Did ikes and SBA ever really circulate?

We get Sacs at work every so often. People act really strange when they spend them, like they are letting go of something truly valuable. Eh, I gotta admit that I have hung on to several Ike dollars for years. I just like them. The biggest complaint I've always heard about them is that they are so darn large. SBAs? Too ugly and too close to the size of a quarter for people to use them.

The Sac came out during the height of the state quarter craze, and I think that contributes to why so many not-actual-coin-collectors hoard them. One of the banks I visit has a guy who comes in and buys Sacs by the roll, several rolls at a time. He's told the tellers that some of them are really made of gold- you just have to know what to look for. He sorts them and returns the ones that aren't gold.

 

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hehe bigswick, this guy must be an expert to tell which ones have the gold

 

Check this out Those 39 flot around its all about finding them

 

Its part of the conspiracy, they where never on the ship!

 

The reason newer coins aren't taking off is because of inflation. The dollar is so weak that it has the buying power less than a penny 100 years ago. The early 20th and earlier coins were used every day and circulated. Paper money at the time really did not circulate like it does today.

Paper money is not as durable as coins; therefore people preferred coins over notes. Bank notes were not issued directly by the federal government either, individual banks were issuing their own notes. When a bank went out of business, those notes became worthless. There was no such thing as the FDIC to protect you

In the 1850's most coins contained precious metals and bank notes were loans on their gold and silver reserves. Only a fool would hold onto bank notes for a long time, it would be like holding onto your paycheck and not cashing it.

In 1971, when Ike's came out, there wasn't a need for a dollar coin. Inflation was going through the roof. It was also too large to be popular and contained no silver.

Fashion has a role in silver dollar popularity. Jeans were extremely popular when Ike's came out. Large coins simply do not meet the needs of the average person anymore. If you tried to carry around several Ike dollars with you, they would tear a hole in your pockets or pull your pants down. The half also failed partially because they were too cumbersome.

Older wallets were designed to carry large size notes and coins. They were much larger and heavier than a modern day wallet. It would be would be stored in a leather sack instead of in a pants pocket.

Pocketed pants were unpopular before jeans were invented. Pants were not strong enough to store coins before Levi Strauss introduced riveted pockets. Most people in the 18th and 19th century carried a knapsack or a haversack.

Ike's did not fit the needs of most people and didn't become popular enough which is why they were discontinued. SBA's didn't take off because they were commonly confused with quarters. Golden dollars also didn't take off because they weren't circulated enough.

 

nice write up PyrotekNX

 

Yeah, that guy created quite a buzz at the bank. The tellers knew I was a coin collector so they put the question to me: Is there any gold in the Sac dollar? I went to the US Mint's WEB site and printed out a page listing the composition of the coin. I took it to them and they felt a little better. Now they kind of laugh at the guy.

On a side note, he was in the bank one day while I was picking up halves to search. He was trying to buy some rolls of halves but they wouldn't sell him any (bless their hearts!). He asked them what I did with so many 50¢ pieces. They covered me and said I was a poker player.

 

Sort of funny though, my wife brings me more Ikes than SAC's or SBA's from her cash drawer at the local pharmacy. Does kids spending their dad's "stash" count as circulating?

 

They were pretty common in Carson City, and Las Vegas, Reno during the 1970's.

 

As for my personal experience, I've received quite a few SBA's and Sacagaweas as change from post office vending machines, and as change from light rail ticket machines. At the Sam's Club where I work as a cashier I get SBA's and Sacagaweas about 3 or 4 times a month, and the customers who gave them to me mostly got them as change from these same vending machines.

Eisenhowers never circulated all that much, except around casino towns. In fact, they were specifically made as a replacement for silver dollars for casinos, for their slot machines and tables (as most didn't use 1 dollar chips). Once the SBA's came out, casinos started making 1 dollar tokens for their slot machines so they didn't have to replace them all.

Back when I lived in Newtown, PA about 15 years ago there was a hardware store that always seemed to have Ike dollars in the drawer. I traded $1 bills for them quite often.

Half dollars I rarely see anymore, but when I was in Biloxi, MS I saw them a lot, because people would get them from the casinos there. They're used a lot for 50c slot machines and at hte blackjack tables (if you get a blackjack on a $1 bet, you get $2.50 back, and the casino uses half dollars for the 50c to avoid needed 50c chips or tokens). The rare times I've got them in circulation during my many jobs as cashier were mostly from contruction workers, who seem to have them a lot for some reason.

 

I can see how the Ikes didn't circulate because they were too big and cumbersome. However, I disagree with the fact that inflation has anything to do with how well a coin circulates. Penny, nickle, dime, and quarters circulate very well, and they are worth a fraction of the dollar coin. They have had the same impact of inflation.

The SBA and Sac have not circulated because we have a paper dollar bill. That's the only reason. Frankly, the coin is a little more inconvienient to carry around than the bill. I can put $50 in bills in my pocket, but if I have $50 in coins my pants are going to sag worse than they already do.

Canada increased circulation of their dollar coin. As far as I konw, they didn't have to do any huge public relations events, didn't have to advertise the coin, and didn't have to introduce a new design to get people to use it. They just got rid of the bill.

The US has done some to increase circulation: change the color, take the reeding off the edge, give it a nice design, have stamp machines dispense them. They could probably do some more things to increase ciculation - get more vending machines to accept the coin, put Millard Fillmore's face on the coin , give out free samples of the coin, etc.

I don't see how the presidential design is going to increase circulation. I think the new presidential coins might circulate from the bank to everyones sock drawer, but they're not going to start using them instead of the dollar bill. Have you ever used two nickles instead of one dime because you like the design on the nickle more than the design on the dime? Are there any state quarters that you WILL NOT use because they have an ugly design? The design of the coin has nothing to do with how well it circulates. You use what is most convienient.

Short of discontinuing the dollar bill - a dollar coin is never going to circulate very well.

 

I get SBAs and Sacs all the time. The Post Office stamp machine dispenses them in change, and the $5/$10 bill changer at work gives them out in change. Put in a five dollar bill, and get back eight quarters and three SBAs/Sacs.

I spend the SBAs in the vending machines, and give the Sacs as tips for restaurant take-out and pizza delivery. I don’t give the SBAs as tips because I’m afraid the recipient might mistake them for a quarter.

 

An educated guess would have them at either West Point or Fort Knox. And I have reasons to be at both locations. But that's just a coincidence.