Dollar
The U.S. dollar is most commonly divided into 100 cents (symbol ¢). In another division, there are 1,000 mills to a dollar; additionally, an amount of ten dollars has been referred to as an eagle. However, only cents are in everyday use as divisions of the dollar; "eagle" and "mill" are largely unknown to the general public, though mills are sometimes used in matters of tax levies. When currently issued in circulating form, denominations equal to or less than a dollar are emitted as U.S. coins while denominations equal to or greater than a dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve notes. (Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the note form is significantly more common.) In the past, paper money was occasionally issued in denominations less than a dollar (Fractional Currency) and gold coins were issued for circulation up to the value of twenty dollars. U.S. coins are produced by the United States Mint. U.S. dollar banknotes have been printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the Federal Reserve since 1914. They began as large-sized notes. In 1928, they switched to small-sized notes, for reasons that are yet to be explained. A logical explanation would be to reduce costs in producing bills, by allowing more bills to be printed on the same amount of paper. Notes above the $100 denomination ceased being printed in 1946 and were officially withdrawn from circulation in 1969. These notes were used primarily either in inter-bank transactions or by organized crime; it was the latter usage that prompted President Richard Nixon to issue an executive order in 1969 halting their use. With the advent of electronic banking, they became unnecessary. Notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $100,000 were all produced at one time; see large denomination bills in U.S. currency for details. See History of the American dollar for more info about the currency's history.

Dime
In folk magic, images of money are often used in spells to draw more money or a "lucky" coin is carried to attract finanacial good fortune. The near-universal use of this symbolism one includes the money bag charm, found in cultures as diverse as China, Europe, and the United States. Silver coins have been popular in European magic rituals from Medieval times onward. Encased coins, rolled coins, and specially-made good luck tokens are carried as lucky pocket pieces in many parts of the world, but in the United States, when it comes to standard-issue money, tradition dictates that the luckiest greenback is the rare $2.00 bill, and the luckiest coin is the silver dime. The little "LUCKY Dime Register Bank" shown here is only 2 1/2 inches square and about half an inch high, but it counts your dimes as you drop them in, all the way up to $5.00. It probably dates from the 1930s. European charms utilizing silver coins sometimes call for filing a mark such as an "X" on the coin or bending it. Such transformations personalize the coin and make it a lucky token.

Half Dime
One of the first coins struck at the U.S. Mint was the Large Cent. This large, clunky copper coin was struck from 1793 to 1857, inclusive, with the exception of 1815, when a fire forced the closing of the Mint. Three design types appeared in 1793, each an attempted improvement over the previous. The first design, known as the 1793 "Chain" Cent, features a low-relief head of Liberty with fine, flowing locks of hair. The reverse shows a chain of fifteen links, connected in a never-ending loop. Initial reaction to the coins was quite negative: Liberty appeared to be in a fright and the chain was seen by many as representing bondage and slavery as opposed to strength and union. As a result, Liberty's hair was strengthened and the chain was replaced with a wreath. Known as the 1793 "Wreath" Cent, this design fared little better than its predecessor and was soon replaced.

Half Cent
The half cent was America's unwanted coin from its introduction in 1793 until its official demise in 1857. Over this 60-year span, few of the coins circulated freely, and then mainly in the larger cities of the rapidly expanding nation. Coin collectors long neglected the denomination. Little sought and studied even less, the coins were aptly characterized by numismatist Dr. Warren A. Lapp as the stepchildren of U.S. coinage, the "little half sisters."

Nickel
On Monday, Feb. 28, the U.S. Mint released the latest in its series of redesigned five-cent coins, honoring the 200th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark expedition and its patron, President Jefferson. The new nickels look quite a bit different than current ones. The front and back of the piece both feature a new engraving. The nickel will continue to honor the nation's third president, as it has since 1938. But on the front, the familiar left-side profile of the Sage of Monticello will be replaced. Instead, the new coin features the right side of Jefferson's face. His face is also cropped closely, rather than showing his entire head. The word "Liberty," engraved in a copy of Jefferson's handwriting, has been added, too.

