Gary shoved a quarter in my face. “FEEL THIS QUARTER SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH IT”
It did feel a bit thin. “It’s just old and worn,” I said.
“NO IT’S NOT OLD IT’S FROM 2011 IT’S REALLY SHINY.”
I flipped it over, and it looked like one of those commemorative state quarters, only I’d never heard of the state of Vicksburg.
Turns out it was one of the series of quarters circulated to commemorate the National military parks. Evidently they’ll make a quarter for any old reason nowadays. I checked my purse and found a Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Quarter. Next they’ll make a series of commemorative Dog Park quarters and have a 2024 Tails & Trails Dog Park, with a puppy and an E Pluribus Unum.
Gary looked the Vicksburg coin, saw the word “platinum” on one of the many Google images, and has decided we have a platinum coin worth $4.95. (He burbled out some logic behind how platinum is more expensive, so they use less, and that’s why it weighs less but costs more.)
At any rate, the mint doesn’t circulate platinum coins, instead charlatans coat coins with microscopic layers of platinum and gold, and jack up the price. Thank God Gary didn’t chance upon this monstrosity.
Ugh. It’s like having the technicolor money other countries have. Please!
3 responses to “TWIL: There are Some Fancy Quarters Out There”
You mean, instead of having all the notes look the same so you have to squint at each one to see the number, and run the risk of tipping (don’t get me started on that) someone $100 for carrying your bag from the taxi to the hotel desk, you wouldn’t like to have pretty coloured notes that, as well as being immediately identifiable, celebrate not only unique native flora and fauna, but also national heroes such as Kate Sheppard who got the vote for women in New Zealand ahead of the rest of the entire world, and Ernest Hillary who, with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first to climb Everest? Ok then.
Ok, all points lost – it’s Edmund, not Ernest. Sigh.
Big Dot – Big presidential faces were always there to keep things straight. If you say “Who is this guy?” then you don’t spend that bill. About twenty years ago they tweaked things so that the font on tens and 100s differed, and there are trashy gold and purple numbers on the backs now, but do you really tip $10 for ONE bag?