Show me the money!

[_The CCC]

subgenius:

Jackson was against paper money. Who would have guessed the Treasury Department has such a sense of humor.

[_Doctor Steuss]

Thanks for the awesome history lesson. That's very cool stuff.

Thank you for tolerating me geeking out a bit on one of my favorite subjects/hobbies.

[_Doctor Steuss]

Here's a picture of the "V" nickel. It holds a real special place in my heart (and collection) because the profile of Lady Liberty looks a lot like those of my grandmother, mom, and sister.

The first year this coin was issued, it didn't have the word "cents" on it. So, the old entrepreneur spirit of early America inspired some people to start gold-plating the nickel, and trying to pass it off as a gold five dollar coin in rural areas. These coins became known as "Racketeer Nickels." One such entrepreneur was Josh Tatum, a deaf mute. It is said that he was acquitted at trial, because as a deaf mute, he never claimed it was a gold coin (which is true). He would simply buy something that was under $.05 in value, and slide over the gold-plated coin, and wait to see what change he was given back.

This is the source of the apocryphal folk-etymology of "just Joshing you."




--------------------
On a related note, here's one of my all-time favorite female representations on US coinage. The Walking Liberty Half (this is the same design that the US Mint still uses for the obverse of their Silver Eagle bullion).

[_subgenius]

subgenius:

Jackson was against paper money. Who would have guessed the Treasury Department has such a sense of humor.

That position was rooted in his position on banks at that time...and that got him re-elected by a landslide.
but, just looking at any of our money proves the Treasury's sense of humor.

[_Doctor Steuss]

subgenius:

Jackson was against paper money. Who would have guessed the Treasury Department has such a sense of humor.

Wasn't he just against fiat money? When his face was added to the $20, it could still be redeemed for a Double Eagle (or, in later series, the equivalent value in gold shot).

Although, keeping him on there after the "Nixon shock" must've made Jackson do a few somersaults in the ole' grave.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I'd be thrilled if we changed our currency to this:



- Doc

[_Gunnar]

4,000 Cherokee died on the Trail of Tears.

So yes, I would rather the face of the twenty be a black woman who freed slaves rather than a white man who not only kept them but also exemplified the worst aspects of American racism and Manifest Destiny.

I whole heartedly agree! What Andrew Jackson did (or, at least, condoned doing) to the Cherokees was not much (if any) less despicable than what the Nazis did to the Jews.

[_Quasimodo]

4,000 Cherokee died on the Trail of Tears.

So yes, I would rather the face of the twenty be a black woman who freed slaves rather than a white man who not only kept them but also exemplified the worst aspects of American racism and Manifest Destiny.

I whole heartedly agree! What Andrew Jackson did (or, at least, condoned doing) to the Cherokees was not much less (if any) despicable than what the Nazis did to the Jews.

I understand that many Native Americans refuse to take Jackson twenties because his face is on them.

[_Gunnar]

Who can blame them for that?

[_Gunnar]

From 1927 to 1946 we had the pengő [ˈpɛŋɡøː].

The Hungarian participle pengő means 'ringing' (which in turn derives from the verb peng, an onomatopoeic word equivalent to English 'ring') and was used from the 15–17th century to refer to silver coins making a ringing sound when struck on a hard surface, thus indicating their precious metal content.

Interesting! The Norwegian word for "money" is "penger", which I imagine was also inspired by the pinging sound made by metal coins clinking together or being dropped on a hard surface.