Roll
The government's new ten year Statehood Washington Quarter Program has engendered the emergence of a full-fledged boom in one of the coin market's most long-forgotten series. This has acted to vault Brilliant Uncirculated rolls of Washington Quarters from 1932-1964, to the forefront of the minds of collectors and dealers alike. Today, they are one of the hottest areas in U.S. numismatics. This is even more significant given the general lackluster state of the rare coin market. Dealers can only transact business and generate income when there is activity in a given area. And, the great strength in the Washington Quarter series is attracting more and more players with each passing month.

Coins
are popularly used as a sort of two-sided die; in order to choose between two options with a random possibility, one choice will be labeled "heads" and the other "tails," and a coin will be flipped or "tossed" to see whether the heads or tails side comes up on top. See Bernoulli trial; a fair coin is defined to have the probability of heads (in the parlance of Bernoulli trials, a "success") of exactly 0.5. A widely publicized example of an asymmetrical coin is the Belgian one euro coin. See also coin flipping.Coins are sometimes falsified to make one side weigh more. Such a coin is often said to be "weighted."Some coins, called bracteates, are so thin they can only be struck on one side.

Quarter
The quarter is 1/4th of a United States dollar or 25 cents. It is also referred to as two bits because two bits of a divided Spanish silver piece (pieces of eight) made up 1/4th of that coin. The quarter has been produced since 1796. The current clad version is cupro-nickel (8.33% Ni and the balance Cu), weighs 5.670 g, diameter 24.26 mm, width 1.75 mm with a reeded edge. Owing to the introduction of the clad quarter in 1965, it is occasionally called a "Johnson Sandwich," after Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. President at the time. It costs 4.29 cents to produce each coin. Before 1965, quarters contained 90% silver, 10% copper, although very early quarters through 1828 were slightly larger and thinner. The current regular issue coin is the Washington quarter (showing George Washington) on the obverse, and an eagle on the reverse. The Washington quarter was designed by John Flanagan. It was initially issued as a circulating commemorative, but was made a regular issue coin in 1934.

American Gold Eagle
The American Gold Eagle is the official bullion gold coin of the United States. It was first released by the United States Mint in 1986. It is offered in 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, and 1 oz denominations and is guaranteed to contain the stated amount (in troy ounces) of .9167 fine gold (22 karat). It is authorized by the United States Congress and is backed by the United States Mint for weight and content. The obverse design features a rendition of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' full length figure of Lady Liberty with flowing hair, holding a torch in her right hand and an olive branch in her left. The reverse design, by sculptor Miley Busiek, features a male eagle carrying an olive branch flying above a nest containing a female eagle and her hatchlings. The market value of the coins is generally about equal to the market value of their gold content. (As of 1/1/2006 the coins are worth and sell for about $75, $150, $300, and $600 USD respectively.) The American Gold Eagle may be used to fund only one government sanctioned Individual Retirement Account. The United States Mint also produces a proof version for coin collectors. These coins are for the most part produced at the West Point mint in West Point, New York, and carry the West Point mint mark ("W") beneath the date.

Double Eagle
A Double Eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. Although the "eagle"-based nomenclature for gold U.S. coinage is often assumed to be merely slang, the "eagle," "half-eagle" and "quarter-eagle" were specifically given these names in the Act of Congress that originally authorized them ("An Act establishing a Mint, and regulating Coins of the United States", section 9, April 2, 1792). Likewise, the Double Eagle was specifically created as such by name ("An Act to authorize the Coinage of Gold Dollars and Double Eagles", title and section 1, March 3, 1849).

Coronet Head (1816-39)
Originally designed by then-Chief Engraver Scot after widespread criticism of the Classic Head design, the Coronet cents were extensively redesigned for 1839 by new Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht. Minor tweaks to the design continued through 1843, and the 1843 design prevailed through the end of mintage in 1857. Some 11 years after the large cent was discontinued, Mint Director Henry Linderman ordered the coinage of several large cents dated 1868. Fewer than a dozen of these unofficial issues, struck in both copper and nickel, are known to survive.

