General Public's Knowledge of Our Money (Sigh)
Bob
look for it!), and I get inquiries every now and then regarding the
value of OPA red points or other oddball items. Today I received an
email headed "+token given out by gas station." The text (minus the
sender's name) is as follows:
"It is a quarter like token whose front side contains all the
information
that a Liberty coin does and one could pass it off as legal tender any
time.......but the other side is a dead give away as it has a dull
greenish gray color and in the center there are the 4 presidents
(reminds
me of the Mount Rushmore quartet ) and over their heads is a bird
flying
with out stretched wings. Around the top rim is etched SOUTH DAKOTA
and
under this state name is 1889 which I assume is its entry date into
the
union (?) I forgot to mention that below the 4 presidents is another
date which is 2006...
It is a matter of curiosity MOSTLY and of course it is of low
value
and plan to keep it, so I picked your company out of the rest as you
are
close to where I reside. I would appreciate your input as to
where,when,why and what about this coin. Thanking you beforehand
(name and email address suppressed)."
I replied politely, of course, suggesting that the sender might want
to get one of those albums for the 50 state quarter series and check
his change. But this incident raises several issues:
1. Our state quarters really do look like aluminum gas station
tokens. What a disgrace!
2. Most of the general public is truly clueless as to what U.S. coins
look like. Here on this board we have people who know not only that
there is a Wisconsin state quarter, but that there are two "error"
varieties of it, low leaf and high leaf, where to get the new Lincoln
cents, etc. But we are in a minority. Several years ago I appeared
on a local radio program on numismatics and mentioned the state
quarter series; the host wasn't aware of the change, even though he
pulled one or two out of his pocket--and this man was a college
professor!
3. It is this ignorance/indifference that allows really awful
counterfeits to pass. This is mostly a problem in the United Kingdom
now, where zinc pounds sprayed with gold paint will circulate, but
here in the U.S. it manifests itself in the passing of novelty notes
and Liberty dollars.
Maybe we need a bigger push for National Coin Week.
B.J.
>
> 2. Most of the general public is truly clueless as to what U.S. coins look like.
I find it interesting that this person can use a computer and the
Internet, find your e-mail address, describe the coin in detail, and
construct a reasonable paragraph. That's a person who has learned a
reasonable set of skills, but this person hasn't noticed that a large
portion of the quarters he has received in the last decade have state
names on them.
Something, probably the stain that caused the "dull greenish gray
color" on the coin, made him look at this quarter when he hasn't
looked at others. Maybe he is one of those people who never pays for
items with coins, and instead just dumps collected coins in tip jars
or CoinStar machines.
Bruce Remick
"Bob" <RLWin...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:2dd5ae3e-fdb1-4c72...@n35g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
I'd vote for public indifference. More specifically, the public probably is
largely ignorant about our coinage details and it doesn't really care. And
any fear of being stuck with a counterfeit state quarter probably ranks
slightly below the fear of winning too much money in the Lottery.
j-rod
Many of the people I associate with no longer use cash.
Jut a guess but about half use debit and credit cards exclusively.
We may live to see the cash less society.
Me, I like the anonymity of the $20 bill.
JAM
Petronius
"B.J." <bjher...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:34195152-4b2a-4b79...@c34g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
On Dec 27, 7:09 pm, Bob <RLWinne...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> 2. Most of the general public is truly clueless as to what U.S. coins look
> like.
I find it interesting that this person can use a computer and the
Internet, find your e-mail address, describe the coin in detail, and
construct a reasonable paragraph. That's a person who has learned a
reasonable set of skills, but this person hasn't noticed that a large
portion of the quarters he has received in the last decade have state
names on them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
So, are you saying the OP is completely full of shit and the alleged email is
entirely a work of fiction, created to back up a somewhat shaky contention?
oly
You would be more efficient if you could get to a few insiders at the
U.S. Mint. Besides, nobody has ever heard of "National Coin Week".
In point of making our coins look better, we have to get somebody at
the U.S. Mint to recognize to the fact that coin art is three-
dimensional, and is in fact sculpture in miniature. As recently as
twenty years ago, I think the members of the Mint engraving staff (at
all levels) knew this very well. Then, they were just handicapped by
the fact that our coin portraits had fallen into a rut of the "Houdon-
esque", the fact that our coin designs did not change very often, and
the fact that Frank Gasparro really couldn't sculpt worth a damn.
There were probably technical reasons (the desire for the lowest
possible relief and the increasing use of machinery and computers in
the engraving process) as well.
Today, the people that have been choosing designs or winning design
"contests" seem to see coinage the same as "poster-art" and
accordingly, two-dimensional. This is another thing that I blame on
good old Uncle Walter (Disney), combined with a deemphasis in the
teaching of western art history.
The story of the pretty damn nice Maine quarter is a great cautionary
tale. The Mint wanted to ruin it, and the artist fought and fought to
keep the "sense" of the design intact. Thank goodness he was
successful; it is a nice piece in a series full of artistic disasters.
