Coins for a specific reason

It's sad indeed, but on the other hand I think that's why they have such a high value way over spot nowadays.

 

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OK...I can get behind that. I do agree that they weren't struck for commerce. The main driving force behind the bill was to improve the economy...which it didn't really do.

 

Can't believe no one mentioned the trade dollar. Specifically minted to provide a product for the silver mining interests and for export out of the country to trade with the orient. (The preferred Mexican Peso, which the merchants had to acquire for a premium, contained more silver than the US dollar so the trade dollar was made heavier to match it.)

 

Hmmm...that one does seem like an obvious one. I have never owned one...so I guess I didn't think of it for that reason.

 

There were no quarters struck in 1931 due to the depression and the Washington quarter was struck to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. No quarters were struck in 1933 as there were more than enough struck in 1932 to satisfy the demand in circulation. As the economy slowly improved in 1934 rather than go back to the Standing Liberty design the Mint just continued to strike the Washington design.

In the early 1970's when I was in high school I began to assemble a complete set of BU Washington quarters and considered it complete in 1980. It also included all of the proofs from 1936. My obsession with this series included discovering major varieties and collecting them before they were ever published. When the very first article about the heavy and light mottoes and other varieties were published in one of the numismatic publications my coin dealer mentor Mrs. R (Dorothy Robinson) said I already had all of them and I did. I even had some he was unaware of. I sold the album in the late 1980's.

 

Peace dollars (and 1921 Morgan dollars) were struck as a result of the Pittman Act, if I recall the name correctly. During WWI vast numbers of Morgan dollars were melted and sold/leased to Great Britain. The Act called for the mintage of silver dollars after the war to replace those destroyed during the war.

 

So, based on what you are saying...it sounds like the plan originally was to return to the Standing Liberty design.

 

Yes, the Washington quarter commemorative was intended to be a one off issue just for 1932 and the Standing Liberty design was intended to be continued. But that's not how it played out.

Given all of the problems with striking the Standing Liberty design the Washington quarter commemorative gave the Mint a way to end that series and start anew with a coin that was easier to produce. My gut feeling is that was why the quarter was the denomination of choice for the Washington commemorative instead of the half dollar denomination as so many other commemorative coins of the period were struck in.

 

Very interesting. I love the Washington Quarter (32-98). I think it might be my favorite "dead president" coin.

 

The 1932 Washington did start out to be a commemorative half dollar but the decision was made to change it to a quarter to make them more available to the people during the depression. A half dollar was a lot of money back then and with the hard times it was felt that most people would not be able to keep ahold of a half dollar, but they might be able to keep a quarter. They wanted everyone to be able to keep a coin of the revered man.

 

Very interesting history. Thanks Condor!

 

That's the first one I thought of as well. I like both designs.
Why did they make a 2 cent piece?

 

To buy two-thirds of a stamp.

 

The Washington Carver half dollars (1951-1954) were made "to oppose the spread of Communism among Negroes in the interest of the National defense" according to the 1951 law authorizing them.

http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com/collecting/was-car-halfdollar.htm

 

Ah, the idyllic 1950s.

 

Certainly an interesting purpose. It was a different era for sure.

 

I always read they thought it would circulate. This might sound funny, but we were in the Civil war and immediately all gold and silver coins left circulation. Even cents started to leave circulation since they had nickel in them. So, the thought was that a 2 cent piece of only bronze might be viewed as worth so little intrinsically it might circulate as a basic coinage. After the war, of course, when regular coinage came back into circulation it was an unneeded, unwanted coin.

 

The old Icelandic 5 Aurar was last minted in the 60's and in the 70's it took 66 or so krona's to make a dollar and it took 20 5 Aurar coins to make a krona.....so you would have to have 1320 5 Aurar coins to make a dollar.....Now when I was in Iceland as a kid I knew alot of kids living on both the base and in Keflavik and we would get the 5 Aurar's and us them in the vending machines ...get our candy and get 15 cents back.....talk about living good for a bunch of kids.........I wonder if the 5 Aurar would still work on the vending machines .......I still have a bunch of them......LOL