A Primer on US Coins, Part 4: Modern Coins

Crossposted at Dailykos.com

Last time, we got to 1933 and the calling in of all gold coins, certificates, and bullion. Things have changed a bunch since then.

Copper and silver continued to be minted. Except for the disruption of World War II, copper has been in cents since the beginning of the Nation. Let us look at all of our standard business strikes from 1933 to present.

The cent has not changed in diameter since 1856, but in 1864 it became thinner. Since 1909 the Lincoln design was adopted, although some Liberty Wearing an Indian Head Dress ones were minted in 1909. The Lincoln cent was supposed to be a sort of a celebration of Lincoln’s 100th birthday, but it caught on, and became the first US coin to have a particular person depicted on it.

The alloy was 95% copper, 3% tin, and 2% zinc, so it is technically a bronze. That alloy was used continuously from 1864 through 1942, when the war effort caused copper to be in short supply, because of manufacturing ammunition. In 1943 the composition of the cent was changed to zinc coated steel (galvanized steel). Only a few errors were struck in bronze with a 1943 date.

By 1944 enough recovered cartridge cases were available to resume a copper coin, but tin, being very scarce in the United States, was eliminated. The alloy used from 1944 through 1946 was 95% copper and 5% zinc, and those coins were OK. The color was just a little different than the bronze ones, but they resisted corrosion much better than the steel ones.

After the war, the 95% copper, 3% tin, and 2% zinc alloy was resumed. Tin became more and more expensive over the years, and in 1959 all cents were of an alloy of 95% copper and 5% zinc. These brass cents were identical to the 1944 – 1946 ones, and did well.

The most noticeable change in 1959 was the change in the reverse of the cent. The wheat ears were replaced by a depiction of the Lincoln Memorial, and that is the current image. If you look closely at a nice one, even to this day, you can see a tiny image of Lincoln in the center of the reverse. This was in honor of his 150th birthdate.

There was a spike in copper prices in the mid 1960′s, but the alloy did not change, and copper went back down after a while. But in the 1980′s, copper became worth more than cents. That caused a change in alloy and in construction in the cent. In 1982, the cent became a zinc core electroplated with copper. The actual composition is a core of 99.2% zinc and 0.8% copper, plated with a pure copper coating. Whilst the size is the same, the mass decreased from 3.11 g to 2.5 g, since zinc weighs less than copper. These are are standard, modern cents. They are bad about corroding if they get scratched, and are not very durable. Value of brass cents is about 1.94 cents at today’s copper zinc prices, and the zinc cents are worth 0.414 cents.

No major changes were made in the design of the cent other than the reverse change in 1959 and the adoption of the zinc cents in 1982. Some minor changes were made in 1969, basically reducing the size of Lincoln’s head. A couple of other minor changes were made in 1982, reducing the size of all details slightly. San Francisco ended regular business strikes after 1974 with the important exception below.

1982 cents are a complex subject for the collector. In addition to the different compositions, there are two mints, Denver and Philadelphia. In addition, there are the so-called “Large Date” and “Small Date” varieties from Philadelphia. Part of the explanation for that may be that business strike cents were also minted in San Francisco and West Point during this time (there were over 16 billion cents minted in 1982, several billion more than usual) but, carrying no mint mark are counted as Philadelphia strikes. Since the capacity of both San Francisco and West Point is not as great as the other two mints, those strikes would have been taken out of circulation if they had carried a “W” or “S” mark.

Next year is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, and the Mint, as is previous practice, will introduce new designs for the reverse. The planned designs include designs related to his birth and early life in Kentucky, growing up in Indiana, professional life in Illinois, and his Presidency. In 2010 the reverse will be changed from the current design to one that reflects his legacy as the preserver of the Union. Most will be business strikes of zinc, but a collector’s series in 95% copper, 3% tin, and 2% zinc will be struck.

Here are pictures of the modern cent. The 1943 one looked just like the others before it, but it was silver colored because of the zinc plating on the steel.

Cent, Lincoln, Wheat Ear
Designed by Victor D. Brenner
1909 – 1958

Cent, Lincoln, Lincoln Memorial
Reverse designed by Frank Gasparro
1959 – Present

The five cent piece has some sort of a similar history. First minted in 1866, it has the same size and mass, except for World War II, to this day. They are 20.5 mm in diameter and have a mass of 5 g. The alloy is what many call “German silver”, 75% copper and 25% nickel. The nickel whitens the copper to make a silver looking alloy. It also hardens it to a very extreme amount, making a long wearing coin. Finally, this alloy is very resistant to corrosion, adding to its utility. The current US dime, quarter, and half dollar have a surface composed of this alloy.

