[evets]

I'm selling my old nickels on EBAY!

[television is just wrong]

They humanize Thomas Jefferson. He looks as if he is praying. Wow, I guess the commies at the ACLU will be fighting more of our nations symbols.

[2banana]

I would love to see our coins/bills put the Bill Of Rights on our money. Sometimes our money is all people know of America. Might as well give them an education in our freedoms...

[mhking]

Just damn.

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

[frog_jerk_2004]

I think the U.S. Mint is making a mistake with the profile of Jefferson. How the hell is Gore going to recognize Jefferson now?

[99tango]

the irony of this is trying to teach 5 year old kids the differences in monetary value of coins. The schools use imitation (plastic or cardboard) to show the children the front and back of each coin. The state quarters kept the front design the same, but the nickels are changing.

Unintended consequences??

[Seruzawa]

The fact that they have the time and money to waste doing utterly unimportant stuff like this once again proves that we need minimum 50% layoff of Federal workers.

Oops. Didn't mean to use the word "work" when referring to civil service people.

[RS]

Why is this needed ? Is someone counterfeiting nickels now ?

[joesnuffy]

I love collecting nickels...though Kristy Mc gave me a rough time trying to get her into
the sack...(large grain sack I collect nickles in that is...where the heck is your mind at anyway)

[Barney59]

I'm going to go against the grain and say how much I've hated the new look of US currency. The lack of design is appalling... looks like the die maker and accountant decided to have 'some fun'...

Scale is bad, no balance. Lost is the sense of formality that gave our currency a sense of dignity and power. It's almost casual now, considerably less official.

Like they were trying to design something to mirror EU currency...

My 2 cents (ha)

[csvset]

In March, the so-called Peace Medal nickel went into circulation

My wife saw one of these the other day. Said it showed two hands clasped in a handshake.

I haven't seen either of the new designs.

[Verginius Rufus]

It's the nature of change to change.

I don't know who said that, maybe Heraclitus. Actually, until the quarters started having different reverses for the states, our coins had been pretty boring...no major changes since the penny got a new reverse in 1959, other than the shortlived bicentennial reverse for the quarter, and coins that aren't used much (half dollars and dollars).

I wonder where the script version of "Liberty" came from--is that in Jefferson's handwriting?

[zeugma]

IMO, this sucks big time. Now, I realize that the nickel is past due for a change in appearance, as it has been largely static (exception being mint mark location changes), since 1938. I've used nickels several times as a tool too get youngsters into numismatics, and this will eventually screw up my pitch. You see, since the coin has been static for so many years, there are still a lot of old coins in circulation. If you have a handful of nickels, there is a darn good chance there will be a 40, 50 or 60 year old coin amongst the lot. This isn't true of any other of our coins because all of them have had more recent changes.

As time passes, the previous design generally drops from circulation. When was the last time you saw a wheat penny? Similarly, it's pretty darn rare to find any coin higher than a nickel in denomination that is older than 1965 (1972 in the case of half-dollars) because that's the year they debased them from silver to junk metals.

What I've recommended to kids is that they start by saving and putting aside one nickel of every year and mint mark they can find. As time passes, and they find a better example of a given year and mint, they could replace it with the one in better shape, so their collection will, over time, become both more complete and of better quality. It's cheap and easy for them.

Ten years from now you'll start seeing the Jefferson/Monticello nickels become more and more rare. Frankly, though I realize updating the design is probably not entirely a bad idea, I still am saddened by it.

[weegee]

When pennies were redesigned in the 1980s, they were replaced with copper plated alumninum.

Here is a sneak look at the new nickels:

[presidio9]

Dammit, why isn't an African American woman on this coin? I nominate Sally Hemmings!

[DaveMSmith]

I love when our coinage and currency is redesigned. A new look.. changes.. it indicates a fundamental change in the country. This is OUR nickel.

Thomas Jefferson wrote quite a bit about freedom of the press.

My favorite:"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823. ME 15:491

This Poland Spring is for you, Dan Rather you greedy rich elitist! Anyone know how much this liar earns in one year?!

Further for the 'proof' of my assertion: Only one US coin has a right facing portrait: President Lincoln on the penny. Now, President Jefferson, who was so maligned by the press just like someone we all know and love, now turns 'right'. The tables have turned. W is for Write!

As for the quote.. a truely free press would eliminate the need for an 'intelligence' agency. I believe the CIA is a relic of the Cold War and if we eliminate MSM/Old Media, we can eliminate a good deal of the intelligence apparatus. The world is totally interconnected... Pajama Clad Analysts who love what they do and do it for the love of Country will be far more effective.

No wonder we didn't know about WMD.. we had career civil servants looking for it.

[Conservative til I die]

So as I understand it, this is just a continuation of the ciirculating commemorative program starting with this year's Lewis/Clark nickels? And then they go back to the fugly normal nickel design?

Bummer, but I think the US Mint is on the right track, trying to get the zombies that populate America to accept change.

Can't wait til the total redesign happens.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Jesus Christ! STOP F*CKING WITH THE MONEY!

[.38sw]

I bought a silver proof set of the 2004 coins last weekend, and the set has the two new nickels in it. I hadn't looked at the set that closely until I got home and saw the new design, so I wasn't able to ask the dealer about the changes. Guess I'll start saving some of the old design nickels.

[Walkingfeather]

is it me or should the coastline be reversed. If you were traveling from east to west as you approached the pacific wouldn't the water be on your left?

[Lockbar]

It looks more like an image of Bob Hope impersonating Thomas Jefferson.