Hey, has anyone heard whether or not, the dime and/or half might be redesigned? The penny and nickel got new looks, and the quarter and $1 coin are still getting new looks every month, so, is there any chance of a redesigned dime or half? I know this sounds stupid to most people, but here is a bill I propsed to Congress: Section 1. Short Title This Act may be cited as the "Famous Dogs Half Dollar Coin Act" Sec 2. Design and Issuance of Half Dollar Coins, Featuring Famous Dogs of U.S. History (a) Notwithstanding the Authority of the Secretary of the Treasury under the 8th undesignated paragraph of section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act, beginning in 2011, coins in the denomination of 50 cents, shall be redesigned, and have such designs, and shall be in such form and tenor as the Secretary may select in accordance with this section. (b) These new Famous Dog Half Dollars will be sized in between the 5-cent coin, and the quarter dollar coin, and shall have features to distinguish the new half dollars from 5-cent, quarter dollars and one dollar coins. Two such features will be a copper color to the new half dollars, to help distinguish the new, smaller sized half dollar coins from the 5-cent, quarter and one dollar coins in color, and the shape of the new halves would be of an "octagon" type of shape, to help distinguish the new half dollar coins from 5-cent, quarter dollars and one dollar coins in shape. These new features will help consumers tell the new sized half dollars from quarter and one dollar coins for the visually impaired, and in poorly lighted places. These new, smaller and more distinguishable half dollars, may be used more, due to the new half dollar coins weighing less than the current, larger half dollar coin, and will also save the government money, on less metal(s) being used, to mint half dollar coins. This new design for the half dollar may also solve consumers's problems with the issue of half dollar coins being too heavy. (c) The "Famous Dogs Half Dollar Coin Act" shall be a 9 year program that shall feature four new obverses of the half dollar coin, honoring four different famous dogs per year, to honor dogs for serving man kind for tens of thousands of years, and shall honor and feature such fallen dogs as, fire, police, rescue, military and sled dogs who served or lost their lives, serving man kind, with Balto being the first to be honored. Each honored dog's name and breed, and the words "In God We Trust" shall be stamped into the obverse of these new half dollars, and shall border around the bottom of the "heads" side of these new coins. (d) The reverse of the new half dollars shall feature three different designs per every three years of the program. The Gray Wolf shall be featured on the reverse of these new half dollars for the first three years. The Coyote shall be featured on the reverse of these new half dollars for the second three years. And the North American Red Fox shall be featured on the reverse of these new half dollars for the last three years. This will help us honor and respect both tame breed dogs and the wild ancestors that these dogs came from. "Gray Wolf " shall be stamped in the reverse design of the first three years, "Coyote" shall be stamped on the reverse design of the second three years, and "North American Red Fox" shall be stamped on the reverse design of the last three years, and shall border the picture of the coin's respective, wild dog's picture/design around the bottom of "tails" side of these coins. (e) These new half dollar coins shall not include or feature dogs, that were famous for being in movies/shows/films, or for being a famous celebrity or presidential pet, etc. The "Famous Dogs Half Dollar Coin Act" shall only honor dogs that were true life serving, life saving, real life heroes, with the exception of the wild dog ancestors of the dogs being featured on the reverse of such coins. Sec 3. Reverting to a Permanent Design After the "Famous Dogs" half dollar program ends, the half dollar coin shall revert back to a modified John F. Kennedy half dollar design, to fit the new half dollar coins, unless another design is legislated and chosen, however, the "Post-Famous Dogs" half dollar coins shall retain the same size, shape, composition, and weight as the "Famous Dogs" half dollar coins were minted with. NOTE: I talked with NAMA (National Automatic Merchandising Association) and they stated that the current half dollar coin is about 15% larger and 40% heavier than the $1 coin, so, in order for any chance of a successful circulating, vending machine friendly half dollar coin, the current half dollar coin would have to be significantly redesigned (likely made smaller). Which is why I suggested a much smaller size, and different shape for the "Famous Dogs" and "Post-Famous Dogs" series, half dollar coins. END I know many people think that dogs are "just dumb animals" and don't matter but I have read that dogs have sereved man kind for over 30,000 years, so, why can't we give this small tribute to man's best friend? I believe Canada did some kind of special dog series in the 1990s, but they were not for general circulation. But I'm sure that the "Famous Dogs" program would spark a bit more interest in the half. Oh, and I have a few versions of this bill, including a version where the half remains its current size as well. I only proposed a size change in one version because of what NAMA told me about the half. Sorry if this idea is stupid. I don't mean to make anyone here, mad.
