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The first dollar coins issued by the United States Mint (founded 1792) were similar in size and composition to the Spanish dollar. The Spanish and U.S. silver dollars circulated side by side in the United States, and the Spanish dollar remained legal tender until 1857. The coinage of various English colonies also circulated. The lion dollar was popular in theDutch New Netherland Colony (New York), but the lion dollar also circulated throughout the English colonies during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Examples circulating in the colonies were usually worn so that the design was not fully distinguishable, thus they were sometimes referred to as "dog dollars".The U.S. dollar was created and defined by the Coinage Act of 1792. It specified a "dollar" to be between 371 and 416 grains (27.0 g) of silver (depending on purity) and an 'eagle" to be between 247 and 270 grains (17 g) of gold (again depending on purity). The choice of the value 371 grains arose from Alexander Hamilton's decision to base the new American unit on the average weight of a selection of worn Spanish dollars. Hamilton got the treasury to weigh a sample of Spanish dollars and the average weight came out to be 371 grains. A new Spanish dollar was usually about 377 grains in weight, and so the new US dollar was at a slight discount in relation to the Spanish dollar. The gold equivalent of the Spanish dollar in sterling was ₤1 = $4.80, whereas the gold equivalent of the US dollar was ₤1 = 4.86⅔. This exchange rate with sterling remained right up until Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931.The Coinage Act of 1792 set the value of an eagle at 10 dollars, and the dollar at 1/10th eagle. It called for 90% silver alloy coins in denominations of 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/10, and 1/20; it called for 90% gold alloy coins in denominations of 1, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/10.The value of gold or silver contained in the dollar was then converted into relative value in the economy for the buying and selling of goods. This allowed the value of things to remain fairly constant over time, except for the influx and outflux of gold and silver in the nation's economy.The early currency of the USA did not exhibit faces of presidents, as is the custom now. In fact, George Washington was against having his face on the currency, a practice he compared to the policies of European monarchs. The currency as we know it today did not get the faces they currently have until after the early 1900s; before that "heads" side of coinage used profile faces and striding, seated, and standing figures from Greek and Roman mythology and generic native Americans. The last coins to be converted to profiles of historic Americans were the dime (1946) and the Dollar (1971).Coins
Official United States coins have been produced every year from 1793 to the present. In normal circulation today, there are coins of the denominations 1¢ ([one] cent, also referred to as a penny), 5¢ (nickel), 10¢ (dime), 25¢ (quarter dollar officially, or simply quarter in common usage), 50¢ (half dollar officially, sometimes referred to as a fifty-cent piece), and $1 (dollar officially, but frequently referred to as a dollar coin).
Dollar coins
Dollar coins have not been very popular in the United States. Silver dollars were minted intermittently from 1794 through 1935; a copper-nickel dollar of the same large size, featuring President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was minted from 1971 through 1978. Gold dollars were also minted in the 1800s. The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was introduced in 1979; these proved to be unpopular because they were often mistaken for quarters, due to their nearly equal size, their milled edge, and their similar color. Minting of these dollars for circulation was suspended in 1980 (collectors' pieces were struck in 1981), but, as with all past U.S. coins, they remain legal tender. As the number of Anthony dollars held by the Federal Reserve and dispensed primarily to make change in postal and transit vending machines had been virtually exhausted, additional Anthony dollars were struck in 1999. In 2000, a new $1 coin featuring Sacagawea was introduced, which corrected some of the mistakes of the Anthony dollar by having a smooth edge and a gold color, without requiring changes to vending machines that accept the Anthony dollar. However, this new coin has failed to achieve the popularity of the still-existing $1 bill and is rarely used in daily transactions. The failure to simultaneously withdraw the dollar bill and weak publicity efforts have been cited by coin proponents as primary reasons for the failure of the dollar coin to gain popular support. There are indications that the dollar coin's failure was also due to the reluctance of armored transport companies to make the necessary adjustments to handle the new coins, and the government's reluctance to mandate it.The result of the armored carriers' unwillingness to handle the new coins was that they virtually never reached merchants in quantities sufficient to be given out as change on a routine basis, or for retail clerks to become used to handling them.In February 2007, the US Mint, under the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005,[13] introduced a new $1 US Presidential dollar coin. Based on the success of the "50 State Quarters" series, the new coin features a sequence of presidents in order of their inaugurations, starting with George Washington, on the obverse side. The reverse side features the Statue of Liberty. To allow for larger, more detailed portraits, the traditional inscriptions of "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust," the year of minting or issuance, and the mint mark will be inscribed on the edge of the coin instead of the face. This feature, similar to the edge inscriptions seen on the British £1 coin, is not usually associated with US coin designs. The inscription "Liberty" has been eliminated, with