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United States Coins Facts

Trivia on American Currency and the U.S. Mint

Feb 18, 2009 Jared Plotkin

Want to know interesting facts about United States coins? Here is a collection of interesting trivia facts about American metal currency.

Currency has existed in the form metals, such as gold, for thousands of years in the world's history, and a significant part of that history has included the use of melting the metals into coins. Here are some interesting trivia about United States coins facts.

United States Coins Facts

  • The Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar was the first United States coin to have an image of an African-American. It was minted from the years 1946 to 1951.
  • The Liberty Head Nickel, first minted in 1883, did not have the word "cents" inscribed onto it. Dishonest investors illegally gold plated the coins and attempted to sell them as $5 gold pieces.. The United States Mint soon quickly figured out what was going on and added the word "cents" to the nickels.
  • The inscription "E Pluribus Unum," meaning "One from Many" appeared on 1795 Liberty Cap-Heraldic Eagle gold $5 piece. This was the first time this motto was used on United States Coins.
  • The United States Mint estimates that the average life expectancy of a circulating coin is about 30 years, whereas paper currency usually only lasts for as little as 18 months.
  • The smallest denomination coin ever issued in the United States. was the half cent, which was minted from 1793 through 1857.
  • The United States Mint produced its first circulating coins in 1793.
  • There is more than $8 billion worth of coins circulating in the United States today. In the past 30 years, the United States Mint has minted over 300 billion coins, worth more than $15 billion.
  • If one has three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies in your possession, they have the largest possible amount of money in United States coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
  • The slang term for a United States dollar, "buck," is thought to have originated in the early United States frontier times when the hide of a male deer was a currency. The phrase "the buck stops here," was coined (pardon the pun) by United States President Harry Truman, and referenced the fact that a silver dollar coin was often passed around a poker table to show who was to pay the ante blinds.
  • Calvin Coolidge was the first and only United States President to have his portrait appear on a coin minted while he was living.

Today, many people enjoy learning about United States coins facts and collecting United States coins, both for their interesting historical heritage and because it can be fun and even valuable to hang onto a rare coin.

The copyright of the article United States Coins Facts in Antiques & Collectibles is owned by Jared Plotkin. Permission to republish United States Coins Facts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
United States Coins, Flickr CC United States Coins
   
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