Hello Jim,
I have recently read your article on nickels. It was very interesting! I have been thinking about the $1.00 coins as a weapon against currency revaluation, here is my theory. If they revalue the U.S. dollar–say they take a 0 zero off. (You take a $10 dollar bill to the bank, and they’ll give you one hot off the press $1.00 bill.) If the Feds do not recall the coins, their face value is still $1.00. Am I missing the big picture? Need Help – Kevin in Las Vegas
JWR Replies: In terms of their compactness per dollar you are right, but in terms of their base metal content, the $1 coins are a poor choice. The base metal value of a $1 Sacagawea or Presidential “gold” dollar is only about 5 cents. As I described in my nickels article (which, BTW, was recently re-posted at the LewRockewell.com web site) stockpiling nickels will protect you from both mass inflation and from a possible 10-to-1 or 100-to-1 currency exchange. The base metal value of a US nickel (five cent piece) is presently about $0.04935–nearly its face value. So, say for example that we get into inflationary times, with 20% to 30% annual consumer price inflation. If the spot price of nickel were to then double or triple, a market would soon develop for people willing to pay more for rolls of nickels than their face value. But it would take tremendous inflation before a similar market would develop for “clad” (post-1964 silver-flashed copper token) dimes, quarters or the new “genuine gold tone” dollar coins.
For the details on the base and precious metal value of each type of US coin (including the long-discontinued silver issues), see www.Coinflation.com