But, realistically, a rapidly declining civilization should be
reflected in declining coinage-art, and we now have that in spades.
We are "Byzantium", or rather worse, and our coins should look as
shitty as theirs did.
oly
-------
Who still really appreciates Bob L.'s great past WCN article on how
Diana, Princess of Wales was descended from a "Byzantine" Princess...
Mr. Jaggers
This ignorance/indifference of which you speak extends far beyond coins. As
a [retired] educator I am appalled at how easily so many are duped by
counterfeit everything, from politicians to Facebook pages. And presumably
many of these people vote. Jefferson has to be turning in his grave.
James
B.J.
> So, are you saying the OP is completely full of shit and the alleged email is
> entirely a work of fiction, created to back up a somewhat shaky contention?
No, not at all. Are you trying to find a reason to insult me, or are
you trying to plant the idea that the original work was a work of
fiction?
Petronius
------------------------------------------------------------
The tone of your post was somewhat smarmy.
If I was trying to insult you, I would start by making fun of your nom de
usenet.
George D
>
>
> Many of the people I associate with no longer use cash.
>
> Jut a guess but about half use debit and credit cards exclusively.
And I wonder how many people realize that using plastic raises the cost
to the retailer and then the price to the consumer somewhere around 3%
and that money goes to the banking industry.
And this is before the interest you pay if you don't pay off the card
each month. This is on credit cards I don't know how much it costs if
you use debit cards.
>
> We may live to see the cash less society.
>
> Me, I like the anonymity of the $20 bill.
>
> JAM
George
--
Government is a voracious monster that must have your labor to control
YOU! Your money is your liberty. The taxes you pay gently enslave you,
and eventually destroy any human liberty you have. Fear government, pray
for the country.
Bruce Remick
"George D" <geo...@arizona.com> wrote in message
news:LOr_m.9246$pA1....@newsfe17.iad...
> j-rod wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Many of the people I associate with no longer use cash. Jut a guess but
>> about half use debit and credit cards exclusively.
>
> And I wonder how many people realize that using plastic raises the cost to
> the retailer and then the price to the consumer somewhere around 3% and
> that money goes to the banking industry.
So what, everyone's entitled to make a living. And accepting plastic
traditionally increases a retailer's sales. But you'd prefer to see all
purchases made in cash? Carrying plastic eliminates the need to carry
large amounts of cash and is especially useful if shopping online. Your
stolen cash is gone. Your stolen plastic can be voided and replaced.
>
> And this is before the interest you pay if you don't pay off the card each
> month. This is on credit cards I don't know how much it costs if you use
> debit cards.
Looks to me like a lot of people who don't zero out each month just don't
seem to care as much as you do.
George D
Bruce I was just stating that the events happen in a thread that
pertains to people not being aware.
FWIW I use my credit card and pay it off each month only because I can
and I don't want to pay interest on it. I do use cash for small
purchases and checks for some bills where they charge an up charge for
credit card use.
I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and wish y'all a prosperous New Year.
Bruce Remick
> Bruce Remick wrote:
>> "George D" <geo...@arizona.com> wrote in message
>> news:LOr_m.9246$pA1....@newsfe17.iad...
>>> j-rod wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Many of the people I associate with no longer use cash. Jut a guess but
>>>> about half use debit and credit cards exclusively.
>>> And I wonder how many people realize that using plastic raises the cost
>>> to the retailer and then the price to the consumer somewhere around 3%
>>> and that money goes to the banking industry.
>>
>> So what, everyone's entitled to make a living. And accepting plastic
>> traditionally increases a retailer's sales. But you'd prefer to see all
>> purchases made in cash? Carrying plastic eliminates the need to carry
>> large amounts of cash and is especially useful if shopping online. Your
>> stolen cash is gone. Your stolen plastic can be voided and replaced.
>>
>>> And this is before the interest you pay if you don't pay off the card
>>> each month. This is on credit cards I don't know how much it costs if
>>> you use debit cards.
>>
>> Looks to me like a lot of people who don't zero out each month just don't
>> seem to care as much as you do.
>>
>
> Bruce I was just stating that the events happen in a thread that pertains
> to people not being aware.
>
> FWIW I use my credit card and pay it off each month only because I can and
> I don't want to pay interest on it. I do use cash for small purchases and
> checks for some bills where they charge an up charge for credit card use.
Me, too.
> I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and wish y'all a prosperous New
> Year.
Same to you.
Paul Ciszek
In article <LOr_m.9246$pA1....@newsfe17.iad>,
George D <geo...@arizona.com> wrote:
>
>And I wonder how many people realize that using plastic raises the cost
>to the retailer and then the price to the consumer somewhere around 3%
>and that money goes to the banking industry.
And yet some retailers prefer plastic, even to the point where some
merchants won't even take cash.
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