In 2004, the ex-Governor from Texas George Bush won a second term over Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. This was also the year when the Texas State Quarter was released into circulation. Perhaps if Senator Kerry ran for president in 2000, when the Massachusetts state quarter was circulating, he would have fared better? By the way, neither Al Gore nor his running mate Joe Lieberman had a state quarter in their corner in the year 2000.

This year we have an interesting development in that Arizona Senator John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin both have state quarters backing their charge for the White House in 2008. While Barack Obama's State of Illinois had its quarter in circulation since 2003, his birth state of Hawaii is to be commemorated with the very last of the 50 state quarter series later this year. For the record Senator Joseph Biden's state of Delaware was honored in 1999 and was, interestingly, the first state quarter of the entire series.

So what has more oomph; the very first paired with the very last state quarter or two state quarters released in the very same election year? And what can glean from all this information besides the fact that one web developer spent a little too much time on Wikipedia? If nothing else, it's just one more way in which this will be an historic election. Whichever candidate pulls off a victory, he may be honored with a Presidential Dollar Coin as the 44th President in the year 2017 if the series is continued that long.

In the 19th century, banks issued the money. Sometimes currency became non-negotiable or worthless as money because the issuing bank went out of business. Sometimes a bank, called a wildcat bank, was never really in business. They issued currency as a money-making scheme.

-- Lee the Stamp Gal

When I was a young boy I recall my grandfather saving coins in a little bank in the form of a globe. One of my favorite things to do when I visited my grandparents in the summer was to ask to open "the world" -- my word for the globe shaped bank. Actually, it was sort of an apt name since there were foreign coins in there including early Mexican coins. I could see the sigh in my grandfather's eyes when I asked "how much"?

[More]

I'm originally from Texas and since moving to the northeast in the late 70's, it seems like I've heard of a different tradition each year. Last year was the first time I've ever heard of setting traps for leprechauns. You should see my daughter's room. There's a little trail of pennies, leading up to nickels (the newest varieties last), then dimes,

[More]

Well, that's a good question. What it really means is "dime", that is the more common ten cent pieces we carry as pocket change today. I found the term disme interesting and found it was actually used on U.S. coinage for a brief period back in the late 1790's. Further research turned um some interesting but probably little known facts. Probably the most interesting "disme" coin was issued in 1792 and was actually a Half Disme, or half dime (5 cents). This particular coin is very rare and worth thousands!

[More]