USA

100 Cents = 1 Dollar

Washington Quarter, 1977

Years: 1965-1998
Metal: Copper-nickel clad Copper
Weight: 5.67 gm
Diameter: 24.26 mm
Thickness: 1.75 mm
Engraver: John Flanagan

Commemorative issue: 200th Birthday of George Washington.

Obverse features the portrait in left profile of George Washington, the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797, accompanied with the motto "IN GOD WE TRUST"

Reverse features an eagle, wings spread, and standing on a shaft of arrows with two olive sprays beneath the eagle, is surrounded with the facial value, the motto "E PLURIBUS UNUM".

E pluribus unum is a Latin for "Out of many, one" alternatively translated as "One from many" which suggests that out of many colonies or states emerge a single nation.

This quarter was discontinued from minting since 1999 when the state quarter program was started.

Click here to know about George Washington.

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10 Cents: Roosevelt Dime 

Years: 1965-2012
Metal: Copper-nickel clad Copper
Weight: 2.268 gm
Diameter: 17.91 mm
Thickness: 1.29 mm
Engraver: John R. Sinnock

Commemorative issue: 1st Anniversary of Roosevelt's Death.

Obverse: The portrait in left profile of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 to his death in 1945.The current design on the obverse of the dime first appeared in 1946, soon after the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Roosevelt dime was released on the late President's birthday which was January 30th of that year. FDR's left-facing bust was created by the Mint's Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock.

Shortly after his death in 1945, citizens began writing to the Treasury Department requesting his likeness be depicted on a coin. The dime was a good choice because Roosevelt supported the March of Dimes, a program that raised funds for research to find a cure for polio. Roosevelt contracted the polio virus when he was 39 years old.

Reverse: Mr. Sinnock also designed the reverse of this coin: a torch signifying Liberty, with an olive branch on the left signifying Peace, and an oak branch on the right, signifying Strength and Independence.

Background: The dime is the smallest, thinnest coin we use today. The name of the coin sounded the same as it does today, but the spelling was "disme" because the word is based on the Latin word "decimus," meaning "one tenth." The French used the word "disme" when they came up with the idea of money divided into ten parts in the 1500s, although they hadn’t implemented the idea.

Lady Liberty reigned on the dime in different forms for many years. Usually just her head was shown, but her full body, seated on a rock, was used during the 1800s. She was shown with wings on her head from 1916 to 1945, often called the Mercury dime, to symbolize freedom of thought.

Click here to know about Franklin Roosevelt.

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 5 Cents: Jefferson Nickel (1st portrait) 

Years: 1938-2003
Metal:    Copper-nickel
Weight: 5 gm
Diameter: 21.21 mm
Thickness: 1.79 mm
Engraver: Felix Schlag

Obverse features the portrait in left profile of Thomas Jefferson (1st portrait), the 3rd President of the United States from 1801 to 1809, is surrounded with the lettering "LIBERTY" and the motto: "IN GOD WE TRUST"

Reverse features the representation of Monticello, President Thomas Jefferson's Virginia home, is accompanied with the legend "MONTICELLO" and surrounded with the facial value in full, the motto "E PLURIBUS UNUM".

Click here to know more about Thomas Jefferson.

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5 Cents: Jefferson Nickel (2nd portrait) 

Years: 2006-2012
Metal: Copper-nickel
Weight: 5 gm
Diameter: 21.21 mm
Thickness: 1.79 mm
Engravers: Felix Schlag

Obverse: Since 2006, the image on the front of the nickel is the Thomas Jefferson likeness, based on a Rembrandt Peale portrait completed in 1800. The portrait showed Jefferson as Vice President at 57 years of age. This painting was the basis for most of the images of Jefferson that were made during his lifetime. The cursive "Liberty" inscription, modeled after Jefferson’s own handwriting, debuted on the 2005 nickels. This was designed by The United States Mint's Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Jamie Franki of Concord, North Carolina. It was engraved by Sculptor-Engraver Donna Weaver.

