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Colored Coins

Make a pile of change easier to sort.
  (+27, -2)(+27, -2)(+27, -2)
(+27, -2)
  [vote for,
against]

I work at a fast-food chain and often find myself making a mess of the register, tossing nickels in with the dimes and quarters in with the nickels, and so on. Since nickels, dimes, and quarters are all the same color (and oh so shiny-pretty), it's not really noticeable if I'm just glancing in.

I propose that coins be minted with some sort of coating or perhaps one of those "alloys" I've heard so much about, so each tiny denomination would have its own (fun) color, making sorting your change a much quicker task.

nedroid, Jan 17 2002

(?) Beware of "Bargains" http://www.money.or...meralert200002.html
Scroll to File #622 [thumbwax, Jan 17 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Beautiful Coins http://www.sunfeico.com/color_coins.htm
Most - not all pics are 'watermarked' - admirable [thumbwax, Jan 17 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

1792 Mint Act - US http://landru.i-lin...ues/coinageact.html
And be it further enacted... [thumbwax, Jan 17 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Giants http://www.teachwit...ileo-inventors.html
Could well have been Galileo [angel, Jan 17 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) Canadian Currency http://www3.sympati...3howling/Money.html
Note the bi-coloured $2 coin at the bottom. (This is the first time I've seen the new $10... nice.) [waugsqueke, Feb 22 2002]

[link]






       Not bad, I don't think, but is change really that hard to sort? They're already different sizes and sometimes ridged. My solution would be to get a better job.
snarfyguy, Jan 17 2002
  

       Ah. Wow.   

       I had no idea about foreign currency; I've only ever been exposed to American.   

       Well, it was worth a shot! Thanks!
nedroid, Jan 17 2002
  

       Er, I guess I didn't make that very clear, did I?   

       It's not that I'm not *aware* of foreign currencies, I mean, I do know they exist (though I am surprised that there are so many). I meant that I wasn't thinking about them in relation to my idea.   

       But still, that's a lot of money.
nedroid, Jan 17 2002
  

       Croissant from me to you, [nedroid], for inspiring this cool discussion.
bristolz, Jan 17 2002
  

       And the line "STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS" was a bit of a backhanded swipe at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, Newtons main competition in inventing calculus. Leibnitz was a short man who stooped. Croissant because I like the idea of rainbow coloured currency, especially the coins.
dare99, Jan 17 2002
  

       There must be plenty of reasons why coins aren't made of some suitably tough, durable plastic, but I can't think of any. Plastic coins could be more easily made in various colours than could metal ones.
angel, Jan 17 2002
  

       UB: it's not just americans who seem to want to deal strictly in USD... the number of countries I have been to where the street hawkers spot a caucasian and tell me 'you pay in american dollar', it just encourages me to bargain more ruthlessly (and not in USD).   

       Disney world used to give out different coloured commemerative coins in their parades, they were very pretty.
madradish, Jan 17 2002
  

       Just thinking. Since there's a bit of variety in coin shapes anyway, as Rods mentioned, couldn't we go a bit further and make something useful of this? How about click-together coins which attach to each other like Lego? Your change need never again be loose and jingling, and it'd be much easier to stack during a cashing-up process in a shop or suchlike. Plus you could build stuff.
Guy Fox, Jan 17 2002
  

       Unions wouldn't like people building things, and the Mint would have to import labo(u)r...
nedroid, this croissant sure beats the leftovers from work, aye?
thumbwax, Jan 17 2002
  

       dare, you are actually wrong with that story. Newton was paying tribute to someone else (a giant of science) but for the life of me, I cannot remember who. foul day at the office. I will get back to you later with the full monty. unless someone does it for me.   

       afterthought -Galileo?
po, Jan 17 2002
  

       Someone did (linky).
angel, Jan 17 2002
  

       <money trivia>[Rods] - and you know why 50p and 20p are seven-sided, with (as you say) slightly curved sides? It's because regular polygons with odd numbers of sides can be made (if you make the sides slightly curved) to have constant diameters. Very important for vending machines.</money trivia>
hippo, Jan 17 2002
  

       Varying lengths of Aussie dollars, that's fascinating. I know one of the reasons behind Canada's coloured paper money is to assist the visually impaired.   

