I am curious, I got to thinking. Of what US coins did not work out. Of course on top of this list has to be the 20 cent piece and the Susan B Anthony. Oddly enough for the SAME REASON! Some of the Marginal failures would have to be..... 2 cent piece, Circulated widely at first and then died out. 3 cent and 3 dollar coins... went with 3cent stamps and then went away. Some denominations have a long history, but never did achieve wide circulation. Any 1 dollar US coin. They had their uses. (Silver Certificate backing, casino chips, gifts) Most gold eagles, doubles, and the fractionals. Too big for regular use, shuttled between banks and used for Bullion Did i miss any?
Did you forget the 1/2¢, or do you put it in a different category? I guess it failed for the same reason the 1¢ really needs to die - it won't buy anything.
The Flying Eagle Cent was replaced after a couple of years because the design did not strike up properly. The small cent itself survived but for only another 6 years in the same composition as the FEC (replaced by the Bronze Cent in 1864 due to dwindling supplies of nickel used in the early small cents).
Things like Half Cents, Half Dimes, Half Dollars, Large cents, etc that once did circulate widely for an extended amount of time. I would not lop in this category. They all were staples of commerce for some time. Time eventually caught up with them, and they From time to time coinage needs to be rethought. Design wise the Flying Eagle is a good one. The early two gold dollar types, fall in this category. They ether wore too quick or had minting problems
To bring this into a modern context I can think of the following contemporary coins: Half Dollar Ike Dollar - made for Nevada casinos only apparently Susan B. Agony Sacagawea Dollar Presidential Dollars Aside from the four core coins, 1¢-25¢ the mint has a pretty poor record of introducing useful coins. Curiously the value of those coins has wiped out their previous usefulness, and we should have larger circulating denominations, like the 1/2$ and $1, but until either they make them so they can be accepted readily and or remove the $1 bill from circulation forget about it. Canada even ditched the $2 bill, which did circulate well, unlike the US, and replaced it with the Twoonie.
The half cent probably shouldn't be included in this catagory. It was a very useful coin in the earliest days of American commerce. A large percentage of trade was done through barter, and a half cent was useful to "clean up" transactions that were not even. Plus, goods didn't cost as much back then. A gallon of regular unleaded was only 2-1/2 cents or so....Mike
Agreed on the Half Cent..... it was used in it's time... The Half Dollar was once like out 20 dollar bill is today. A true staple of commerce for your staple purchases. Clothes, Groceries, etc... The Half Dime was axed by political interests, wanting to use Nickel in coins. There were a few short lived designs.... Flying Eagle Cent Goebright Dollars One coin that came -really- close to failing was interestingly the quarter. Minted only in 1796,1804–1807 in the Draped Bust Design. It was not until the early to mid 1800s that it caught on.
Er... wasn't the half cent discontinued before the invention of the automobile? What use did unleaded gasoline have before then?
I show the last Half Cent made in 1857. The car really did not come into it's own until much later.... HOWEVER......erm, as hard as it is to believe... it seems it was sold as tonic for LICE!??!?!?! and as a cleaning fluid.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline So it's possible it was bought in the early days..... with a few half cents...
"Er... wasn't the half cent discontinued before the invention of the automobile? What use did unleaded gasoline have before then? " My mistake. I was thinking cell phones. It was cell phones that were 2-1/2 cents=)
Actually, fractional cents of the price of gas is common, even today. Haven't you ever seen price of gas be x.xx 9/10 of a cent per gallon at a local ARCO? Drives me nuts!
The two and three cent pieces were not failures, they were introduced for specific reasons, served their purpose and were eventually phased out. The 1/2 cent was only discontinued due to inflation and a decrease in purchasing power, after having been produced for over 60 years. Real failures would the 20 cent piece, the small size dollar, and the Flying Eagle small cent.
Here is a denomination that continued to be struck for 25 years, a quarter century and was NEVER popular: One of the popular explanations for it's creation was that it was to facilitate the purchase of 100 1st class stamps. Okay, who went in and bought 100 stamps in 1854?
flying eagle cent... the small cent didn't go over very well, folks had been spoiled to the size of large cents, felt they were short changed. the three cent nickle as you mentioned , was rejected. Folks wanted copper/gold/silver . the nickle 5 cent coin was also rejected . folks called nickles "fools silver" ozark
Wonder if they round up or down , filled my car up yesterday 4.24.9 a gallon cost $57 , didn't have my 1/2 cent with me , next time I should tell them they better start carrying 1/2 cents .LOL rzage:hammer:
The two cent piece ultimately did fail. In the short term there was a large shortage of coinage. Even cents. So the public used them. But when the coinage returned, due to de-hoarding and the mint making more. They were cast off. Had the 2 cent been introduced at a time when cents were not short, it would have been as short at the 20 cent piece. The nickel coins were a political creation. In retrospect perhaps it would have been better to have kept the Half Dime... the Mint would still be making those at a profit!
