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- - Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? (http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=410067)

madfranks | 09-23-2009 09:55 PM
Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? I have brought together what I consider to be the four most unsuccessful coins in the Mint's history. Which was the worst? I consider the 40% silver half to be the biggest mistake since it permanently killed the half dollar as a circulating coin. Don't forget to vote after you read the descriptions! 20 Cent Piece http://www.coinlink.com/News/images/...t_coins_ha.jpg Minted from 1875-76, the U.S. twenty-cent piece was created at the urging of Senator John Percival Jones from Nevada. Jones represented the silver miners of the Comstock Lode. The coin was an immediate failure as it was easily confused with the quarters of the era, having the same Liberty Seated design on the front, and a similar eagle design on the back, as well as the same metallic composition and a similar size. One would basically have had to read the small, easily worn text on the reverse in order to determine the value (TWENTY CENTS vs QUAR. DOL.) without a side by side comparison. It also had no real use in everyday circulation, as it could not do anything that two dimes couldn't. The U.S. twenty-cent piece quickly failed to gain acceptance, and its mintage for general circulation ceased only two years after it began, making it the shortest lived US coin. Susan B Anthony Dollar http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/00_01/100/sv/sba2.jpg The Susan B. Anthony dollar is a United States coin minted from 1979 to 1981, and again in 1999. It depicts women's suffrage campaigner Susan B. Anthony. Because of their similar size and color, it was found to be very easy to mistake the coin for a quarter. The originally-planned hendecagon-shaped edge, which would have distinguished it from the quarter, had been replaced with a depiction of an hendecagon and the same reeded edge as the quarter, thus compounding the confusion. While a large quantity were produced in 1979, they failed to circulate well (despite the slogan "Carry three for Susan B.") and a minimal number were produced in 1980. In 1981, none were produced for circulation, but instead were produced for numismatic sets marketed by the Mint. Many of those mint sets have been broken up, and it is not unusual to find 1981-dated Anthony dollars in circulation. At the end of production, the Treasury was left with hundreds of millions of the coins in its vaults. 75% silver 3 cent coin http://z.about.com/d/coins/1/0/Z/0/-...ece_Silver.jpg Around 1850, the Federal government reduced the cost for mailing a letter from five cents to three cents. Using the argument that people would find it useful to have a coin with which to buy a stamp (history does not tell us if people preferred to go to the post office to buy stamps one at a time in the 1850s), Senator Daniel Stevens Dickinson of New York proposed a three-cent coin be minted. Further, it was proposed that the new coin be made of an alloy of 75% silver and 25% copper that would have enough precious silver to be thought of as "real money" but not enough to be worth melting down. The three-cent coin was approved into law on March 3, 1851. The new three-cent coin was the smallest United States silver coin ever made. Its small size made designing the coin problematic and the head engraver of the United States Mint, James Barton Longacre, created a shield superimposed on a six-pointed star for the front of the three-cent coin and a Roman numeral "III" for the back. The coins were physically the lightest weight coins ever minted by the United States, weighing only 4/5 of a gram and with a diameter smaller than a modern dime and only slightly greater than the smallest gold dollars. The silver coins were known as "fishscales" because the silver-copper alloy had a maddening predisposition to discolor and turn dark. Once the cost of a postage stamp fell to two cents, the three-cent coin fell out of favor and it was minted for the last time in 1873. It remains the only American coin ever minted for the purpose of buying a stamp. 40% silver half dollar http://coinspecifications.com/wp-con...alf-dollar.jpg In 1965 Lyndon Baines Johnson took the United States of America off the silver standard. Also, silver was no longer included in newly-minted dimes and quarters (which became copper-nickel clad), but remained in the half-dollar (but reduced from 90% to 40%). The older Franklin halves of 90% silver were quickly removed from circulation by collectors and hoarders, and since the public now hoarded silver coins, most of the 90% silver 1964s, as well as the 40% silver 1965-1970 halves, saw little circulation as well. By time the Kennedy half dollar became regular copper-nickel clad in 1971, many banks and merchants were already used to no longer stocking and using the denomination as they were prior to 1964. By continuing to mint only the half dollar with silver between 65 and 70, circulation of the coin was nonexistent, because they were hoarded for their silver rather than spent. By the time the half was reduced soley to clad status in 1971, it was too late as the public, banks, and merchants had gotten used to circulating coinage without a half dollar, and it has never come back since. Coin descriptions courtesy of wikipedia, essortment.com, and myself.

bulloncoins | 09-23-2009 10:41 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? At least they all have one redeeming value (except for the Susan B. Anthony), they have some silver content for what it is worth. the SBA, was fugly, a bad size and shape for a circulating coin, and had no PM value. Worst coin up until that point...there are others since, but for the ones you posted...it is the clear looser coin by far. :wink:

unalga | 09-23-2009 10:44 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? SBA gets my vote for worst they ever did...

mispillion | 09-24-2009 02:04 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? i went with sba, but every coin minted currently minted here is undistinguished, with the exception of the kennedy half.

