation is a timeless concept and we need to search for it to appreciate progress.

Zoins

@coinkat said:
Interesting design- I like the rotary phone dial. I agree with Private coin as to the placement of the date... seems there are places for it. Perhaps the message here is to covey that innovation is a timeless concept and we need to search for it to appreciate progress.

I like the design without the date as it's a small coin and not a large medal.

If it was important to add the information, it would be usesful to include the following:

• date / time of first call
• participants on the call
• location / city of the call
• what was said on the call

ricko

Nice coin... Really stands out among other designs....I remember phones before the dial phones... Had to wait for the operator (usually pretty quick) and give her the number... If you were on a party line (cheaper), first had to check no one was already talking...Cheers, RickO

291fifth

I still remember my home phone number from the 1950s. We moved from that address in January, 1959.

The coin has an interesting look but should not have used more than two fonts. The use of many different fonts seems to be common in present day design but leads to a cluttered and disorganized look (my opinion).

Batman23

@CoinHoarder said:

@bearcave said:
Do you remember only having to dial 4 digits on phone? Then going to 2 letters and 5 numbers? I still remember the old house phone number, can't remember any cell phone numbers, but......

Yep. And I also remember when we had one area code for the whole state.

We still have one area code for the whole state. And it was probably just before 1990 when I had to dial more than four numbers on a local call.

bearcave

What state are you in? We have 4 area codes and it way before 90 we had to dial 7 numbers for a local call and all 10 with "1' for a long distance call. Cell phones are different.

Zoins

@Onastone said:
For Christmas, I passed out over 40 of these Innobucks to co-workers. Not surprising, nobody had even known about the series. The funniest line I got back was from a high schooler, she said, " I didn't know Massachusetts invented the cellphone."

Actually, that was invented in New York

Space engineer builds working rotary dial cellphone, and you can, too

A space engineer is so against smartphones, she designed and built her own, functioning cell phone with an old-fashioned rotary dial. And now, she's showing the public how to do it, too.

Justine Haupt, an astronomy instrumentation engineer at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, says she wanted the very basics of a cellphone with the ability to completely avoid text messages.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/nation-world/rotary-dial-cell-phone/507-77eb6015-392b-495c-84ea-00a6b13287e6

Onastone

@Zoins said:

@coinkat said:
Interesting design- I like the rotary phone dial. I agree with Private coin as to the placement of the date... seems there are places for it. Perhaps the message here is to covey that innovation is a timeless concept and we need to search for it to appreciate progress.

I like the design without the date as it's a small coin and not a large medal.

If it was important to add the information, it would be usesful to include the following:

• date / time of first call
• participants on the call
• location / city of the call
• what was said on the call

Little known fact, the first call was made from Boston, but the other line was busy!!

Batman23

@bearcave said:
What state are you in? We have 4 area codes and it way before 90 we had to dial 7 numbers for a local call and all 10 with "1' for a long distance call. Cell phones are different.

Small town Alaska. We are always a bit behind the times.

P0CKETCHANGE

One thing I like about this particular coin, and something no one else has mentioned, is that there is legitimate relief in the dies. The depressions for the letters/numbers are truly concave. It’s refreshing to see this on a modern coin after the clip-art low-relief state quarters, commems, and the like.

Swampboy

@Mark said:
@ElmerFusterpuck You know, some of the YNs here are probably saying "What is this 'dial a phone' thing they speak of?"

And to date myself I remember when we got a 'modern' dial phone.
Before that phone arrived at our house you'd just pick up the receiver and waited for an operator to pick up.

Dug13

Which side is the Obverse and Reverse?

olympicsos

@bsshog40 said:
As much as I think they are pretty cool, I just can't justify the prices of this stuff anymore! It's like a new car, as soon as it leaves the mint, it's worth half of what you paid for it.

Unless you're a flipper.

bsshog40

@olympicsos said:

@bsshog40 said:
As much as I think they are pretty cool, I just can't justify the prices of this stuff anymore! It's like a new car, as soon as it leaves the mint, it's worth half of what you paid for it.

Unless you're a flipper.

I don't see flippers making any money on stuff like this!

JeffersonFrog

@bsshog40 said:

I don't see flippers making any money on stuff like this!

They are to a certain extent ... the rolls are not currently available on the Mint's website ...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2020-D-American-Innovation-1-Dollar-Coin-Roll-Mint-Uncirculated-Massachusetts/154173145995?hash=item23e56f838b:g:7uMAAOSw7Ytfn4I5

Zoins

@Dug13 said:
Which side is the Obverse and Reverse?

That's a very interesting question.

I'm not sure anyone knows!

pursuitofliberty

Me and my brother went latchkey in the early 70's, and we ran the neighborhood at all hours until about 9pm or so.

Not going to be home, better call Mom

LO5-2279

abcde12345

@Jimnight said:
Nice!

WAYNEAS

@Zoins said:

@Dug13 said:
Which side is the Obverse and Reverse?

That's a very interesting question.

I'm not sure anyone knows!

I load the Statue Of Liberty into my digital albums as the reverse with the state design as the Obverse.

DBSTrader2

I still remember my grandparents' complete phone # (redacted here: PE5-####, and they haven't been there in about 55 YEARS!!!). Can't remember what the full exchange name was.......

My parents' home exchange (ELgin 6-####) started out as 215- area code & later changed to 610. Been a while since they lived there as well.

As nice as the coin looks, it brings back bittersweet memories for me, as I joined the Ma-Bell umbrella 30+ years ago, seeing it change from Bell of PA to Bell Atlantic to Verizon over the years, and our department size cut from 2 dozen when I started to just 3 by the time I was RIF'd.

Working in Billing, I was "instrumental" in coding & testing all necessary changes to handle each new area code as they were introduced as either in-lays or overlays to existing ones........

These days, I'll bet the only annual bonus the company would give its non-CEO employees would be maybe one or 2 of these coins in a stocking - - along with the customary lumps of coal.........

Lucky (for my eyes, mental & physical health, & finances) to get out when I did......

carabonnair

Not exactly on topic, but I found this and it's phone related, so I thought I would post it here. A holder for sending up to 99¢ for phone refunds:


[or $1.04 ]

JeffersonFrog

An update 2 months later. I like the MA design a lot, I just can't buy P or D rolls from the Mint. There's not a lot of volume, but look at the eBay flips!