In this election season when all the talk is about "change," I decided to deal with change, too, only in a bit more tangible manner. Time to collect all those coin-filled jars stashed around the house, sort through piles of pennies and other coinage, wrap them in neat paper tubes and take them to the bank. Now that's change I can handle.
While English currency is all about the pound and sterling, my "pounds" of coins were of more humble metals: copper, nickel and zinc. Yep, good old American chump change, and please don't ask why after all these years I suddenly decided to while away the better part of an early fall afternoon sorting through all that monotonous, mundane money. Maybe I yearned to gather together my more liquid assets because all that chatter about a $700 billion bailout, er ... "rescue plan" was making me jumpy. Sure, we've seen bailouts before. Remember Chrysler? And the airlines? And, yes, according to the financial talking heads we got all that wealth back and even made a little money on the return, but I ask you. Do you remember getting a check from Lee Iacocca with a nice little note attached saying, "Hey, thanks for the $$, Gale. Take this and buy yourself something fun with it!"? Me neither. But that's another column.
So there I was surrounded by piles of coins when I realized counting out 50 pennies per paper roll was, well ... kind of relaxing somehow. Meditative even. Yes, there was definitely something therapeutic about quietly gathering up all those old coins. Until my spouse wandered into the room.
"Bad day on Wall Street?" he queried, warily eyeing my tidy stacks of coins. Well, no, we weren't in that much trouble; just organizing all that spare change.
Have you ever noticed that at the end of the day you end up with way more pennies than any other coin? And what can you actually buy with a penny today? Well, probably nothing. Even "penny candy" costs more than that. In recent years there has been a push to do away with the penny altogether although Congress has put its collective foot down and refused to retire the penny. There are arguments for keeping the penny and they're good ones, but still.
The truth is, it costs the U.S. Mint almost two cents to make a penny, and pennies are not the only "money pit." Last year the government minted 1.3 billion nickels at a cost of $124 million - roughly twice the actual worth of those nickels, which seems like a heck of a way to run a government. Oh, wait! That IS the way the government is spending our money these days. And, well ... that's another column.
But if you think pennies are bothersome, do you know that at one time U.S. currency included a half cent? That's right - 200 of those puppies equaled one dollar. The funny thing is I swear I remember when the half penny was around but I think my memory is a little faulty on that because the half penny was retired in 1857, and I promise I've not been around THAT long. Unlike John McCain, I'm really not older than dirt, although I possibly predate some varieties of potting soil.
Several U.S.-minted coins didn't last very long - remember the Susan B. Anthony dollar? That one kept getting mistaken for quarters. It had an 11-sided rim so you know somebody spent a lot of hours designing this thing. The Susan B. Anthony dollar was only produced from 1979 to 1981, and that's too bad because Susan B. Anthony did a lot for women's suffrage way back in the day.
Another dollar that didn't catch on was the Sacagawea, released in 2000. This coin had a smooth edge and a golden tinge, which was supposed to make it less likely to be confused with the quarter.
But I say why not bring back the old silver dollar? Now there was some serious money! My grandpa was fond of slipping me a silver dollar when I was a little kid and we went to see my grandparents on our annual summer visits. Sure, silver dollars are a drag to haul around in your purse or pocket but if you want to make a little kid's eyes light up, those big old coins are just the ticket.
Another coin I miss is the 50-cent piece. My favorite is the so-called "Walking Liberty" half dollar. This coin was not minted after 1947, but it's called the best designed American silver coin in history. So why not bring her back? I mean, all those quarters get so boring, don't they?
And we can't talk about pocket change without mentioning a unique service provided by the elegant old St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. When the hotel opened more than a century ago, coins were a prevalent part of the currency. As a special service to the ladies whose gloves became soiled from handling grimy money, coins were washed for hotel guests, and the service continues today. The coins are first hand washed then sent through an antique machine used by the hotel since 1935. I wonder what'd happen if I tossed all these coins I'm sorting out through the heavy duty cycle of my washing machine.
Over time few things have undergone as little change as our monetary system, and it's a darned shame it costs so much to manufacture those pennies and nickels we use every day. Maybe the Mint will figure out a way to make them less expensively someday. Until then, though, don't take any wooden nickels.
Gale Hammond is a writer and freelance photographer who has lived in Morgan Hill 24 years. Reach her at
GaleHammond@aol.com.
Gale Hammond Gale Hammond is a writer and freelance photographer who has lived in Morgan Hill 24 years. Reach her at GaleHammond@aol.com.
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