The $1 coin may be the most vexing problem left in product design: how do you get a country flush with greenbacks to learn to recognize, use, and love the jingle of coinage? The US Mint thinks it has an answer in the form of four-a-year obverse faces featuring the vast pantheon of former presidents – in chronological order – starting with George Washington and ending (in 2017) with George W. Bush.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because the Mint is building off the success of the state quarters and forgetting the mistakes of the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollar coins. Those two coins are now only used in mass transit and post office change, an ignominious end for two fine women’s tributes. The state quarters, on the other hand, are extremely popular with collectors and users alike. I credit the coins for reminding me of Delaware’s existence.

For all its talk of increased functionality, the US Government stands to save billions in printing costs if the public ever adopted a dollar coin and ditched the dollar bill. Now, whether a James K. Polk coin can inspire the masses is unclear, but I’ll be looking forward to 2016 when I can use my Nixon dollar to get gum off my shoe.

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See Also: Blind Americans Win Money Battle,Let’s Be Clear on This,Virtual Bubble Wrap,

This entry was posted by Jeffrey Goodman on Monday, November 20th, 2006 at 10:19 am and is filed under Design, Social Change, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.