Reverse: The reverse of the 2006 nickel features the classic rendition of Monticello originally executed by artist Felix Schlag. However, the 2006 reverse design is crisper than ever before. United States Mint engraver John Mercanti restored the original image with greater detail and relief in the dome, the balconies, and the door and windows.

Background: Many people refer to the five-cent coin as a nickel, but that was not always the case, as the first five-cent coin was made of silver. Then, all coins had to be made of gold, silver, or copper by law. This silver five-cent coin was called a "half disme" (pronounced like "dime"), and was much smaller than today’s nickel. Congress decided to have the United States Mint produce a new five-cent coin, made of nickel and copper, in 1866...but the silver half disme was still made until 1873. So both sizes were circulating at the same time for several years.

         The new five-cent coin was larger than the silver half disme because nickel was less expensive than silver. This larger nickel was much easier to handle than the previous diminutive silver half disme.

         President Thomas Jefferson took his place on obverse of the nickel in 1938 with Monticello, Jefferson’s Virginia home, on the reverse. These obverse and reverse designs, both by Felix Schlag, were produced until 2003.

         In 2004, the United States Mint began to commemorate the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition with the Westward Journey Nickel Series™. The nickel’s current design is also the last of that series.

Click here to know more about Thomas Jefferson.

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1 Cent (Penny) 

When the United States Mint was created in 1792, one of the first coins it made the following year was the one-cent coin, and it looked very different from the modern version.  The image on the first cent was of a lady with flowing hair, who symbolized liberty.  The coin was larger and made of pure copper, while today's smaller cent is made of copper and zinc.

In 1857, Congress authorized the United States Mint to strike the cent with 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel.  The "shape and size" would be determined by the United States Mint Director, with the approval of the Treasury Secretary.  The new cents showed a flying eagle on the front and a wreath on the back.  The act of February 21, 1857, also mandated that people could no longer use coins from other countries, a practice that had been necessary because of a lack of domestic coinage.  However, people could bring their foreign coins to the United States Mint, where they could be exchanged for U.S. silver coins and the new cents.

From 1909 to 1958, the Lincoln obverse was paired with a reverse that featured a wheat design in which two sheaves of wheat flanked the words ONE CENT and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  It is commonly known as the "wheat penny."

 Wheat Penny 1930

Metal: Bronze
Weight: 3.11 gm
Diameter: 19 mm
Engraver: Victor David Brenner

From 1959 to 2008, the reverse featured an image of the Lincoln Memorial designed by Frank Gasparro.  It commemorated the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

Commemorative Penny: 150th Birth Anniversary of Lincoln

Years: 1983-2008

Metal: Copper (2.4%) plated Zinc (97.6%)

Weight: 2.5 gm

Diameter: 19 mm

Thickness: 1.30 mm

Engravers: V. D. Brenner (obverse)

           Frank Gasparro (reverse)

Commemorative: Lincoln's 200th birthday Series:

In 2009, the United States Mint issued four different one-cent coins in recognition of the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's birth and the 100th anniversary of the first issuance of the Lincoln cent.  The themes for the reverse designs represent the four major aspects of President Lincoln's life:

• birth and early childhood in Kentucky (1809-1816) 
• formative years in Indiana (1816-1830) 
• professional Life in Illinois (1830-1861) 
• presidency in Washington, DC (1861-1865) 

Professional Life in Illinois

Engraver: Don Everhart (reverse)

This design features a young professional Lincoln standing in front of the state capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.

The 2010 and beyond reverse (tails side) design is emblematic of President Abraham Lincoln's "Preservation of the United States" as a single and united country. The reverse features a union shield with a scroll draped across and the inscription ONE CENT.

While the obverse (heads) continues to bear the familiar Victor David Brenner likeness of President Lincoln that has appeared on the coin since 1909.