Indian Head
The Indian Head one cent coin was produced by the United States Mint from 1859 to 1909. It was designed by James Barton Longacre, the engraver at the Philadelphia Mint. The obverse of the coin shows "United States of America", the head of a Native American wearing a feather head dress, and the year of production. The word "Liberty" appears on the band of the head dress. The coin's reverse side shows "One Cent" within an oak wreath (a laurel wreath before 1860), with three arrows inserted under the ribbon that binds the two branches of the wreath. Between the ends of the branches is the shield of the United States.

Lincoln Wheat
The Wheat Penny or Lincoln Wheat Ears Cent was a United States one-cent coin produced from 1909 to 1958. Both the obverse and the reverse were designed by Victor David Brenner, a New York sculptor. Brenner's initials, V.D.B., were included on the reverse of the coin below the two stylized wheat stalks on a limited number of the coins until public controversy forced their removal. Brenner's initials were restored to the obverse, below Lincoln's shoulder, in 1918. In 1959, to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth, the wheat ears on the reverse of the coin were replaced with a rendering of the Lincoln Memorial by Frank Gasparro.

Liberty
The Liberty Head nickel, sometimes referred to as the "V" nickel due to its reverse design, was an American nickel five-cent piece. Officially, it was minted from 1883 to 1912; a few patterns were struck in 1881 and 1882, and five pieces were surreptitiously struck in 1913, which today number among America's most fabled numismatic rarities. In early 1883, the Liberty Head nickel was first struck for circulation. The first 5.4 million pieces struck contained the Roman numeral "V" on the reverse, but did not contain the word "CENTS". Con artists quickly noted this, as well as the fact that the coin was roughly the same size as a five-dollar gold coin, and began gold-plating the new nickels and attempting to pass them as gold pieces. [3] According to numismatic legend, one of the perpetrators of this fraud was a deaf-mute named Josh Tatum, whose name is allegedly the origin of the verb "joshing". Supposedly, Tatum was not convicted because, being unable to speak, he did not actually make any fraudulent verbal claims regarding the coins, but merely accepted the change handed to him by the storekeeper [4]. This tale, however, may be apocryphal [5]. Whatever the truth of the case, what is known is that the Mint decided to add the word "CENTS" to the reverse design of the Liberty Head nickel in the middle of the 1883 striking [6], and this change remained until the coin was discontinued

Bust Dollar
Bust Dollar A silver dollar coin issued by the United States government, equal to 100 cents. The Bust Dollar was minted 1795-1804. The Bust Dollar is named for the design of liberty on the obverse that was uniform with all lesser currencies of the United States at the time (non gold coins). The coin had two different reverses, the earlier being the old reverse from the Flowing Hair Dollar that preceded the Bust Dollar and the second being a heraldic eagle design that emulates the Great Seal of the United States. Both reverses and the obverse were designed by Robert Scot.

Morgan Dollar
The Morgan Dollar is a silver United States dollar coin. The dollars were minted from 1878–1904 and again for one more year in 1921. The Morgan Dollar is named after its designer, George T. Morgan, who designed the obverse and reverse of the coin. Morgan's monogram appears near Lady Liberty's neck on the obverse. The dollar was authorized by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. It has a silver content of .900, which is equivalent to 0.77344 troy ounces (or 24.057 grams) per coin. When the dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commercial use since the last Seated Liberty Dollar of 1873. The Trade Dollar was minted during this time period but was for trade in the orient. The dollar was continuously minted until 1904 when the supply of dollars in circulation was high and there was an absence of silver bullion. Then in 1918, the Pittman Act called for over 270 million coins to be destroyed for silver content. In 1921, the coinage of the Morgan Dollar resumed for that year and was replaced by the Peace Dollar commemorative that would become standard issue. Since 1921, many Morgan Dollars have been melted, mostly when silver prices escalate and they yield silver bullion. Caches of Morgan Dollars produced at the Carson City Mint were discovered and were sold to coin collectors by the federal government in the late 1960s. These dollars were uncirculated and are called GSAs (named after the General Services Administration) and come in holds that mimic the holds used for proof silver Eisenhower dollars.