If David didn't write this page, an acolyte did.

[Fmotlgroupie]

These exceptions are meant for people of age when the record keeping was not as good, hence, none.

I think the exceptions may be finding renewed purpose in helping kids who want to get their lives on track despite having crazy parents.

[notorial dissent]

Yeah, it can be used, if you get all sorts of supporting evidence like you've mentioned, and witnesses to who you were and how long they knew you, so in the end it isn't really worth much. I know this because of what my grandparents had to go through to get their delayed birth certificates to get their SS when they retired, and it was an uphill battle the whole way, born at home, pre-birth certificate era.

[morrand]

I think there has been a current dollar coin issued almost every year, and they all have the same failing, they resemble a quarter, and all of the ones I currently have, and I have a large dish full of them at this point, came to me in change as quarters. With the exception of the Post Office which got steamrolled in to setting their machines to return change in dollar coins, they are absolutely and utterly useless.

I have bought rolls of them at the bank. Around these parts, they seem to work fairly regularly in vending machines, even Coke machines and the like, and they're a heck of a lot more reliable for the job than dollar bills.

But for what it's worth, the Mint says that the dollar coins (except for the collector sets that seem to be forming an overwhelming part of the Mint's output nowadays) are out of production. Too bad.

As for the coins: yes, if you want to "redeem" your FRN, you can go to the bank and request coins in exchange; but good luck getting silver coins from the teller.

Wasn't there an Internet/late night TV thing out there a few months ago about, "Six [or eight, or whatever it was] secret words you can say to get real silver coins" at the bank? I seem to recall the gimmick was to ask for rolls of halves, which (due to the low circulation) were more likely to contain pre-cupronickel coins.

[JamesVincent]

There is a dollar coin, it has been issued in recent years. Gold colored, a bit larger than a quarter, evidently done with different portraits in honor of the different states. I know this because these coins are used in the DC subway system magnetic card machines for change for large bills.

DC Metro, Baltimore light rail and stamp machines all use the golden dollar for change. Have not seen a single one since moving to KY.

[notorial dissent]

Be that as it may, where I live, I have yet to see or find any machine that will take $1 coin. So they really aren't of much use except to mistake as quarters in change.

[The Dog]

The Susan B. Anthony dollar was doomed when, due to lobbying from the vending machine industry, the proposed 11-sided design was scrapped and replaced by a round design, making the coin almost impossible to distinguish from a quarter solely by touch. The new "golden dollars" have plain or lettered edges which were meant to eliminate this problem; but people confuse them with quarters that have worn reeding on their edges.

Why did the vending machine industry have such fears about an 11-sided coin?

The UK pre-decimal "threepenny bit" had 12 sides
http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/three.html#qe

and the current 20p and 50p both have seven sides
http://www.moneymagpie.com/wp-content/u ... 07/20p.jpg

http://www.kevinhouston.net/blog/wp-con ... nal50p.jpg

None as far as I know caused any problems with vending machines. (The old copper pennies did, some were from the Victorian era and be the time they were withdrawn in 1971 were very badly worn).

[Pottapaug1938]

The Susan B. Anthony dollar was doomed when, due to lobbying from the vending machine industry, the proposed 11-sided design was scrapped and replaced by a round design, making the coin almost impossible to distinguish from a quarter solely by touch. The new "golden dollars" have plain or lettered edges which were meant to eliminate this problem; but people confuse them with quarters that have worn reeding on their edges.

Why did the vending machine industry have such fears about an 11-sided coin?

The UK pre-decimal "threepenny bit" had 12 sides
http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/pics/three.html#qe

and the current 20p and 50p both have seven sides
http://www.moneymagpie.com/wp-content/u ... 07/20p.jpg

http://www.kevinhouston.net/blog/wp-con ... nal50p.jpg

None as far as I know caused any problems with vending machines. (The old copper pennies did, some were from the Victorian era and be the time they were withdrawn in 1971 were very badly worn).

Vending machine manufacturers claimed that the change would require expensive and major retooling to accommodate the proposed 11-sided coin. Having collected British coins and having had many brass threepence and 50 p coins in my collection, I wondered why multi-sided coins couldn't work in the US but could work in other countries. I've used multisided "loonies" in Canadian vending machines, with no problem at all.

[Burnaby49]

None as far as I know caused any problems with vending machines. (The old copper pennies did, some were from the Victorian era and be the time they were withdrawn in 1971 were very badly worn).

No kidding! When I was in England in 1968 I got them all the time in change. They were huge for the denomination but very thin from constant wear. You could barely make out what they were. I got one in change minted in 1862, over a hundred years prior.