Nickel gets a makeover

News 14 Carolina ^ | November 6, 2003 | AP

[LurkedLongEnough]

(WASHINGTON) -- After 65 years, the American nickel is getting its first makeover.

But you'll have to flip it over to see a difference.

Thomas Jefferson's face will still be on the front. But the back will be different. Instead of Jefferson's home, Monticello, it will depict scenes from the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis-and-Clark expedition to commemorate their bicentennials.

Jefferson arranged the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States. He also was the force behind the expedition by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Pacific coast and back.

The U.S. Mint, which makes the nation's coins, unveils the new look on Thursday.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Pics to follow...

[LurkedLongEnough]

[KantianBurke]

Clinton's been out of office for almost 3 years. This is Bush's administration. What's their excuse?

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

In God We Trust is on the front, which is unchanged per the article.

[mhking]

Your assertion that "In God We Trust" is gone is completely wrong.

Firstly, it is mandated by law that it be there, and secondly, on nickels IT IS ON THE FRONT OF THE COIN!!!

The front (with it's pic of Jefferson) will remain unchanged. There will be two backs:

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Doctor Stochastic]

"In God We Trust" hasn't been on all coins anyway, just some.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

In God We Trust is on the front of the nickel, not the back.

[RebelBanker]

The article says the front is unchanged. I suggest you pull out a nickel and see if "In God We Trust" is currently on the front or the back.

Your Humble Servant...

[Sabertooth]

After 65 years, the American nickel is getting its first makeover.

But you'll have to flip it over to see a difference.

So the obverse remains the same?

I see the motto.

[mhking]

From CNN/Money:

U.S. to get two new nickels

Jefferson still on front, but new designs to show handclasp, Lewis and Clark longboat on back.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - In April of this year, the U.S. Mint announced that it would redesign the five-cent coin, with a new nickel to be released in 2004. Today, the Mint unveiled designs for not one new nickel, but two.

The new designs constitute the first change in the look of the nickel since the current version was introduced in 1938. That familiar edition depicts Thomas Jefferson on its front, with an image of his Monticello estate on the back.

Like their predecessor, the new nickels will honor the nation's third president. As now, the fronts will display a likeness of Jefferson. The backs will be different.

In the spring of 2004, the first of the new coins will be released into circulation. The image on the back will depict the Jefferson Peace Medal, a medallion that was presented to Native American chiefs during treaty signings and other ceremonies. It features clasped hands and a peace pipe overlapping a hatchet.

The second nickel will be released next autumn. Its back will feature an engraving of the keelboat that the Lewis and Clark expedition party used to explore the American West. (Besides engineering the Louisiana Purchase that made westward expansion possible, Jefferson was the chief sponsor of the "Voyage of Discovery" that made Lewis and Clark famous.)

"The United States is in a renaissance in coin design," according to Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore, alluding not only to the new nickel, but to the immensely popular 50 State Quarter series.

"Americans used to change designs every seven or eight years in the last century. Now we do it every 25 years or so," Holsman Fore told CNN/Money earlier this year. "We've gotten out of the habit."

Spokeswoman Sharon McPike said the Mint has been hoping to change the nickel for some time, and that "a commemoration of the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark seemed like just the right opportunity."

The measure was not without controversy, however. When the bill to change the coin went before Congress, members of the Virginia delegation expressed concern at losing free publicity for Monticello, the tourist attraction currently on the nickel's tailside. As a compromise, the Mint agreed to revert to a Monticello depiction in 2006.

That may seem like a lot of activity for a coin that's grown a bit dusty of late. But as McPike notes, there may even be an opportunity for the government to make a little money on the deal.

The reason: seignorage, a numismatic term that means the difference between the cost of producing a coin and its retail price. That spread in this case is about two and a half cents on each nickel minted.

If a design change encourages people to hoard old Monticello nickels and/or collect the new ones, said McPike, the Mint might be forced to produce a higher-than-average number of pieces. Thus, it would make more money.

Now, let's see. There are about 290 million Americans. If all of them were to buy and hoard one of each new nickel, it would mean about $14 million more in seignorage income for the Treasury.

That's not so much, of course, as a percentage of the gargantuan federal budget. Still, it's not too bad for rubbing two nickels together.

[hchutch]

Perhaps the headline ought to be changed.

[mhking]

"In God We Trust" hasn't been on all coins anyway, just some.

By law, "In God We Trust" was placed on all national coinage minted post-1957.

[b9]

How sad.
I loved the old buffalo head nickels.

Matter of fact, I'm holding one in my hot little hand right now, from my grandmother's collection. Actually, all it has room for on the back is "liberty"...the Indian head is so big. (or is that Native-American head?)

[FreePaul]

You must be some kind of agitators. What are you trying to do, stop a good panic before it starts? Look at a nickel? Change the title? Just back off and watch the excitement.

[VRWC_minion]

Don't the gay lobby claim that Lewis and Clark were gay ?

[bmwcyle]

If just had a nickel for every nickel I have.

[Held_to_Ransom]

A sign of the changing times.

The buffalo was the dominant symbol of abundance and independent existence and self sufficiency on the vast plains of the Louisiana purchase. Well, the buffalo is doing alright now as a completely managed species bred and raised in enclosed and firmly regulated spaces.

Now then, we get two alternatives. One for the Republican party showing the handshake of a deal. No doubt a reference to the fact that when Napoleon sold the property to Jefferson, the French actually didn't have clear title to it. They had already sold it once to Spain.

On the other, we get a boatload of relatively crude men. Obviously a Democratic Party homage to illegal immigrants.

[WackyKat]

The Louisiana Purchase should be illustrated by a picture of a woman drinking a Hurricane and wearing nothing but beads.

[aBootes]

On the other, we get a boatload of relatively crude men. Obviously a Democratic Party homage to illegal immigrants.

I'm thinking that there's a Native American babe, Sacajewea by name, somewhere on that boat. So there we go: women and minorities clearly included.

[EdReform]

FYI - someone posted this link in another thread:

Fact Sheets: Currency & Coins - 'History of 'In God We Trust'