How ironic!

U.S. mint pushes new $1 coin
Hopes that images of past presidents will entice consumers to break their reluctance to dollar coins; Nixon coin slated for 2016.
November 20 2006: 11:43 AM EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Mint is hoping that Martin Van Buren and Millard Fillmore can do what Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea couldn't - get Americans to use dollar coins.

The Mint on Monday revealed the design of the new U.S. $1 coin, which will be issued in a series that will eventually include the faces of each U.S. president.

It will release four new presidential dollars each year, starting with George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 2007. The Van Buren dollar will be released in 2008 and the Fillmore in 2010.

Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, will appear on the coin in 2016.
Real-world tipping guide: What people REALLY want

The Mint is hoping the continually changing faces will entice consumers to break their traditional reluctance to use dollar coins.

"We think Americans are going to want to collect the series, and that will drive the coins through the economy," said U.S. Mint Director Edmund Moy.

He hopes to avoid the fate of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which was issued in 1979-81 and again in 1999 to honor the women's sufferage pioneer. But due to its size and silver color, it was too easily confused with a quarter and is now largely distributed as change from mass transit system ticket machines.

The gold color Sacagawea dollar followed in 2000, showing the Native American guide to 1804 explorers Merriwether Lewis and William Clark and her infant son.

But limited Sacagawea quantities led to too many being stashed away by collectors, reducing circulation and thus familiarity, said Rod Gillis, head of education at the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The presidential dollar coin will be similar in size and color to the Sacagawea, but will bear no inscription on the obverse or face side. "In God We Trust," "E Pluribus Unum," the issue year and the mint mark will appear on the edge.

Although he said the coins will be a boon for collectors and teaching children about past presidents, its success will be limited by Americans' attachment to paper dollars.

"As long as we have the paper currency out there, dollar coins will never be successful," Gillis said. "We're going to have to discard the $1 bill or mass produce so many of these coins so they'll be out there at retailers."

Moy said the Mint's successful 50-state quarters program helped push usage of the coins as even collectors spent their duplicate versions. He is hoping that the presidential dollars will be freely spent as well.
Parking meter effect

Also helping prospects for the coin is inflation, he said, noting that parking meter prices are a dollar or more per hour in many cities and snack machine prices are rising, too.

In fact, the vending machine industry could save $1 billion from a full switch to dollar coins by eliminating costly maintenance on balky bill acceptance slots, he said.

The U.S. Treasury also could save billions from a switch because coins last 30 to 40 years in circulation compared to about 18 months for paper currency. A number of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, use coins exclusively for their single-unit currencies.

However, Congress' 2005 act to create the new dollar coin specifies that the program is not intended to supplant the paper dollar bill.

Moy said the Mint "has learned a lot" from past dollar coin efforts and will be working more closely with the Federal Reserve to match supply of the coins with demand.

However, it will face a dilemma sometime in the next decade if it sticks to its four presidents-a-year schedule. The law specifies no living former president can appear on a coin, but chances are high that Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will still be alive when it comes time for their dollars in 2017.

Moy said Ronald Regan is the next eligible candidate to appear on the face of the coin. However, the coin will not be released until the demise of Ford and Carter because the coins are released in order of when they served as president.