This Week’s Letters (6/27/08)

From the June 27 Numismatic News E-Newsletter:

Q. Is it a good idea to put the date on the edge of the Sac dollar?

No. Do these people ever learn? Look at the Presidential dollar coins ?mess? with the edge lettering. Also the Mint can ?make a few blank edges and a few double edges and sell a lot more coins.? This is just another step toward removing ?In God We Trust? from our U.S. coins.

John Ezell
Jonesboro, La.

What woman could resist the opportunity for a makeover?
I will rather miss the soaring eagle on the reverse. I believe that there has always been an eagle on a dollar coin. Even the half dollar always featured some form of eagle and the Franklin half had a pigeon on it.
The coin dollar is going nowhere as long as paper George is around. Eliminate paper and that might get the coin accepted. Eliminate all paper and you might slow the pace of inflation.
The less creditworthy a nation state the better looking its paper currency tends to become. The Republic of Texas featured good looking nudes on its paper currency.
I await the Scarlet Johansen $1,000 bill. In Mint State she would sure be something. (No offense to Sacagawea.)

John Mc Cullagh
New York, N.Y.

No, I do not think changing the placement of the date is in order. In fact I do not like the rim date mintmark, or any other information. Guess I am just an old-fashioned thinker, one that does not like too much of a change in our money.

Wayne Logan
Acworth, Ga.

I don?t think it is a good idea as you can?t read the date on the new Presidential dollar when it is in a 2x2.

Roger Gumm
Leicester, N.C..

I don?t like the year on the edge for the Sac dollar at present because if you get a roll of Sacs you have to open the roll to tell what year they are. Even though the question isn?t about mintmarks, I don?t really like the mintmark on the edge either because when you get a roll you can?t tell which mint it came from without opening the roll.
If there was a new design every year on the Sac dollar you would a least know what year it was. I also don?t like the mintmark on the edge for the Presidential dollars. Edge lettering is good for errors.

Glen Dinner
Greeley, Colo.

Why on earth would the Mint want to prolong a mistake? Nearly everyone I?ve spoken with despises the lettering on the edge because it is so difficult to actually read what it says.
I would like to see a holographic date on the coins. I?d be willing to bet that the public wouldn?t whine about a dollar coin that nobody wants like I hear now. I?m one of those who really enjoyed the largeness of coins like the silver dollar. So I am also all for a $5 coin of that size. I could go on but unless I start my own country, I?ll just have to dream about ?my coins.?

Neil Oldenburg
Phoenix, Ariz.

Placing the date and the mintmark on the edge was an absurd idea that is a slap on the face of the collectors, though that decision is irrelevant to the non-numismatist. Were I still collecting modern U.S. coins I?d ignore these coins altogether. Perhaps the eyeglass and contact lens industry lobbyists were behind that decision.

Steve Album
Santa Rosa, Calif.

I vote a resounding ?No? to putting the date on the edge of any coin. You need a magnifying glass to see the date on the edge. You can?t tell what the date and mintmark is inside a roll of coins. And even proof and uncirculated sets are very hard to see. It was a bad idea from the start.

Dean Striegel
Pittsburgh, Pa.