Jekyll7 | 09-24-2009 02:09 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? The SBA could probably be called the ugliest mainstream US coin. The 20 cent piece, like the one year 1858 issue here in Canada (later melted in massive quantities), was a solution to a non-problem and generally useless.

Buyingsilvers | 09-24-2009 02:16 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? ikes were pretty bad.... I like kennedy's... if they didn't continue making them, prospecting them wouldn't be what it is today. All of the new "gold dollar" coins are bad. I know the bank tellers hate them as well.

RossL | 09-24-2009 05:16 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? SBA. the 20 cent piece was a mistake, it was easily confused with a quarter. The the mint made the same mistake AGAIN with a coin that had a far higher value than a quarter.

tomexxtra | 09-24-2009 06:05 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? When you mistaken the .20 cent coin and spent it like a quarter you actual made money. When you spent the SBA $1 and thought it was a quarter you lost money. That's got to be the biggest mistake, losing that much on an exchange. IMO

TomD | 09-24-2009 09:06 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Quote:
Originally Posted by tomexxtra (Post 1937494) When you mistaken the .20 cent coin and spent it like a quarter you actual made money. When you spent the SBA $1 and thought it was a quarter you lost money. That's got to be the biggest mistake, losing that much on an exchange. IMO
People used to work for a dime a day, that would make gaining or losing $.05 by mistaking a coin a big deal. I've got a bunch of SBA's around here somewhere. Are you guys telling me to not to expect them to form the nucleus of my fortune?

RJB | 09-24-2009 09:10 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? .03 and the .20 atleast have a numi value now. For a long view they are stilltalked about. The 40% .50 atleast has silver. The SBA is a disgrace to all silver dollars. Show a kid a peace dollar and a SBA and see which they like more. There is no metalic value. They were over produced and have no numi value. The dollar coins have yet to recover. I hate them all, the "golden dollars-- the presidential and indian dollars. I hate the fake dollars!!! I'm a big silver dollar fan incase you didn't notice :)

Ragnarok | 09-24-2009 10:00 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Thanks MF for that informative post! I vote for the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. Pretty worthless idea imo, for a coin meant to circulate. As a numismatic/commemorative, not so much. All of the others contained at least some silver (except the later halves), so at least are worth something in that respect. R.

RossL | 09-24-2009 11:53 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Quote:
Originally Posted by TomD (Post 1937621) I've got a bunch of SBA's around here somewhere. Are you guys telling me to not to expect them to form the nucleus of my fortune?
Spend them now before they lose more value. :banghead: You have already lost a lot of spending power if you have saved them since 1979 :banghead: they will work in vending machines that have been converted to use the brass dollar coins

hernancortes | 09-24-2009 12:19 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Quote:
Originally Posted by Buyingsilvers (Post 1937380) ikes were pretty bad.... I like kennedy's... if they didn't continue making them, prospecting them wouldn't be what it is today. All of the new "gold dollar" coins are bad. I know the bank tellers hate them as well.
I agree Ikes are pretty bad too. Plain design & way too cumbersome to carry around for not having any silver content. Neophtyes hoard them, then are always bringing them in to coinshops thinking they are "silver dollars", or have some numi value.

HistoryStudent | 09-24-2009 12:26 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? The GREATEST mistake was 1933 - they killed the gold ones ( all varieties- for real honest money)....:wink: The SECOND greatest mistake was 1965 when they killed all the ones (10 cent 25 cents 50 cents one dollar) with more than 70% of silver in them.... :111::111::111: That's my vote - IMVHO of course. :getdown::565:bancha:banana::5_1_120::10_1_20::get down::565: Dang it I'm a PURIST - for pure honest money!

Tecumseh | 09-24-2009 12:34 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? I think that the mint should be required to mint a one dollar silver coin every year that contains $1 worth of silver and be no less than 90% purity. People would then understand what the Federal Reserve has done to our currency. Today's dollar would be about 2/3 the size of a modern dime.

born_cross_eyed | 09-24-2009 12:35 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Quote:
the Federal government reduced the cost for mailing a letter from five cents to three cents Once the cost of a postage stamp fell to two cents
Back when there was sound money the cost of a postage stamp actually went down. I'm sure such a thing is unfathomable to most people today.

Junk Woody | 09-24-2009 12:55 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Thanks madfranks,I hadn't heard about the American 20 cent piece before. by the way I voted SBA. The one coin on the list that I would least like to find with my metal detector

Texan | 09-24-2009 02:22 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? It's a tie between the Ike, SBA, Sacagawea, and those goofy looking presidential dollars. :sleep: You won't hear me say it often, but below is a government recommendation I strongly agree with. I can't spend presidential dollar coins fast enough. From the US Mint website: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/index.cfm?flash=yes We appreciate your support of the Presidential $1 Coin program. You play an important role in the coin's success, so please spend them. The more $1 Coins that you can help circulate the better, because they last for decades, save our Nation money and are 100% recyclable.

