Re: OT: coins and currency

Nik Taylor wrote:
> Michael Potter wrote:
>
>> As Roger Mills said, the last large-size silver dollar was the
>> Eisenhower dollar
>
>
> The Eisenhower dollar wasn't silver, just the size of a silver dollar.
The San Francisco dollars were 40% silver until 1976 (the bicentennial
reverse). Older, "real" silver dollars were 90% silver. So they
*weren't* silver dollars, but some of them _had silver in them_. Of
course, as of 1977, there were no dollars minted that could even
remotely be called silver, except in Proof sets...

>
>>  and starting next
>> year, Presidential dollars.
>
>
> Yep.  I'm looking forward to those.  :-)
The thing is, though, they're *still* going to make the Sacagawea
dollars! That makes even less sense when you realize that the mint
hasn't released _those_ for circulation since 2001.

>
>> Personally, I would like to see $5, $10, and even $20 coins.
>
>
> I'd like those too.  :-)  Hence, my Kassi having a 3-khof (~$25) coin.
>
>> The problem with pennies (or cents, as pedantic numismatists say) is
>> that they cost *more* to produce than they are worth. Seriously. One
>> penny costs on average something like 1.25 cents to actually mint.
>
>
> The figures I've seen is that a penny still costs less than 1 cent to
> make.  The US mint says it costs .81 cents to produce a penny
> http://www.usmint.gov/faqs/circulating_coins/index.cfm?action=faq_circulating_coin#cost
According to that page, the .81 cent figure is from the 2000 Annual
Report. The price of zinc has doubled in that time, but the mint's
production costs have (so they say) gone down. The 2004 report (the
latest I could find) has .93 cents per coin, and even *that* was during
a lull in metal prices. So it seems like it could go either way. I don't
remember where I got the 1.2 cent figure from. Maybe that was for
copper? I'm not sure.

BTW, for those listening in, the US penny (since 1982) is 97.5% zinc,
the copper is only a thin plating.

>
>> As for sub-cent coins, the US minted a half-cent until right before
>> the Civil War (1857, I think)
>
>
> Local governments produced mil tokens, however, well into the 60's.
>
I had forgotten about those, and I didn't know they were made that long.

[snip Kassi currency]
> The Fifth Empire survived for about 2 centuries, beginning at a
> technology level roughly analogous to mid-20th century, and
> progressing at a little slower than we did.  They managed their
> currency at zero (average) inflation, until their collapse.
See, I haven't thought about historical aspects of Suzhoni currency, and
now you've made me go and think about it!

Seriously, I'm glad there's somebody else on here that seems to be
interested in this. I think we left everybody else behind after about
the first sentence.

ObConlang:

The Suzhoni don't have banknotes. Or at least none issued by the central
government. Each of the 19 states is allowed to issue its own notes, but
the people, much like Americans of days gone by, prefer "real" money:
metal coinage.

--
Michael Potter
Idzon Conworld: http://idzon.potterpcs.net

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