From 1913 to 1938 the Indian Head (“Buffalo”) five cent piece was standard (please see installment #2 for a discussion), but it was replaced in 1938 by the Jefferson five cent piece. Both were minted in 1938, so there is an overlap. The Jefferson five cent piece was originally meant as a commemorative coin to pay respect to Thomas Jefferson, but it caught on and became popular.

In 1942 nickel and copper became important for the war effort, and nickel is not much produced in the United States. To make five cent pieces, the alloy was changed to reduce the copper content and eliminate the nickel content. The resultant alloy was 56% copper, 35% silver, and 9% manganese. The United States has lots of silver and manganese.

Those coins looked fine, at first. But they did not hold their luster for very long, and even the best specimens do not look like the original alloy. Without nickel, they are softer than modern strikes and wear badly.

This coin has the distinction of being the very first US coin to carry the “P” mint mark. Tradition to that point indicated that a coin without a mark was minted in Philadelphia, but due to the change in alloy, honking big mint marks were placed over the dome on the reverse. These are often called “silver nickels”, but they were mostly copper and contained no nickel. These coins contain 0.05626 ounces Troy of silver, and so are worth a little over 68 cents in silver at today’s quote on Bloomberg.com.

In 1946 peace had been reestablished, and the 75/25 alloy was resumed. The five cent piece remained unchanged until some genius decided to commemorate the Lewis and Clark journey. Now we have five cent pieces with god knows what is on them, obverse or reverse. Personally, I dislike them very much. The one with Jefferson looking to right on the obverse is marginally OK, since they did use a facsimile of his hand to spell “Liberty”. The only changes from resumption of the original alloy was moving the mint mark to the obverse in 1968, adding the designer’s initials in 1966, and adding “P” for Philadelphia in 1980. San Francisco ended business strikes after 1970.

In 2004 there were two designs, both with the traditional portrait of Jefferson on the obverse. One had the “Peace Medal” design on the reverse, commemorating the medals that Lewis and Clark gave to Native American leaders as goodwill symbols. They did not know about Jackson yet. The other 2004 reverse was a representation of the keelboat used by the expedition.

In 2005 a different likeness of Jefferson was added to the obverse, one of the rare modern US coins with the subject looking to the right. One version has a bison on the reverse, whilst the other has a picture of a tree and the Pacific ocean.

in 2006 the obverse was changed again, this time with a representation of Jefferson looking straight forward, a first in modern US coins. The reverse went back to the traditional Monticello from earlier issues.

The price of the alloy in a five cent piece is pushing the face value of the coin. At today’s prices, a five cent piece is worth 4.457 cent in alloy.

Here are pictures of five cent pieces current since 1933:

Five cent piece, Indian Head (“Buffalo”)
Designed by James E. Fraser
1913 – 1938

Five cent piece, Jefferson
Designed by Felix Schlag
1938 – 2004

Five cent piece, Jefferson (Wartime Reverse)
Designed by Felis Schlag
1942 – 1945
Note the large mint mark above the dome
This is the first US coin to carry a “P” mint mark

Five cent piece, Westward Journey
The Schlag obverse is the same as in previous issues
Peace Medal reverse designed by Norman E. Nemeth
Keelboat reverse designed by Al Maletsky
2004 only

Five cent piece, Westward Journey
Obverse designed by Joe Fitzgerald
Bison reverse designed by Jamie N. Franki
Ocean reverse designed by Joe Fitzgerald
2005 only

Five cent piece, Jefferson face on
Obverse designed by Jamie Franki
Reverse designed by Felix Schlag
2006 – Present

I will get to dimes in a minute, but first need to explain what happened in the mid 1960′s. By 1963 it was realized that the silver content of coins would soon exceed the face value and that all silver coins would disappear from circulation. Work was begun on new alloys, and the people at the Mint has enough foresight to realize that the 75% copper / 25% nickel alloy would become too expensive since nickel was even then expensive (and we get most of ours from foreign suppliers). However, that material has excellent corrosion and hardness properties. The mint hit on the idea to bond thin layers of this alloy to a pure copper core for dimes and quarters, and for halves to bond 80% silver / 20% copper layers to a core of 20.9% silver / 79.1% copper.

