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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1120107, member: 19463&quot;]I&#039;m not sure when the king stopped washing feet but in 1699 William III skipped the ceremony and sent a high ranking minister to take care of it.&nbsp; This started a practice that continued for quite a while until 1932 when George V started attending the ceremony in person (but without foot washing, I believe).&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We should remember that a few pence was a decent amount of money when this started and the later special coins issued in numbers smaller than than the numismatic demand was a good deal for the poor recipients.&nbsp; I always wondered how many of these special coins were retained as keepsakes by the families that received them.&nbsp; I imaging most were sold quickly.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Just an opinion:&nbsp; I have absolutely no use for non-circulating legal tender sold to collectors at above face value.&nbsp; I always considered Maundy coins a special case because the profit went to the poor rather than to the government.&nbsp; I wonder what would happen today if, for example, the US government would give every welfare recipient, senior on Social Security or discharged soldier a special quarter designed for the purpose and not available any way other than by getting one from the recipient.&nbsp; The cost to the government would be minor and could be deducted from the check due that person but the recipient might sell it for enough to make a difference.&nbsp; If a genuine, legal tender quarter were limited to a 100,000 copies and not made for regular circulation, how much would people pay to get one?&nbsp; Continue that theory and imagine a coin issued to Purple Heart recipients or any other limited number of people to whom the government owed thanks.&nbsp; Would collectors buy them for thousands over face or would the coins all end up in vending machines?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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