       I've always had a certain fondness for CDN $5 blue.   

       You know, this was one of the strangest things I had to deal with when I first moved to the US. I had to start paying attention to the numbers on the bills. I was notorious for handing over a 10 when a 20 was needed (and I'll never know how many times it's happened the other way around).   

       Not an original idea, but a croissant for advancing the cause of multi-chromatic currency.
waugsqueke, Jan 17 2002
  

       And seven was the lowest number of sides that would work correctly in the vending machines of the day (my father was a vending machine service engineer at the time, and was involved in some of the tests).
angel, Jan 17 2002
  

       I thought "standing on the shoulders of giants" was a quote from Jurassic Park.   

       (j/k).
beauxeault, Jan 17 2002
  

       Guy Fox - I like your idea for lego-like coins - please post it as a separate idea.

If the US had made the $1 coin with the center one color and the outer edge a different color (like some Mexican coins, and others) it would have been a bigger success. And it makes the coins much more beautiful.

I am disappointed that the US has what must be the ugliest currency in the world.
quarterbaker, Jan 17 2002
  

       As requested, cubie. 'Connecting Coins' now posted.
Guy Fox, Jan 17 2002
  

       oooooooooooooooo colourful.......
technobadger, Jan 17 2002
  

       I thought "Standing on the shoulder (sic) of giants" was a quote from Oasis. (j/k)
snarfyguy, Jan 18 2002
  

       ...so after they started 'milling' coins the scam was to get a sackful of gold coins and shake them up vigorously. The coins would look a bit scratched but were still usable. You could then spend the coins and keep the gold dust which collected at the bottom of the sack.</aside>
hippo, Jan 18 2002
  

       //You know, this was one of the strangest things I had to deal with when I first moved to the US. I had to start paying attention to the numbers on the bills. I was notorious for handing over a 10 when a 20 was needed (and I'll never know how many times it's happened the other way around).//   

       I used to have that problem for quite awhile after the newfangled 10's came out, and I was born in this country.
supercat, Jan 20 2002
  

       Use titanium, and anodize for different colors.
JakePatterson, Jan 20 2002
  

       [UB] And aren't you glad I closed thaat "<aside>" tag for you? - otherwise no one would have ever been able to get back on topic...
hippo, Jan 21 2002
  

       Now *you've* left one open!
angel, Jan 21 2002
  

       Arriving very late on this, but two observations.   

       1) Newton was actually responsible for sorting out the UK Royal Mint and sending counterfeiters to, er, clink. I suspect that's the reason why his quotation is on the 2 pound coins.   

       2) The Euro coins come in three styles. The 1, 2 and 5 cent coins are copper-coloured and are obviously worthless; the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins are gold-ish and worth more; the 1 and 2 euro coins are large and bicolour, with the 1 euro coin being gold outside / silver inside, and the 2 euro coin being the opposite. (Well, not actually gold and silver, but those colours.)   

       There's a lot of nickel in the coins, which annoys people with allergies; this is mostly because Finland (I believe), one of the Euro zone countries, produces a lot of nickel.
sam, Feb 22 2002
  

       Late as well, but, when they made Canadian money different colors for the visually impaired (and secretly I think they did it so the Americans would laugh at our 'monopoly' money) they neglected those of us who are color blind. So the multi-colored coins would do me no good.   

       We should do away with a bunch of the small stuff, nickels and pennies, and just round up or down accordingly.
rbl, Feb 22 2002
  

       That one's already half-baked; see "Get rid of the penny", above.
angel, Feb 22 2002
  
      
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