Coins: US Coins featured at The Coin Lady

Wampum as Currency?

Yes, its true. In the period before the creation of the US Mint, common currency in daily use included not only wampum, but livestock, produce, foreign and colonial currency. Image trying to establish exchange rates for that combination.

The US Mint.

Our founding fathers had their priorities straight - the first Federal building authorized after the signing of the Constitution was the Mint. George Washington appointed David Rittenhouse as its first director and its first run of coins consisted of 11,178 copper cents that were delivered in 1793. The decimal currency system we use today was proposed by Thomas Jefferson.

Regular Issue US Coins
HALF CENT	1793-1857
CENT	1793 TO DATE
TWO-CENT PIECE	1864-1873
SILVER THREE-CENT PIECE	1851-1873
NICKEL THREE-CENT PIECE	1865-1889
NICKEL FIVE-CENT PIECE	1866 TO DATE
HALF DIME	1794-1873
DIME	1796 TO DATE
TWENTY-CENT PIECE	1875-1878
QUARTER DOLLAR	1796 TO DATE
HALF DOLLAR	1794 TO DATE
DOLLAR Includes: Eisenhower: 1971-1978 and Susan B. Anthony: 1979 to 1981.	1794 TO DATE

The First US Commemorative Coin.

(1892) Four Hundred years after he landed in the Americas - Christopher Columbus became the first person to be featured on a US Commemorative coin. The following year his patron, Queen Isabella of Spain, became the first woman to be featured on a US coin.

US Presidents on Coins.

(1899) George Washington was the first US President to appear on a commemorative coin. He was featured with the Marquis de Lafayette.

Calvin Coolidge was the first President to be featured on a coin that was struck during his lifetime.

Several other presidents such as Lincoln (Cent), Roosevelt (Dime) and Kennedy (Half Dollar) have been featured on US Coins.

Women on US Coins.

Only four women have appeared on US coins. Queen Isabella of Spain was first with her portrait on the Columbian Exposition Quarter Dollar in 1893.

Susan B. Anthony (Dollar 1979 to 1981) and Sacagewea (1999 to Present) are the only women honored on a currently circulating US coin (Dollar).

On Commemorative Coins - Virginia Dare & Eleonor Dare are featured on the 1937 Roanoke Island Half Dollar. Eunice Kennedy Shriver appears on the 1995 Silver Dollar.