HistoryStudent | 09-24-2009 04:11 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Yeah we NEED an OBUMMER dollar half the size of the MERCURY dime with $1.00 of silver in to go with the 7 million jobs lost. :signs14::sarcasm:and OFF TOPIC - the DEVIL :pissedoff: made me do IT! Yes by all means: Write your CONGRESS PERSON and ask for the silver OBAMA dollar. That you can USE your paper dollar to buy!!!

Bubble Fat | 09-24-2009 05:54 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? 1909 - Liberty (for all) was removed. And so it has been. Bring Liberty back to regular coinage. Keep the Presidents on commemoratives.

madfranks | 09-24-2009 07:02 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubble Fat (Post 1938543) 1909 - Liberty (for all) was removed. And so it has been. Bring Liberty back to regular coinage. Keep the Presidents on commemoratives.
Liberty was on the most famous half dollar of them all, minted from 1916 to 1947. I agree with your point though, I would like to see liberty back on our coins, because supposedly we are not ruled by men, but are sons of liberty (yeah right). http://www.silvercoininvestments.com...alf-dollar.jpg

Ag_man | 09-24-2009 07:57 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Quote:
Originally Posted by hernancortes (Post 1937930) I agree Ikes are pretty bad too. Plain design & way too cumbersome to carry around for not having any silver content. Neophtyes hoard them, then are always bringing them in to coinshops thinking they are "silver dollars", or have some numi value.
Any truth to the story that the Las Vegas crew "encouraged" the Mint to make the Ike for 1 dollar slots, instead of having to produce dollar tokens? The Ike sucked, way too big for pocket change. Deep down, I like the idea of dollar coins, but evidently Americans just won't accept them. Of course, the SBA and Sac were hideous examples of the art of coinage. The Presidential dollars are more attractive IMO, but the damage has been done with the SBA and Sac.

Traderbock | 09-25-2009 11:36 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? I lived through the Anthony. It is hard to conceive just how this made it out of a committee. Nearly identical in size to a quarter? Good lord. Add to it that Anthony looks a lot like George Washington and you had complete confusion. I've got to disagree about the Ikes. I always liked them, especially the backside with the eagle and the moon. We used to call them silver dollars when we were kids, that what everyone called them although I am not sure why. I guess it wasn't that big an issue that they went away from silver at the time.

NotTheOne | 09-25-2009 02:23 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? I lived through the SBA also. Stores wouldn't take them as there was no slot in the change drawer for them. They used to put them under the drawer (along with the 50's). Once they were out of sight, they weren't used to make change, and just went back to the bank.

paulweir | 09-25-2009 09:27 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? I would say the SBA is ugiest coin ever made.

BoatingAccident | 09-25-2009 09:37 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? The small numbers of these coins makes them easily forgotten. The biggest mistake, was every worthless clad coin made after 1964.

HistoryStudent | 09-27-2009 03:16 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? :111:The BIGGEST mistake is NOT making the 2009: Buffalos in 1- 1/2 - 1/4 - 1/10 PF & MS (8) :4_1_72: Gold Eagles in 1 - 1/2 - 1/4 - 1/10 PF & MS (8) :4_1_72: Platinum Eagles in 1 - 1/2- 1/4 - 1/10 PF & MS (8) :4_1_72: Silver Eagles in 1 PF & MS (2) :4_1_72: UHR in 1 PF - (1) :4_1_72: plus every coin since 1964 in copper and silver. PF & MS (must be a huge #) plus every gold coin since 1933. PF & MS (must be a huge #) But who's counting and who REALLY cares, right? :111::111::111::111::111:

Saul Mine | 09-27-2009 04:13 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Those are all pretty bad, but the biggest mistake was minting a gold coin denominated in dollars. That enforced a fixed ratio between gold and silver, guaranteeing that one metal would eventually disappear from circulation as people spent the overvalued coins and hoarded the undervalued coins. We have a similar situation today with pennies of zinc and copper.

gopher29 | 09-28-2009 10:47 AM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? I voted for the 20� piece. That thing does look exactly like the Seated Liberty Quarters which were circulating heavily at the time. I'm sure many a merchant ended up accepting them as quarters and losing out on five cents in payment.

ohioarmedneutrality | 09-28-2009 08:28 PM
Re: Which coin was the mint's biggest mistake? Susan B. Anthony. A total coin abortion from start to finish. Here is reproduction of engraver Frank Gasparro's original design for the small-size dollar coin: http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...dDollarObv.jpg The feminists in Congress wanted the coin to feature Susan B. Anthony. Gasparro's first rendition of Anthony was a younger, less-biddylike version, but Anthony's family didn't like it, so he went with the crabby old biddy version. Your federal government at its best.

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