The materials were manufactured by explosive cladding, a process where the materials to be bonded are carefully cleaned and then separated by a small air space. An even coating of explosive is applied to the outer layers and the explosive detonated. The resultant bond is extremely high quality and tough, and also resistant to corrosion. The ingots are then rolled to coin thickness. DuPont supplied over 70,000 tons of material for the Mint in the early days.

My understanding is that explosive bonding is no longer used to produce the materials, but have not been able to find a reference as to what process is now current. If anyone knows, I would appreciate a comment. What most people do not know is that silver coins were minted well into 1966 because there was not enough supply of the clad material to provide enough coins.

All silver coins minted in 1965 and 1966 were dated 1964 to prevent hoarding. In addition, all coins dated 1965 through 1967 carried no mint mark since San Francisco was pressed to mint business strikes and there was a fear of hoarding those coins from the smaller mint. There was a real fear that there would not be enough coins in circulation for commerce, so a tremendous number of five cent pieces and cents were minted in 1964 in anticipation of silver leaving circulation. The increased mint output prevented a shortage, and silver disappeared from circulation rapidly, both by the Mint and by private citizens. Now, back to the dime.

Dimes have been minted in two compositions since 1873. All silver dimes since then have been 2.5 grams of 90% silver / 10% copper. Coins dated 1965 and later are composed of a clad material with a pure copper core to which is bonded thin 75% copper / 25% nickel layers. That gives 0.07234 ounces Troy fine silver. At today’s price for silver, that works out to 87.6 cents. For the clad variety (2.27 g of 8.33% nickel / 91.67% copper), it comes to 1.6546 cents.

The Winged Liberty (also called the Mercury, see the second installment in this series) dime was current until 1945, when the death of F. Roosevelt caused the introduction of the Roosevelt dime, the one that we still use. The only change in design other than adopting the clad composition was in the movement of the mint mark from the reverse to the obverse, over the date in 1968. In 1980 the mint mark “P” was added to indicate the mint explicitly. San Francisco stopped business strikes of dimes after 1955.

Here are representative pictures of modern dimes:

Dime, Winged Liberty (“Mercury”)
Note the fasces on the reverse (see
installment #2 for more information)
Designed by Adolph A. Weinman (also the designed of the Walking
Liberty half dollar)
1916 – 1945

Dime, Roosevelt
Designed by John R. Sinnock
1945 – present

The Washington Quarter is the only design in service for quarters since 1932. See installment #2 for earlier, modern quarters. Up until coins dated 1965 they were all 90% silver / 10% copper with a diameter of 24.3 mm and a mass of 6.25 g. This works out to 0.10804 ounces Troy fine silver, making the coin worth $1.32 in melt value today. The clad ones have a mass of 5.67 g, at 8.33% nickel and 91.67% copper) and at today’s prices for copper and nickel comes to 4.1328 cents.

Up until 1965 there was virtually no change in the design. The reverse was modified very slightly in 1965, but the changes are extremely subtle and I am darned if I can see them. Because of the change in composition, the mass of the coin dropped to 5.67 g. In 1968 the mint mark was moved to the obverse, and in 1980 the “P” mint mark was added. A significant change in design occurred in 1975 when the “bicentennial” design that featured the date “1776 – 1976″ and a different reverse. These were minted in 1975 and 1976, and the regular design was resumed in 1977. San Francisco ended business strikes after 1954.

In 1999 the “50 State” quarter series was commenced. This was an ambitious project, with 50 reverse designs in 10 years. This is the last year for it, and my understanding is that the quarter will revert back to the traditional design after Hawaii is done. If anyone has other information, please respond in a comment. To accommodate the reverse designs, the obverse had to be modified significantly. In the traditional design, the date was on the obverse, and it was moved to the reverse. “United States of America” and “Quarter Dollar” were moved from the reverse to the obverse, and “E Pluribus Unum” was eliminated. This made for a very busy obverse, and such a diverse bunch of reverses that the only picture I include is for the obverse. This series was originally planned to finish up this year with the Hawaii coin, but legislation was approved to extend the series with US territories.

Quarter, Washington
Designed by John Flanagan
1932 – Present with modifications

Quarter, Washington, Bicentennial Reverse
Obverse designed by John Flanagan
Reverse designed by Jack L. Ahr
1975 – 1976

Quarter, Jefferson, 50 State Series
Obverse designed by John Flanagan with
modifications by William Cousins
1999 Present

Quarter, Jefferson, 50 State Series
Arkansas reverse designed by no one for whom
that I can find a record. Help, readers!

