The Ford Edsel of coins?

As almost everyone knows in the late 50's the Ford Motor Company came out with the Edsel. As we would later find out it was a financial flop on many levels.

Has there been a coin that has received the same fanfare as the Edsel in US coinage? Anything close? Anyone?

 

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I'm sure there are some commemoratives that fall into this category...one example might be the recent Braille commemorative.

 

Never Name an Item after your children.

Never Name an Item after your own children.

Adams comes to mind. Someday their may be coins with the "....We Trust" repeated.

Happy Holiday's!

 

Oh yeah, the Braille! I bought one of them Edsel's, live and learn...

 

Well, that coin is so new who knows what will happen to it. There have been coins in the past that sold very poorly and later grew in demand and ended up being very valuable.

 

Several come to mind, The Susan B Anthony Dollar, The "Gold" Sacajawea Dollar and the 20 Cent piece. None of these ever saw any kind of wide spread acceptance and circulation. I assume that's what you mean by "Edsel" of coins.

 

I came here to say the SBA dollar.

Now that I think about it, though, really it's all "small dollars" 1979 to present. Nobody wants them.

 

Wrong Size

Size Matters? All thes things were the wrong size! (Except the Edsel?)

 

Good thread. The Edsel received so much advance press and advertising that it would be such a new and exciting car, yet it really wasn't. People's expectations were too high thanks to all of the ink. And the car suffered from quality/build issues, not to mention the strange styling. So I would say the SBA dollar would be a good comparison.

 

I think the SBA is an excellent example.

 

I've got to go with the SBA dollar also. A living tribute to a committee decision.

 

If memory serves, Ford Motor Company conducted an extensive survey on what people wanted in an automobile. When the results came back they produced a vehical called the Edsel that supposedly had all of the features that everybody wanted in an automobile. Problem was, very few people wanted the automobile. The US mint has yet to undergo such a campaign but I think they needn't bother, given the attitude of many on this forum who constantly bash modern mint products.

 

Homer~Mobile?

Like theHomer~Mobile?

Or was it Marge that knew you could take a SBA to the bank & get a REAL dollar?

:whistle:

Size may matter/hype or no hype.

(I feel like changing my Avatar)

 

I find Homer and Marge Edselish.......

 

They have their own coins, too.

I assume you have also seen their coinage? They are OUT there.

(Don't get the Homer ones as they tend to glow in the dark)

 

Stop, you're killin' me, LOL........

 

We have US commemorative dollars for everything else,
why not commemorate the Edsel?

 

The way I look at it we've had more than a few Edsels.
I agree the SBA, Sacagawea and Presidential dollars are high on the list.

Why? because the public does not generally spend these (as intended) Yet the mintages are quite high. So you have a lot of hoards lying around.

The 20 Cent piece was brought up. Sure enough it was not a popular coin but the mintages were nowhere near the mintages seen on Edsels of today. Now, other than an 1875-S these are fairly valuable coins are they not? Even the 75-S for that matter.

Back then (20 Cent Piece, 2 Cent Piece, 3 Cent Pieces for example) these coins were minted because there seemed to be a real demand for coins like that.
NOW the U.S. Mint just puts out garbage for the most part to stimulate interest.

We have coins with famous dead people on them. OK that's fine but isn't that just a bunch of "commemoratives" floating around? Then add the commemoratives and it gets sillier.

Once upon a time we had coins with real value intended for everday commerce and these coins were, indeed, used for commerce.

Now it's all hype. Buy the state quarters, territory quarters, national landmark quarters as well as a host of other coins.

Hey folks. I work in a coin shop and have VERY little respect for the line of Edsels we produce. It would be really cool if we just made coins to be used as money again. Mintages would drop and we would run into "collectibles" more often.

As it is our pockets are full of "Edsels" if you really think about it.

By the way, what is a mint condition Edsel worth these days?

 

Barrett-Jackson sold one for $5K.

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/lotdetails.aspx?ln=167&aid=25&pop=0

 

WOW!

Thanks PennyGuy. My minivan is worth more than that and it's used.