Week Eighteen

 

Coin of the Week: 20-Cent Piece

The extremely short-lived twenty-cent piece, or double dime as it is sometimes known, had an interesting story behind it.

The beginning player was senator John P. Jones of Nevada. Jones argued that the quarter was being devalued in the west. The reason? Enter player 2 in the game: Production numbers. There was an odd lack of small change coins in the west. Maybe they can credit Jesse James with this. And another thing: many saloons, called “Bit Houses” were popping up. Although a bit is technically 12 and 1/2 cents, in many of these Bit Houses, dimes were accepted as One Bit. Jones argued that in the few instances when a quarter was used as payment for a drink, the bartender would accept the quarter and give a dime in change, so the buyer would lose 5 cents on the deal. The double dime was supposed to cure this ill.

But after only 3 years of production, the mint was forced to reconsider. The double dime was almost exactly the same size as the quarter, and the design was very similar. So now people were spending the double dime thinking that it was a quarter, and receiving it in change thinking it was the same thing. So storekeepers lost five cents when their customers bought a 25-cent cigar, and the customers lost money when they received one in change because the storekeeper thought it was a quarter. It was a lose-lose situation, and so the double dime was discontinued.

 

Cool Commemoratives: Isabella Quarter

In Fourteen Hundred Ninety-Two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

But Columbus you know, well let me tell ya’, was solid broke ‘till he met Isabella!

Both she and he husband, Ferdinand, paid his way to the “New Land”, Yes they sure did give Columbus a hand, and he promised to bring them something grand.

So when Columbus spotted land, he placed Spain’s flag upon the sand, and claimed it for Isabella and Ferdinand.

He’d thought he reached the Orient’s shores, and set about looking for merchant’s stores.

Eventually he went back to Spain, unaware of this brand new gain…

So now you know, well isn’t that grand, of Columbus, Isabella, and Ferdinand.

 

Okay. So what does this have to do with coins?

Well, the 1892 Columbian Exposition was coming up, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the “discovery” of the Americas, and the Columbus half dollar was already out and about. But through the efforts of several Suffragettes, the story came forward: Columbus couldn’t have made it without Isabella and Ferdinand’s financing. So another commemorative coin was created, celebrating Isabella’s (but not Ferdinand’s) part in the historic voyage. This is the only commemorative quarter ever made.