I do know that the design reflects the fact that Arkansas is the sole source of diamonds in the Lower 48, grows more rice than any other state, and has a tremendous amount of timber. An abundance of wildlife and water are also depicted.

There have been three major designs for the half dollar in the period from 1933 to the present. Since the Act of 1873, all half dollars have been 30.6 mm in diameter. The silver ones have a mass of 12.5 g and are 90% silver / 10% copper. This works out to 0.36169 ounces Troy of fine silver, worth $4.38 today. From 1965 through 1970 the silver clad halves were 40% silver / 60% copper and had a mass of 11.5 g, coming to 0.1479 ounces Troy of fine silver. These are worth just over $1.79 in silver. In 1971 the copper clad ones became standard, and had a mass of 11.34 g of 8.33% nickel / 91.67% copper, coming to, as of today, 8.2657 cents. San Francisco ended business strikes of half dollars after 1954.

The Walking Liberty half dollar, in addition to being what I consider to be the most beautiful silver US coin ever minted, has the distinction of being the last US coin minted with a representation of Liberty. It ran from 1916 to 1947. Please see installment #2 for more detail on this marvelous coin.

In 1948 the Franklin half was first struck. It is a rare right facing coin. The design is simple and crisp, but not nearly as beautiful as the Walking Liberty. There was no significant change in its design for the entire run. The death of J. Kennedy caused the early demise of this coin, and I will not presume to say that this was a bad thing, but I think that the image of Franklin should be more available than on a $100 dollar bill.

In 1964 the Kennedy half was commissioned. It is really a nice coin. The portrait is a good rendition, and the reverse is a nice representation of the Presidential seal. Only coins dated 1964 are of the 90% silver alloy, and ones from 1965 through 1970 were silver clad. In 1971 the composition was changed to the standard clad copper coin. There has been no significant change in the design except for the bicentennial series of 1975 and 1976, where, like the quarter dollar, the date was modified to read “1776 – 1976″ and the reverse was changed to show a picture of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. In 1977 the standard design was resumed.

Half dollars became less and less popular over the years, and since 2002 have only been minted as collectibles. One still finds them in circulation on occasion, but I would wager that it has been a while since you saw one.

Here are pictures of modern half dollars. The Weinman design for the walking one deserves a large picture.

Half dollar, Walking Liberty
Designed by Adolph A. Weinman
1916 – 1947
In my opinion, the most beautiful silver coin ever minted
by the United States

Half dollar, Franklin
Designed by John R.Sinnock
1948 – 1963
I find this to be an attractive coin,
very clean with little clutter. I think
that its run was cut short by the assassination
of J. Kennedy

Dollar coins have never been very popular with Americans. The older ones were too big and heavy, and the new ones look or feel too much like quarters. I think that one of the difficulties is that we expect our coins to have a size related to value, but the cent and five cent piece sort of mess up this argument. In any event, dollar coins have been part of our history for a long time, and the silver ones were supposed to be standard (that is, conforming to the gold standard in value) as opposed to lesser coins being subsidiary. The only silver dollar since 1933 was the Peace dollar, and it is an attractive coin. Liberty with a head dress of rays on the obverse, and a good eagle surrounded by rays make the reverse.

At a whopping 38.1 mm diameter, 26.73 g of 90% silver / 10% copper, this coin was current from 1921 to 1964. Yes, I did say 1964. Coins in circulation ended in 1935. The 1964 story in interesting. Silver dollars since 1840 have had the same makeup. That composition gives 0.77344 ounces Troy of fine silver, worth right at $9.37 today.

In 1964 Congress passed and the President signed a law to mint 45 million Peace dollars, and Denver actually struck over 316 thousand of them. The legislation was rescinded (if any one knows if it was by the Congress or by Executive order, please comment) and they all were scrapped in the melting vat. Rumor has it that some were taken before destruction, and if so, they are a good ticket to Gitmo if they find you with one. Not even one was sent to the Smithsonian Institution.

Dollar, Peace
Designed by Anthony De Francisci
1921 – 1935

The next dollar coin was the godawful Eisenhower design. The diameter was the same 38.1 mm diameter as the Peace dollar, but was never coin silver. That has to be one of the worst designs in modern coinage. The portrait of Eisenhower looks like Tippy Turtle, and the eagle on the reverse looks more like an Archeopteryx. Those were issued in both copper clad and silver clad for circulation, and were never popular.

