5 Random Modern "Gold Dollars" from Circulation
BryceM
Posts: 11,857 ✭✭✭✭✭
I was in New Orleans a few weeks ago on business and stopped by a Walgreens for a Coke. When I went to pay for it I noticed a handful of one-dollar coins in the register. I asked if I could have them as part of my change and got a "What you lookin' in my drawer for, huh????"
Apparently I gave the secret code and she let me have them. They've been rattling around on my dresser for a few weeks and I noticed them again today. Interestingly, at least a few of them have seen some actual circulation and the result is NOT PRETTY!
It's interesting to contemplate the future of these. As was once true of Morgans, many cubic yards of them sit in storage. Those eventually saw the light of day and became the foundation of a significant part of the bullion and collectible market. Those were backed by the intrinsic value of the silver. These have relatively little going for them.
Will they be the playground of some future class of hobbyists? I doubt it, but the same might have been once said of the mountains of Peace and Morgan dollars stacked up like so much scrap.
In any case, the result of a bit of circulation degrades the eye appeal far more than can be said of modern clad issues with a similar amount of wear. There's a bit of interesting patina on a couple of these, but there is also verdigris, staining, splotching, corrosion, and other ills.
What say you?
Comments
If I see them I do the same thing. I get a lot of 2000 P Sacagaweas as well. Was the no tage on them so high tbat they make up 75% of the "golden" dollar population???
They look like what they are supposed to look like after/and what they were minted for-to circulate.
I spent some shiny, new James Monroes last week. I spent them in lots of $5 or $6 at a time.
The cashier at Home Depot had to ask his supervisor if they accepted dollar coins. The cashier at Walmart raised her eyebrow and I said, "those are dollars". The cashier at the farm supply store liked them.
I can hardly wait to see what happens when I start spending the bags of Kennedy Halves that need to be dispersed.
I knew it would happen.
I like 'em especially the 01-D Sac.
Sugar magnolia blossoms blooming, heads all empty and I don't care ...
Coins doing actual coin things...awesome.
I would mention that the reason we have collectible, valuable Morgan Dollars today because they essentially were struck and placed into long-term storage. the present day Dollar coins that are in storage will probably look OK in 20-30 years if they are still around in storage and haven't been melted.
both programs, to strike Morgans and to strike these smaller Dollars, were ill conceived. neither was done to actually facilitate commerce and both were/are not popular with citizens of the time they were being struck. that doesn't surprise me.
I see them occasionally in cash register drawers. I do not ask for them....Though I often think later - "What if that was a Cheerio's Sac?".....Not likely, but could happen... Cheers, RickO
Here in N.Y. ... that's a coin I never really seen that much of.
In all fairness, I don't think any of those five coins circulated very much. Those with the worst surfaces likely were handled a bit but did not actually travel around much.
I have a Presidential dollar that I carried and handled for several weeks, and it turned a very nice medium brown with brassy highlights. The key is that the coin must honestly circulate so that it builds up a patina that will protect the surfaces.
I always felt that for cents (and now dollar coins as well), those that circulate only slightly are at the greatest risk for corrosion, etc., since any oils or salts that are deposited on the coin just sit there and manifest themselves into damage to the surface.
i like the look of them circulated, but i won't collect them because they have scant intrinsic value.
I see a couple of them a day! I procure my somewhat less-than-good lunch from the vending machine in our canteen. $3 for a sandwich, and I always insert a $5. Assuming they filled change in the machine recently, I get two dollar coins back. (And, on one occasion, I got 20 dimes.
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My goal is to fill my Dansco albums with SBA's, Sacs, and Presidents.
I've found it to be less than productive. The SBA's are almost always 1979....the Sacs are 2000....and the Presidents are usually from the first year of mintage.
So, I spend them on a Coke.
my 2000 p mint sac roll I have unopened, the 2 outside coins turned brown and red, they look real bad
I've seen some really messed up ones from the ticket machines on the LIRR. Those get used a lot!
They look much better than the ones I see in circulation.