Letters to the Editor (September 18, 2018)

Minting a new 3-cent piece wasteful if not silly

Mint a three-cents coin?

In the Aug. 28 issue of Numismatic News, a Viewpoint article by Wayne Pearson advocated the issuance of a new three-cent denomination coin to replace the cent.

I think this idea is silly since nothing can be bought for three cents. Minting such a denomination would be wasteful. The least expensive item I know of is a paper bag, which one can buy for 10 cents in California when buying groceries. Making any coin of a smaller denomination makes no sense.

I advocate a complete reworking of all of our coin denominations as follows: A dime, as the smallest; a quarter; a half dollar; and a dollar and a five dollar, all in ascending order of size. Eliminate the $1 bill and the $5 bill and begin the printing of $500 bills.

Thomas Miller
Santa Rosa, Calif.

 

Base metal dollar coin designs that have circulated alongside the paper dollar include Eisenhower (top left), Susan B. Anthony (center right), and Sacagawea (bottom left). (Images courtesy www.usacoinbook.com)

New dollar coin first step to abolish paper dollar?

“Once upon a time,” most Fairy tales start out. The new American Innovation dollars program is no doubt a thinly veiled idea by some members of Congress to abolish the paper dollar. The paper dollar has worked side by side with gold dollars and silver dollars and base metal dollar coins (Eisenhower, Anthony and Sacagawea) since it started in the 1860s. People choose what they want to use in a free country, and that is the way it should be. The argument that abolishing the paper dollar for a coin will save us all kinds of money is a joke.

The bastions of society, in our Congress, who are so concerned about saving money, have us in a $20 trillion national debt.

Putting this in perspective, if the debt stopped and no interest was added, it would take an average couple making $50,000 a year 400,000 years to pay off the debt.

If, and I say if, any money was saved by using the coin over paper, Congress would have it wasted on some pork project before the ink on the abolition of the paper dollar was even dry. To think otherwise would be a fairy tale.

Comparison: The paper dollar is, and always has been, more popular than the coin, yet they do work together. The paper dollar is like Classic Coke. And the dollar coin is like New Coke.
You remember what happened when the Coke company abolished Coke and essentially forced New Coke on the public.

They would have been smarter, and money ahead, to add New Coke to their line-up and see if they could get an audience.

It is the same with the dollar coin. Don’t abolish the paper dollar. Have vending machines accept both the dollar bill and the dollar coin. Truth be known, if people did use the dollar coin from time to time, it would help the paper dollar to last longer and we could have our cake and eat it too! If members of Congress were truly interested in saving money, simply put, they would.

Wayne Pearson
Union City, Ind.

 

Carrying dollar bags out of Treasury earned him $20

I remember being in the courtyard of the Treasury building in the spring of 1964 and then going into the basement and carrying out two bags of dollars for a man who paid me $20. Interesting times!

Paul Yopchick
Address withheld

 

No mention of 1986 Denver silver American Eagle

I noticed in Mercanti’s book he shows that the Denver Mint did produce silver American Eagles in 1986. The Red Book doesn’t include Denver. One would think, though, that perhaps someone at the Denver Mint would have preserved one. Ever heard of one with a designation from that Mint facility?

Steve McGowan
Algonac, Mich.

 

Thanks to ANA for great Philadelphia convention

The American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money Convention was held for the eighth time in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pa., on Aug. 14-18.

This had to be one of the busiest ANA conventions we have ever attended in many years. Even with the admission charge to enter the show, traffic was almost continuous since the doors opened until they closed on Saturday. Unlike past shows, many of the dealers stayed close to the end of the convention. If we started to write about all of the highlights, we would have to get some publisher to write the book, but we will only cover some of them.

First and foremost, thanks to the ANA for arranging this very successful show for its members, dealers, and visitors.

Whenever a convention has a 96-page show guide, you know that a lot has to be going on. A WFOM is probably the only coin convention you will ever attend where you have many conflicts and cannot do everything you might want to do. Such was the case with us. We missed meetings and other events that we wanted to attend.

Registration ran smoothly, and though the lines were long at times, the ANA staff worked hard to get them into the show as quickly as possible. Many people forget that as an ANA member, you get free admission to the show. You can also enter the show a half hour before the general public.

Working the ANA Future table close to the entrance, several people joined the Association just for that reason.

As for the highlights, here are a few: Huge and successful auctions by Stack’s Bowers and Heritage Auctions; generous title sponsors and patrons; all the major grading services, including NGC and PMG, which are the official ANA grading services; special elongateds made for the convention, including a booth which rolled out your coins; the U.S. Mint (displaying three of the 11 $20 1933 gold pieces) and Bureau of Engraving & Printing (including spider press) participation, along with several world mints; and world-class ANA Museum Showcase, which exhibited a 1913 Liberty Head nickel, a Nova Constellatio quint, and other rarities.

We look forward to the ANA National Money Show March 28-30, 2019, in Pittsburgh and the World’s Fair of Money on Aug. 13-17, 2019, in Chicago (Rosemont), Ill.

John and Nancy Wilson
ANA National Volunteers
Ocala, Fla.

 

Address letters to Editor, Numismatic News, 5225 Joerns Drive, Suite 2, Stevens Point, WI 54481. All letters must be signed and include a return address. Numismatic News reserves the right to edit all letters. E-mail should be sent to david.harper@fwmedia.com. Include your city and state in your email.

 

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News. >> Subscribe today.

 

• Subscribe to our monthly Coins magazine – a great resource for any collector!

• The Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000 is your guide to images, prices and information on coinage of the 1900s.

The post Letters to the Editor (September 18, 2018) appeared first on Numismatic News.