The silver clad ones contained 0.3161 ounces Troy of fine silver, making them worth close to $3.83. The entire coin had a mass of 24.59 g. The copper clad ones had a mass of 22.68 g and were the same composition of 8.33% nickel / 91.67% copper. Today’s market values for them is, for the silver clad ones $3.83, and for the copper clad ones 16.53 cents.

Dollar, Eisenhower
Designed by Frank Gasparro
1971 – 1974; 1977 – 1978

Dollar, Eisenhower
Bicentennial
Reverse designed by Dennis R. Williams
1975-1976

Here is a bit of a political part. The vending industry HATED the big dollars, because the sorters have to be large to accommodate the coins. It also hates dollar bills, because coin sorter technology is much cheaper to produce than bill readers. That industry has been lobbying the Congress for decades to authorize a smaller dollar coin, and in 1979 it paid off.

The Susan Anthony dollar is another poor looking coin. This is the first coin to have an actual person depicted who was not a Founder or President. It was 26.5 mm in diameter and had a mass of 8.1 g. I find it to be a very unattractive coin, but that is my personal opinion. All of them were copper nickel clad. They made a bunch of them in 1979 and 1980, then only those for collectors in 1981. None were struck from 1982 through 1998. This coin was a failure. Around 40 million were struck in 1999 to quiet the vending industry, but these coins were never popular. This was one of the only recent coins to have business strikes made with the “S” mint mark.

At market prices of copper and nickel today, these coins have a value of 5.0904 cents.

Dollar, Susan B. Anthony
Designed by Frank Gasparro (note the same reverse as the Eisenhower dollar)
1979 – 1999

The next dollar coin was also a failure, but it was much more attractive than the previous one. It was the Sacagawea dollar, and was quite different from the Anthony one. First, it had a “golden” color because it was a clad coin consisiting of a core of pure copper overlaid with a coating of 77% copper, 12% zinc, 7% manganese, and 4% nickel. That is the first coin since the War Nickels to contain manganese other than as an impurity. This composition was chosen because it looked nice. Unfortunately, it did not coin very well, and many of those dollars are spotted or otherwise discolored. The upsetting process drives most of the surface coating onto the edges, so it does not look like a quarter with a raw copper edge. It also is not reeded, to assist the folks who can not see well to distinguish it from a quarter. The diameter and mass were the same as the SBA dollar, since the vending industry had already settled on that size for coin counters.

They minted over a billion and a half in 2000, and the criket chrips caused them to go to under six million in 2004. Major fail. Interestingly, some Sacagawea coins will be minted in conjunction with the series described below, and the plan is to resume full production of these coins when the Presidental series winds to a close.

Dollar, Sacagawea
Obverse designed by Glenna Goodacre
Reverse designed by Thomas D. Rogers, Sr.
2000 – 2005; 2007 – Present

In 2007, the Presidential Dollar series was begun, because of the success of the 50 States quarter program and from pressure from the vending industry, who still desperately want a dollar coin to circulate. For the first time ever, the word “Liberty” does not appear on the coin, but is represented by a rendering of the Statue of Liberty on the reverse. The coins are of the same composition, size, and mass as the Sacajawea dollar, with some improvements in technique to improve the finish.

The early issues of this coin caught 28 different kinds of hell from the wingnuts, because “In God we Trust” was incusely struck into the rim on the coin. By the way, “E Pluribus Unum” is also struck incusely into the rim, as is the date. Some wingnuts call it the “Godless” coin. The Congress passed legislation to move “In God we Trust” to the obverse be of the beginning in 2009. I guess that this means more to them than the motto about all of us being one, but Republicans are hard to figure. Since the coins are to be issued by order of inauguration, Grover Cleveland will have two separate runs.

Dollar, Presidential Series, Washington
Reverse designed by Don Everhart
2007 only (Reverse for entire series)
Series expected to run through 2018

Here is a picture of a stack of the coins to illustrate the incuse edge lettering:

All of the designs so far have forward facing figures, unusual for US coins as I said earlier. Federal law now prevents a President who is living or has been deceased less than two years to appear on a coin, so the last one eligible would be damned old Reagan. I did see an artist’s concept of the W obverse, however. Here is a picture of it. Obviously this coin will not wear well.

That catches us up to the present with US coinage. Any comments, questions, or other input are welcome. Next time I will address the US Mint bullion coin program, unless someone else has a better idea.

Warmest regards,

Doc

Tags: Cents, Coin, Dailykos.com, Dimes, Dollars, Halves, Learning, Nickels, Quarters, Teaching, US Coins