Coins of the United States dollar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Top row: Sacagawea Dollar, Lincoln Cent, and Roosevelt Dime.
Bottom row: Kennedy Half Dollar and Westward Journey Series Jefferson Nickels

2005 State Quarters: California, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, and West Virginia

United States coinage was first minted by the new republic in 1792. New coins have been produced every year since then and they make up a valuable aspect of the United States currency system. Today circulating coins exist in denominations: $0.01, $0.05, $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Also minted are bullion and commemorative coins. All of these are produced by the United States Mint. The coins are then sold to Federal Reserve Banks which in turn are responsible for putting coins into circulation and withdrawing them as demanded by the country's economy.

[edit] Current coinage

Today four mints operate in the United States producing billions of coins each year. The main mint is the Philadelphia Mint which produces circulating coinage, mint sets and some commemorative coins. The Denver Mint also produces circulating coinage, mint sets and commemoratives. The San Francisco Mint produces regular and silver proof coinage. The West Point Mint produces bullion coinage (including proofs). Philadelphia and Denver produce the dies used at all of the mints. The proof and mint sets are manufactured each year and contain examples of all of the year's circulating coins. These and the other non-circulating coins can be purchased directly from the US Mint.

[edit] Circulating coins

Coins for Circulation
Image		Value	Technical parameters (latest)				Description			Date of first minting	Mainstream	Common Reference
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
		1¢	19 mm		3.11 g	95% copper 5% tin and zinc	Plain	Abraham Lincoln	Wheat	1909	Yes	Penny, Cent
		1¢	19.05 mm	1.55 mm	2.5 g	97.5% zinc core 2.5% copper plating			Lincoln Memorial	1959
		5¢	21.21 mm	1.95 mm	5 g	75% copper 25% nickel	Plain	Thomas Jefferson	Monticello	1938	Yes	Nickel
See article		5¢							Westward Journey Series	2004
		5¢							Monticello	2006
		1 dime	17.91 mm	1.35 mm	2.268 g	91.67% copper 8.33% nickel1	118 reeds	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Torch, oak branch, olive branch	1946	Yes	Dime
		$¼	24.26 mm	1.75 mm	5.670 g		119 reeds	George Washington	Bald eagle	1932 (resumed in 1977)2	Yes	Quarter
		$¼							Bicentenial colonial military drummer	(1975) 19762
	See article	$¼							State Quarter Series	1999
		$½	30.61 mm	2.15 m	11.340 g		150 reeds	John F. Kennedy	Seal of the President of the United States surrounded by 50 stars	1964 (resumed in 1977)2	No3	Half dollar, 50-cent piece
		$½							Independence Hall	(1975) 19762
		$1	26.5 mm	2 mm	8.1 g	88.5% copper 6% zinc 3.5% Manganese 2% nickel	Plain	Sacagawea	Bald Eagle in flight	2000	No3	Gold(en) dollar
see article4		$1					Plain w/ incused inscriptions	Every (deceased) president	Statue of Liberty	2007	TBD	Gold(en) dollar
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world coins. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

[edit] Remarks

1. Dimes and quarters from before 1965 and half-dollars from before 1971 generally don't remain in circulation due to being removed for their silver content. The half-dollar retained a lower silver content between 1965 and 1970.
2. In 1975 and 1976 bicentennial coinage was minted. Regardless of date of coining, each coin bears the dual date "1776-1976".
3. Use of the Kennedy half-dollar and Sacagawea dollar is not as widespread as that of other coins in general circulation. Coins are minted for general release through banks and other financial institutions, and are also available for collectors in uncirculated rolls, mint sets and proof sets from the United States Mint.
4. The Presidential Dollar series will feature portraits of all deceased U.S. Presidents with four coin designs issued each year in the order of the president's inauguration date. These coins began circulating on February 15, 2007.

[edit] Bullion coins

Non-circulating bullion coins have been produced each year since 1986. They can be found in silver, gold and also platinum since 1997. The face value of these coins is symbolic and does not actually reflect the value of the precious metal contained therein.

[edit] Commemorative coins

Modern commemoratives have been minted since 1982. A complete list is available: Modern United States commemorative coins.

[edit] Obsolete coins and denominations

• Half cent: $0.005, copper
• Large Cent: $0.01, copper
• Two-cent piece: $0.02, copper
• Three-cent piece: $0.03, silver and copper/nickel
• Half dime: $0.05, silver
• Twenty-cent piece: $0.20, silver
• Silver dollar: $1.00, silver (some modern commemoratives are minted in this denomination)
• Gold dollar: $1.00, gold
• Quarter-eagle: $2.50, gold
• Three-dollar piece: $3.00, gold
• Stella: $4.00, gold (not circulated)
• Half-eagle: $5.00, gold (some modern commemoratives are minted in this denomination)
• Eagle: $10.00, gold (some modern commemoratives are minted in this denomination)
• Double eagle: $20.00, gold
• Fifty-dollar coin or "Half-union" (Commemorative only, California territorial gold, pattern piece)

Note: It is a common misconception that "eagle"-based nomenclature for gold U.S. coinage was merely slang. This is not the case. The "eagle," "half-eagle" and "quarter-eagle" were specifically given these names in the Coinage Act of 1792. Likewise, the double eagle was specifically created as such by name ("An Act to authorize the Coinage of Gold Dollars and Double Eagles", title and section 1, March 3, 1849).

Some modern commemorative coins have been minted in the silver dollar, half-eagle and eagle denominations.

See also US coin sizes, showing all major US coin series and scaled images in a single chart.

The law governing obsolete, mutilated, and worn coins and currency, including denominations which are no longer in production (i.e. Indian cents) can be found in 31 USC 5120.

[edit] Criticisms

Unlike many world currencies the values of US coins are not inscribed in numerals on the coin. Instead the value is written in English words presenting potential difficulties for visitors to the country who do not speak the language well or English speakers unfamiliar with the currency. Furthermore, the coins' inscriptions do not follow a pattern in describing the value: "One Cent" (penny), "Five Cents" (nickel), "One Dime" (worth 10 cents), "Quarter Dollar" (worth 25 cents), and "Half Dollar" (worth 50 cents). The Presidential $1 Coins will be the first coins to display the coin's value using numerals ("$1" instead of "One Dollar").

For historical reasons the size of the coins does not increase with their face value. Both the one cent and the five cent are larger than the ten cent and the less common 50 cent coin is larger than the recent Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. The sizes of the dime, quarter and half dollar are holdovers from before 1965 when they were made from 90% silver and 10% copper; their sizes thus depended upon the amount of silver needed to equal the face value. The diameter of the current dollar coins was introduced in 1979 with the Susan B. Anthony dollar not only as a concession to the vending machine industry which wanted a smaller dollar coin usable in their machines but also as an increase in the amount of seigniorage for the US Government (the difference between what a piece of money costs to produce and its face value or the "profit margin").

[edit] External links

• United States Mint
• United States Virtual Coin Museum
• Page of 1792 Mint and Coinage Act (Describes the first completely regulated U.S. coinage system.)
• What have they done to our coins? - An article visually exploring recent changes to U.S. modern coin designs.
• Complete US Coin Histories By year and type.