the Statue of Liberty serving as a sufficient replacement. In addition, due to the nature of US coins, this will be the first time there will be circulating US coins of different denominations with the same President featured on the obverse (heads) side. (Lincoln/penny, Jefferson/nickel, Franklin D. Roosevelt/dime, Washington/quarter and Kennedy/half dollar.) Another unusual fact about the new $1 coin is Grover Cleveland will have two coins with his portrait issued due to the fact he was the only US President to be elected to two non-consecutive terms.Early releases of the Washington coin included error coins shipped primarily from the Philadelphia mint to Florida and Tennessee banks. Highly sought after by collectors, and trading for as much as $850 each within a week of discovery, the error coins were identified by the absence of the edge impressions "E PLURIBUS UNUM IN GOD WE TRUST 2007 P". The mint of origin is generally accepted to be mostly Philadelphia, although identifying the source mint is impossible without opening a mint pack also containing marked units. Edge lettering is minted in both orientations with respect to "heads", some amateur collectors were initially duped into buying "upside down lettering error" coins. Some cynics also erroneously point out that the Federal Reserve makes more profit from dollar bills than dollar coins because they wear out in a few years, whereas coins are more permanent. The fallacy of this argument arises because new notes printed to replace worn out notes which have been withdrawn from circulation bring in no net revenue to the government to offset the costs of printing new notes and destroying the old ones. As most vending machines are incapable of making change in banknotes, they commonly accept only $1 bills, though a few will give change in dollar coins.Other denominations
The United States has minted other coin denominations at various times from 1792 to 1935: half-cent, 2-cent, 3-cent, 20-cent, $2.50 (Quarter Eagle), $3.00, $5.00 (Half Eagle), $10.00 (Eagle), $20.00 (Double Eagle) and $50.00 (Half Union). Technically, all these coins are still legal tender at face value, though they are far more valuable today for their numismatic value, and for gold and silver coins, their precious metal value. In addition, an experimental $4.00 (Stella) coin was also minted, but never placed into circulation and is properly considered to be a pattern rather than an actual coin denomination. 1 dollar gold pieces were also made, and are the smallest American coin ever to be made. Half dimes preceded the nickel 5 cent piece for about the first half of the 19th century.The $50 coin mentioned was only produced in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915) celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal. Only 1,128 were made, 645 of which were octagonal; this remains the only US coin that was not round as well as the largest and heaviest US coin ever. (The Susan B. Anthony dollar was round in shape; only the frame of the images on either side was decagonal.)From 1934 to present the only denominations produced for circulation have been the familiar penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar and dollar. The nickel is the only coin still in use today that is essentially unchanged (except in its design) from its original version. Every year since 1866, the nickel has been 75% copper and 25% nickel, except for 4 years during World War II when nickel was needed for the war.Collectors' coins
Since 1982 the United States Mint has also produced many different denominations and designs specifically for collectors and speculators. There are silver, gold and platinum bullion coins, called "American Eagles," all of which are legal tender though their use in everyday transactions is non-existent. The reason for this is that they are not intended for use in transactions and thus the face value of the coins is much lower than the worth of the precious metals in them. The American Silver Eagle bullion coin is issued only in the $1 (1 troy ounce) denomination and has been minted yearly starting in 1986. The American Gold Eagle bullion coin denominations (with gold content), minted since 1986, are: $5 (1/10 troy oz), $10 (1/4 troy oz), $25 (1/2 troy oz), and $50 (1 troy oz). The American Platinum Eagle bullion coin denominations (with platinum content), minted since 1997, are: $10 (1/10 troy oz), $25 (1/4 troy oz), $50 (1/2 troy oz), and $100 (1 troy oz). The silver coin is 99.9% silver, the gold coins are 91.67% gold (22 karat), and the platinum coins are 99.95% platinum. These coins are not available from the Mint for individuals but must be purchased from authorized dealers. In 2006 The Mint began direct sales to individuals of uncirculated bullion coins with a special finish, and bearing a "W" mintmark. The Mint also produces high quality "proof" coins intended for collectors in the same denominations and bullion content which are available to individuals.
Dollar Sign
The symbol $, usually written before the numerical amount, is used for the U.S. dollar (as well as for many other currencies). The sign's ultimate origins are not certain, though it is possible that it comes from the Pillars of Hercules which flank the Spanish Coat of arms on the Spanish dollars that were minted in the New World mints in Mexico City, Potosi, Bolivia, and in Lima, Peru. These Pillars of Hercules on the silver Spanish dollar coins take the form of two vertical bars and a swinging cloth band in the shape of an "S".An equally accepted, and better documented, explanation is that it is this symbol for peso was the result of a late eighteenth-century evolution of the scribal abbreviation "ps." The p and the s eventually came to be written over each other giving rise to $.Another possibility suggested is that the dollar sign is the capital letters U and S typed one on top of the other. This theory, popularized by novelist Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged , does not consider the fact that the symbol was already in use before the formation of the United States