I'm all for change, but I don't think the "will be sized in between the 5-cent coin, and the quarter dollar coin" will be very popular and will cause confusion if the coin circulates. People get along with the current sizes because it allows coins to be used without really having to look at them. That may sound bizarre to collectors, but it's reality. Otherwise, nice work on the write-up. Guy~
Well, the new propsed half would have been octogon-like to help distinguish the denomination, however, I have scrapped to size change idea and now I just was the "Famous Dogs" redesign theme to happen on the current size half. Well at least you could put a lot more detail on the current half, than one sized between the nickel and quarter. I just thought the Mint would like to save money, just as I have read that one of the reasons the $1 coin was reduced in size after the Eisenhower, was to save some money on all of the metals used in the dollar coins. I know that it was not the main reason though. So, from now on, I am just going to propose a design change, and not a size change. Even though people claim halves (if $1 coins) are too heavy, I don't by that idea. One time I got $60 in SBAs from a stamp machine (just to get a hold of a bunch of Susies, and that was before the GD came along) and I carried those 60 $1 coins in my pockets, and, although they DID make my pants sag, they were still NOT too heavy to carry around, as some suggest even 10 would be too heavy. I just didn't have tight enough pants was all. Come on guys, weight is not a valid issue for not using halves or $1 coins. Not even in fairly large ammounts.
Write a letter to your Congressman/Congresswoman. That will alert them to a really important topic that has been ignored too long. A topic worth spending their time on. I can see the first dog coin honoring the Portuguese Water Dog. Oops, wait. The Democrats would be for that, but the Republicans would vote against it. A really meaty discussion to echo through the halls of the Capitol. Eventually they could get back to the less important topics such as Iraq and Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the economic crisis and high jobless rate, etc.
Sure go for it, Congress will love it. Anything to provide an excuse for not having to deal with serious issues.
I sure wish everyone would get together and have the government make all our monitary system made in such a way to use it according to manufacturers and stores. For example at any store everything costs $0.99, $2.99, $17.99. You go to a gas station for gas and there on the pump is states $242.99/gallon. Now look at all your money. None of it is in the $.99 area. I suggest all our money is changed to the $0.99, $1.99, etc. system. No more even amounts since no one uses that anyway. : Of course this would mean to drop the sales taxes everywhere since that too makes it difficult to pay anything properly. Now as to what is to be on them. Again, remove the presidents. Replace with what has made us what we are. Different guns on the reverses. Gangsters like Al Capone, John Dillinger, Baby Faced Nelson on the obverse. All would go over great in Chicago :goofer:
Actually, I agree that the half should stay the same size, not only to avoid confusion, but to add extra detail on all of that large space for the Famous Dogs series and the Post-Famous Dog half dollar coin design. So I made some changes. The revised bill: BEGIN Section 1. Short Title This Act may be cited as the "Famous Dogs Half Dollar Coin Act" Sec 2. Design and Issuance of Half Dollar Coins, Featuring Famous Dogs of U.S. History (a) Notwithstanding the Authority of the Secretary of the Treasury under the 8th undesignated paragraph of section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act, beginning in 2011, coins in the denomination of 50 cents, shall be redesigned, and have such designs, and shall be in such form and tenor as the Secretary may select in accordance with this section. (b) The "Famous Dogs Half Dollar Coin Act" shall be a 9 year program that shall feature four new obverses of the half dollar coin, honoring four different famous dogs per year, to honor dogs for serving man kind for tens of thousands of years, and shall honor and feature such fallen dogs as, fire, police, rescue, military and sled dogs who served or lost their lives, serving man kind, with Balto being the first to be honored. Each honored dog's name and breed, and the words "In God We Trust" shall be stamped into the obverse of these new half dollars, and shall border around the bottom of the "heads" side of these new coins. (c) The reverse of the new half dollars shall feature three different designs per every three years of the program. The Gray Wolf shall be featured on the reverse of these new half dollars for the first three years. The Coyote shall be featured on the reverse of these new half dollars for the second three years. And the North American Red Fox shall be featured on the reverse of these new half dollars for the last three years. This will help us honor and respect both tame breed dogs and the wild ancestors that these dogs came from. "Gray Wolf " shall be stamped in the reverse design of the first three years, "Coyote" shall be stamped on the reverse design of the second three years, and "North American Red Fox" shall be stamped on the reverse design of the last three years, and shall border the picture of the coin's respective, wild dog's picture/design around the bottom of "tails" side of these coins. (d) These new half dollar coins shall not include or feature dogs, that were famous for being in movies/shows/films, or for being a famous celebrity or presidential pet, etc. The "Famous Dogs Half Dollar Coin Act" shall only honor dogs that were true life serving, life saving, real life heroes, with the exception of the wild dog ancestors of the dogs being featured on the reverse of such coins. Sec 3. Reverting to a Permanent Design After the "Famous Dogs" half dollar program ends, the half dollar coin shall revert back to the current half dollar design, featuring President John F. Kennedy, unless a new design is otherwise legislated. END This is probably what will be the final concept. As for those of you who say that the $2 bill and half dollar coin should be eliminated, I disagree totally. No offense but I like these denominations, probably because they are odd, and the fun might wear off, spending them if they become common, but still, I'm young enough to where I've never experienced a well, wide circulated $2 or half, so I would like to see these denominations live again, in my lifetime. Same with $500 and $1,000 bills (and hey, $200 bills would be something NEW for US ALL )
Eventually the Mint will do what has happened to the US Postage stamp. Our coins will have movie stars on them, Santa Claus, pictures of all types of scenery, Valentines harts, Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer, etc. At one post office I saw a sign saying you now can get postage stamps with your own photo on them. Sort of distroyed stamp collecting. With those State Quarters and miscellaneous commemoratives constantly poping up, it's just a matter of time.
