Here's a oft-repeated numismatic tale we can debunk...
kiyote
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"The SBA was doomed to failure because of it's confusion with the quarter..."
No one is confusing a golden dollar for anything but a dollar and I almost never see them circulate.
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Folks are simply too accustomed to the paper dollar. Unless/until it's withdrawn the dollar coin will never be a success.
It's become a part of our collective subconscious that paper currency is 'worth more' than coins (to the common man as a circulating medium, not collector value), so our ingrained preference is for paper over coinage. As long as both are made available, we'll continue to choose the paper.
The primary reason for its failure was the continued production of paper dollars. This is the same primary reason why the so-called "golden" dollars are also a failure. The SBAs similarity to a quarter certainly didn't help matters.
Very concisely stated ...... and true.
Had silver bullion not been so volatile in the time frame of 1979-1981, I believe that the SBA would have been struck in silver in Proof or Unc. Commemorative format, and would have been wildly popular among collectors. Why it did not get consideration in 1999 is beyond belief. Simply observing the massive quantities of 40% silver Ikes that survived the 1980 bull market melts is enough to convince me that the SBA's in silver would have fared as well.
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As long as paper dollars are being made, the coins will stagnate. Cheers, RickO
I never seen any golden dollars in cash register drawers... Only in trays near the bank tellers.
Trouser pockets are also not as durable as the old days when Morgans and Peace $$ circulated. Just a thought.
While my data set is small, I have received them in change as quarters multiple times, and have "intercepted" and returned others to cashiers who were trying to "pay" me one as a quarter.
There are population subsets that are not "into" coins, and basic change making is rocket science.
Same group that, due to the state quarters, do not have a clue about French Francs, Caribbean nation quarters, German Mark coins, etc. circulating as quarters, not to mention all the Canadian stuff that floats around even in Texas, masquerading as "US coinage".
I obtained a Peace Silver Dollar and an Ike out of the cash drawer at a McD's, and the cashier was VERY glad to get those weird coin out of the cash till.
The other issue is people from other nations struggling with the concept of different values having the same size, more in the paper money area. Most countries have a graduated size, small denomination small coin / bill.
Many a Japanese visitor has been "taken for a ride" by airport taxi charging fares as dollars, ie $28.75 is $285, from a country with 100+ yen to a dollar, and the $100 the same size as a $1, they get fleeced.
I get them in the coin changer at my works café. its easier to feed 4 or 5 dollar coins into a vending machine than fumbling with paper that rejects over and over if not perfectly crisp,
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One one reason for a lack of success for the dollar coin, the continued production of the paper dollar.
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Stop printing the paper dollar and the dollar coin will become very popular with the public. People are creatures of habit and most don't like change. Other countries have made the transition of low value paper money to an equivalent coin without too much trouble and their citizens quickly adapted to the change.
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"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
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Yep...when you have 2 equal things, the one that is easiest to use will win.
) and can take it to turn it in to the coin counter at my CU or I can spend them. I am doing a mixture....spend until I get time to get to the CU
In this case, while one is paper and one is metal, they are equal in value. I can more easily carry 10-20 of the paper singles than I can 10-20 of the metal discs. Even 1 or 2 are easier. And, I am one of the odd ducks that likes to carry halves and dollar coins to pay/tip. Just this week, I've already spent $60 in half dollars (parking, pizza, other fast food). I picked up $400 to search (and found no silver
Would be a LOT easier to use my CC or even dollar bills....less weight, quicker to count, people are more used to them, etc, but not as much fun
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
I'm still circulating my Kennedy half "hoard". Months ago I got over $200 worth from the bank to search,found nothing of consequence. Since then I have been using them at fast food resteraunts,grocery stores etc. Still get the odd looks/question "What are these". One young female clerk asked me is a half dollar .50 cents? Some are annoyed with the coin upon acceptance.
@Bochiman ....Yes, i recently started searching halves rolls again after a couple year layoff....and as you said (and BLUEJAYWAY)....nothing but clad.... always amazes me when other forum members find several silvers in a roll.... years and years with no luck. So I spend them, just as Ron does.... Cheers, RickO
How true.....I have also received SBA's as quarters.....
