The man responsible for the world’s biggest economy blamed too many more pressing issues when questioned on why the US is still spending millions minting its penny when other countries have got rid of it.
Should the US Penny stay or go?
But during the recent online Q & A, President Barack Obama did give his strongest hint yet that it might be time for America’s lowest value coin – which costs 2.4 cents to produce and circulate – to go once and for all.
Drop the penny and save a mint?
In 2009, the US Government lost nearly £20m minting its one-cent coins. That figure had trebled to almost £60m just two years later. At a time of global recession, many argue that ditching the penny would be an obvious cost-cutting measure. Like many others around the world, the UK included, the US penny can’t even buy itself.
Not a top priority
But is it quite as simple as that? Obama may be President of the world’s most powerful nation but even he needs legislation from Congress who, not surprisingly, has other more important things to do. And should the penny go, the five cent Nickel coin would be used more and that costs nearly five times more than the penny to put into circulation at 11.2 cents.
The end of the Canadian penny
As regular readers of this blog will know, should the bill ever go ahead, the US would be the latest in a long line of countries to eliminate its smallest denomination coin. Its North American neighbour stopped its production of the penny in January after more than 150 years.
But Americans it seems are just as sentimental as we Brits are about holding onto a part of our numismatic heritage – despite the fact we can do very little with our pennies but save them for a very rainy day …
A new record was set earlier this month when one of Australia’s oldest surviving coins, the famous Holey Dollar, was sold at a Melbourne auction house to a private collector for a staggering AUS$495,000, beating the previous record of AUS$485,000 set in 2011.
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)
The coin above is very similar to the one sold at auction recently
The fascinating 200 year-old history behind the Holey Dollar – so-called because of the distinctive hole in its centre – has captured the imagination of collectors not just in Australia but worldwide.
Brilliant but simple
In 1813, to combat a local currency shortage, the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie came up with a cunning plan. Enlisting the services of a convicted forger William Henshall, Macquarie ordered the middle of 40,000 coins to be punched out and inscribed with a crown – this became known as the ‘Dump’.
He then stamped the outer ring – the ‘Holey Dollar’ – with the words ‘New South Wales’ and the year of issue. The point being that the two pieces had a higher collective value and so were worth more if they stayed as one whole coin in Australia than individually overseas. Problem solved.
One of the finest examples
The coin sold at auction in Melbourne had been minted in 1813 from a Spanish Silver Dollar that had been struck at the Lima Mint in 1805. Out of a very limited number known to have survived, the one sold recently is thought to be among the finest examples.
Very few known to have survived
The Holey Dollar and Dump was withdrawn from circulation in 1829 and most were shipped to London to be melted down or sold off as bullion silver.
Of those that survived, there are now only some 300 left, of which 200 are in private hands. They are among Australia’s rarest legal tender coins and on the rare occasion they come up for auction, they attract considerable interest. The question now is how long before this new record is broken?
Ninety years since Howard Carter discovered Tutankhumun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, a unique 5oz Silver Coin uncovers its very own hidden treasures of Ancient Egypt.
Reveal the hidden treasures of the Ancient Egypt Silver 5oz Coin
Struck from pure Sterling Silver to the finest proof finish, this incredible coin is richly evocative of Ancient Egypt.
Notice the beautiful 24 Carat Gold centrepiece – Pyramid-shaped, naturally – beautifully engraved with symbols and hieroglyphics from Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus in which the teenage king’s body lay undisturbed for nearly three thousand years.
When is a coin not a coin? A beautiful 24 Carat Gold Pyramid sits at its centrepiece
Triangular it may be but it’s still a coin. To prove it, Ian Rank-Broadley’s portrait of the Queen appears on the obverse – alongside the Egyptian gods Hathor and Anubis.
Remove the Pyramid altogether and you’ll uncover another numismatic gem – Tutankhamun’s burial mask in glorious technicolour.
Remove the Gold Pyramid to reveal Tutankhamun’s burial mask
And I should of course mention the size of the Ancient Egypt 5oz Coin. With a 65mm diameter, this mesmerising coin fills the palm of your hand.
Just 450 Ancient Egypt 5oz Coins were struck worldwide to mark the 90th anniversary of the most exciting archaeological discovery of the last century.