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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
In reply to:
It's strange how we don't make the coin sizes in order of value.
Like almost everything else, things today are the way they are because they are unchanged from what suited before. Originally, the sizes of the coins approximated actual values. The penny, made of copper, contained about 1 cent of value. The nickel, made of nickel, contained about 5 cents worth of nickel. The dime, made of silver, contained about 1/10th of a dollar's worth of silver. Quarters and half-dollars were also silver, and are thus were progressively larger. I think dollar coins were initially gold, but changed to silver a long time ago. Although the metallic content of the coins has since changed, the sizes initially established have remained.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
About recognizing coins by feel...not all the Canadian coins are round, so that helps. The penny has 12 sides and the loonie has 11 sides. Some old nickels have "square" sides, maybe 10 or so (I've never counted), but the current ones are round. Also dimes and quarters (like in the US) have ribbed edges, while the others have smooth edges. Our new series of bills which just started coming out has Braille on them.
Here's a money-related question: what images do other countries put on their coins? Here we have
penny - maple leaves
nickel - beaver
dime - the Bluenose (a sailing ship)
quarter - caribou
$1 coin - loon
$2 coin - bears
Our bills all have famous Canadian guys (politicians) on them.
I can't even remember what is on the US coins, except the penny has a building on it, I think. Anyone else want to share?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
US currency imagery:
penny - President Lincoln in profile/Lincoln memorial, there are still some old (pre 1960s-ish) pennies with wheat shafts opposite the Lincoln profile
nickel - President Jefferson profile/Monticello
dime - President F Roosevelt/liberty torch
quarter - President Washington profile/eagle is the standard issue, as previously discussed, each state now has/will have its own quarter, and there are still a few 1976 bicentennial quarters about
half dollar - President Kennedy/?
dollar - issued in 1980ish, the Susan B Anthony coin has SBA on one side, and I can't remember the other. -- issued in 2000, the Sacagaweah (sp?) is gold and has Sacagaweah and her baby on one side, and I haven't seen a photo of the other side.
All paper money is the same color scheme - gray ink on one side and green ink on the other
one dollar - portrait of Washington/eagle and pyramid in circles
two dollars - ?
five dollars - Lincoln portrait/Lincoln memorial
ten dollars - President Hamilton/Treasury building
twenty dollars - President Jackson/the White House
fifty dollars - ?
one hundred dollars - Benjamin Franklin/?
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
well the US mint has a web site too, and if any one is interested you can look up details of money http://www.usmint.gov/Bingsley-- I know stores sell bill folds, but men carry wallets-- i think its like Luggage/baggage... and old name for english money, started with farthing, ha'peny, penny (pence), tupence (2 pence) thrupence (3 pence) 6 pence, shilling, and there were half crowns,(2/6 as i recall) crown (5 shillings), florins (10 shillings) -- mythical money included "a brass farthing" (maybe it wasn't always mythical? during WWII, the US made steel dimes-- not silver ones) I am so old, i remember when a pound sterling was worth over $5.40 US!-- and then being given a shilling (12 pence= 60 + cents!-- instead of a dime for a treat! Boy was it every a treat! i felt like the queen of the may! and up to about 1950, US had Liberty dimes-- with a representation of Lady Liberty-- they were very popular.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
one dollar - portrait of Washington/eagle and pyramid in circles
The Egyptian pyramids? If so, why on earth would that be? If not...well, which ones?
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Yes an Egyptian pyramid-- and the latin for "New World Order" (novus ordo seclorum) but the pyramid is not finished-- which is supposed to mean the US of A is not finished-- that we are still evolving to a new world order...
the top of the pyramid has an eye-- and a bit of latin i forget-- (and i am not running now to babblefish to translate) annuit coeptis It is all part of the "great Seal of the United States" the other side of the seal has the eagle, it carries 13 arrows and a olive branch with 13 leaves-- and in times of peace the eagle always faces the olive branch-- but in times of war he faces the arrows...in his mouth he carries a banner-- e pluribus unum-- (from many, one)
Remember-- we were started by a bunch of intelectual revolutionaries!
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
nickel - President Washington profile/Monticello --- Make that Pres Jefferson and I'll go along with it.
dollar - issued in 1980ish, the Susan B Anthony coin has SBA on one side, and I can't remember the other. -- issued in 2000, the Sacagaweah (sp?) is gold and has Sacagaweah and her baby on one side, and I haven't seen a photo of the other side. --- There's an eagle on the back with maybe some mountains and stars of the number of states that were in the Union at the time of Lewis and Clark's little cross country jaunt.
two dollars - ? --- Thom Jefferson -- Signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back (yes, I have one in my pocket)
fifty dollars - ? --- Pres. Grant. Not sure about the back.
one hundred dollars - Benjamin Franklin/? --- Scratch the question mark. It is good old Benjy.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
>dime - President F Roosevelt/liberty torch
Yeah, and the liberty torch is flanked by what look like two sprigs of parsley for garnish... one's got to be an olive branch, I guess I'll have to go the the US Mint website and check out the herbs.
>half dollar - President Kennedy/?
I just so happen to have one in my purse (didn't I mention I hoard odd currency?). JFK is indeed on the front, and the Presidential Seal eagle is on the back (shield in front, talons outstretched holding olive branch and arrows, 13 rays, blah blah blah). Looks like 50 stars around the eagle (to represent of each state), but I'm not going to count them just now.
And with regard to my pet, the two dollar bill (good for you for carrying one, Faldage!), I think one of the things that attracts me most to it is the phenomenal detail with which somebody's famous painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is rendered.
I promise when I get home I'll check my stashes of Ecuadorean sucres (a rare find anymore...), Korean won, and Chinese yuan. I'll report back when I know more, Cap'n.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
When the Roosevelt dime first came out, a Republican joke was that it was the only coin with a naval vessel on it:
A destroyer.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
Here's a money-related question: what images do other countries put on their coins?
The NZ 5¢ coin has a tuatara on it, the 50¢ has the Endeavour (Captain Cook's barque), the $1 coin has a kiwi surrounded by a fern wreath, and I can't remember the others. The NZ $5 note is apparently unique in the world for depicting a living person other than a head of state. It features Sir Edmund Hillary. NZers have the highest rate of ETPOS usage in the world, and almost the lowest rate of ATM usage in the developed world. CapK's hometown market's itself as "cash-optional" since it is possible to pay for absolutely everything electronically, right down to parking meters
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