I had a funny experience at a greeting card store the other day. I attempted to pay with Sac dollars.I was told by the cashier that "she doesn't take those"....I stretched the truth a little bit and told her that she had to,as they are legal tender. The guy behind me in line then chimed in and backed me up. It was beautiful, as I had never had a pleasant cash-out experience in this store. The cashier went to the back room to see if "she" would accept the Sac's. Meanwhile,I apologized to those in line. The cashier did accept the coins, explaining that she was going to go to bank at lunch time and redeem them for paper. Knock yourself out.......
I keep a roll in my car and use them when I'm low on pocket cash and don't want to use a card. Heck, I bought a burger with 4 yesterday. Once the roll gets low I grab another at the bank. They come in quite handy and I never get a "what is this" question and rarely even a pause in step by a cashier oddly enough.
its sad that all these coined dollars are sitting in vaults (or where ever they are keeping them). i wish they would do one or the other.
having been through the conversion from ikes to sbas, there was quite a lot of talk about the confusion.
I know the debunking part comes in as we know the FRNs were the $1 of choice.
What I would not do is completely discard the quarter confusion part outside of the numismatic realm.
I believe I would cast the debunking as: "despite its initial confusion with the quarter, the smaller dollar coin was doomed to fail simply because people preferred and still prefer not to regularly use $1 coins in commerce at all."
You'd think now days that the way some young men ware they're pants, that there was a hundred dollars in coin in them pockets
Steve
We get them in the till every now and then...and I send 'em back out with the next customer...same thing with $2 bills.
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I agree with MsM -
There WAS confusion with the SBA Dollar coins and Quarters -
I was married at the time (1st of 2), and my wife was familiar
with coins - I gave her a handful of SBA's when they first came
out, and she kept on spending 'em as Quarters!
I recall numerous stories from friends and relatives how confusing
they were- same color, same composition, and only slightly larger in size.
Each day, I spend crisp $2 bills, Presidential Dollars,
Kennedy Halves (when I have some) and new quarters.
I've given up spending SBA's, because everyone, even today,
thinks they are Quarters - holding up the lines much more
than Manganese Dollars or Kennedy Halves.
What Fred said. There was indeed confusion with the quarters. When they first came out I bought a roll to spend, and I spent one as a quarter.
The SBA soured Americans on small dollars in general. They would never have replaced the dollar bill entirely, but they might have had a chance of circulating alongside the dollar bill had they been multi-sided and brass in color from the get go.
No dollar coin will fully succeed in America until the Treasury stops issuing dollar bills.
The big BUT here is that, as consumers, we're never given the "choice" as merchants that dispense change have already made the choice for us.
THAT is where the real problem lies. Merchants do not order dollar coins.
The name is LEE!
Disagree Capn.
As I stated, the American public did not get to choose. The merchants that dispense change made the choice by continuing to order dollar bills. THAT is the problem which can easily be resolved by simply eliminating the dollar bill.
The name is LEE!
I was much younger then, but what I also recall is that MANY (most?) people did NOT LIKE the design.
It was not an attractive design (not even trying to get political or mean....it was a politically correct design that no one really like.
I, too, remember some people thinking they were quarters: Put one or two in with a handful of quarters in your pocket and, when you need to pay for a burger or something "small", try pulling out a handful of change and paying, and see if you make a mistake...many did. On both sides of the cash register
Couple the 2 above items with what I said above as well....about having dollar bills while having these new coins, and then see which way people would prefer to go and what they prefer to use.....it is super easy to see in hindsight, but also should have been easy to predict. I think they were just being pushed by people in high places and underlings were either ignored, ignorant, or shut up and just did what they were told.
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Canada just stopped issuing dollar bills.... and it worked. Cheers, RickO
Agreed. Same with the UK and Australia: everyone there uses the pound/dollar coins now.
If I was going to save money in the form of coins, I would choose the most compact, lightest form of coins to save.
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Yes, but they learned from the U.S.'s mistake with the SBA dollar, and DID go with a multi-sided brass coin that made the dollar coin much more usable.
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Very nice graphic presentation.
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I like them for the drive thru, too.
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@CaptHenway...Unlike our people who refuse to learn from others ... Cheers, RickO
A dollar is a bill, not a coin
www.dictionary.com/browse/dollar
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Are the reasons for keeping the dollar bill to keep jobs in Massachusetts and Mississippi?