Promoting dollar coin a good idea

The U.S. Mint is in the middle of its 50-state quarter campaign, in which every single state is getting a specialized 25-cent piece dedicated to it. The Mint is putting five a year into circulation.

The unique quarters have spurred many Americans, young and old, to collect them, not just the folks who are deep into the coin collecting hobby. Many TV, magazine and newspaper ads pitch maps, picture frames, glass containers and other items to allow people to display their state quarter collections.

Quarters, of course, are not exactly rare; indeed, they’re the coin of the realm when it comes to using everything from parking meters to automatic car washes to vending machines.

By contrast, the dollar coin is not nearly so popular, perhaps because we’re so accustomed to the dollar bill. The old “silver dollar” seldom turns up in cash drawers, nor do its successors that feature either Susan B. Anthony or Sacagawea.

Canada has been far more successful in promoting a dollar coin; its “loonie,” named for the bird on its face, is so well liked it’s now accompanied in northern cash drawers by a “twonie” — a $2 coin. Of course, the Canadians no longer have any paper money worth less than $5, so that might be the reason they’re popular.

Back in the USA, there appears to be no plan to abolish the $1 bill. But the Mint has taken a page from its successful state quarter campaign and come up with a plan to feature past presidents on the dollar coin starting in 2007 — assuming President Bush signs the bill Congress has sent him.




Every president, except those still living or who have been dead less than two years, eventually will be featured on dollar coins under the proposal. If the program is as popular as the state quarters have been, and we think it will be, the Mint will have to put a lot more of them into circulation.

One quibble we have is with the fact that Grover Cleveland will appear on two coins because he served two non-consecutive terms. Can’t we just put “1885-1889 and 1893-1897” on his and let it go at that?

That aside, we think the added circulation will convince people that a $1 coin is a good thing to have in your pocket, especially in a world where $1 is seldom enough to buy a soft drink from a vending machine and the change from a candy bar isn’t much more than a quarter.