Susan B. Anthony dollar wasn't 13-sided

Not only was the original "polygonal" shape of the Susan B. Anthony dollar reduced to a picture of a polygon on a round reeded-edged coin (perhaps due to pressure from vending machine manufacturers) -- the original coin design didn't even call for a 13-sided polygon!

I just counted the sides of the polygon on one of my 1979 dollar coins. It has 11 of them.

You're right. By a strange coincidence, I have an SBA dollar with me, and it only has eleven "sides". Why would they choose eleven?

Lots of possible explanations:

-Eleven sides for the Biblical eleven brothers of Joseph

-To express direct opposition to the metric system, it was felt that 11 sides would drive the French crazy.

-Eleven sides for the original eleven colonies (excluding Rhode Island, which is too small to be seen on most maps anyway, and excluding New York, which -- like California -- isn't really part of the USA)

-It was a typo, they meant "elven" as in having to do with elves.

-Because Susan B. Anthony's wedding dress was made from 11 yards of material. It was originally supposed to be made from the traditional whole nine yards of material, but her dressmaker got carried away.

Don't forget there are eleven lamp posts on the back of the U.S. $10 bill. (Preceding information courtesy of the Useless Information page.)

Yes, there are 11 lamp posts on the back of a ten-dollar bill, but this is because the U.S. Treasury Building had 11 lamp-posts in front of it in real life. (At least it did in the 1910s, when the engraving for the back of the $10 was made). I doubt the number of lamp posts in front of the Treasury Building influenced the design of the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin.

But note the following:

1) The Canadian "Loony" dollar coin is also based on an 11-sided polygon. And, unlike the U.S. version, the Canucks did it right: The Loony really does have an 11-edged rim, not just a picture of one stamped onto a round coin.

2) There were 11 states in the Confederacy during the Civil War. Perhaps the designer of the Susan B. Anthony dollar was from one of the former Confederate States of America.

Yankees may have thought that there were 11, but no self-respecting Confederate would have admited to fewer than 13, as represented by the number of stars on the Confederate flag and the number of state delegations seated in the legislature.

Yeah, yeah, Kentucky and Missouri were considered "honorary" members of the Confederacy even though they never seceded from the Union.

Then again, many of the people who feel this way also believe that slavery had nothing whatsoever to do with the southern states' decision to secede from the Union in the first place.

Hey Tracer, why are you trolling? Uncle Cecil will not take the bait and others who have been here a while burnt that "T"shirt a long time ago.

You think I'm kidding about that?

The following text comes from http://www.icss.com/usflag/confederate.stars.and.bars.html :

"The crimes committed by these [modern hate] groups under the stolen banner of the conderacy only exacerbate the lies which link the seccesion to slavery interests when, from a Southerner's view, the cause was state's rights."

[[You think I'm kidding about that?
The following text comes from http://www.icss.com/usflag/confederate.stars.and.bars.html :

"The crimes committed by these [modern hate] groups under the stolen banner of the conderacy only exacerbate the lies which link the seccesion to slavery interests when, from a Southerner's view, the cause was state's rights."]] Tracer


The only "state's right" they were concerned about, of course, was the right to continue owning other human beings as slaves.

As Gus noted, we've been through this before, and the bottom line is that it is nothing more than self-serving malarky to insist that there was some noble vision of states' rights and constitutional structure that provoked the South into rebellion. The war was about slavery, and the right of the southern states to secede in order to maintain the slave system.

How the @!!#* did a question about the number of sides on a coin turn into a (one-sided so far) debate about the causes of the Civil War!? Open a topic in Great Debates if you want to discuss these issues.

------------------
"I wept because I had no shoes, then I met a man with no feet. So I took his shoes" - Dave Barry

[tracer points deensively at whitetho's second message in this thread]

He started it!

[tracer takes a look at the message he posted immediately before whitetho's message]

Um ... okay, *I* started it, then.

[tracer snivels and tries to act pathetic]

I was only tryin' to say that counting Kentucky and Missouri as members of the Confederacy is about as absurd as any of the most outlandish Confederate claims made over the years -- including the one about slavery having nothing to do with secession.

That's all! Honest! Cross my heart and hope to spit!

[tracer spits]

D'OH!

tracer, I do think you should start a thread based on this topic in Great Debates. Or, maybe I'll finally get it together and start the thread myself, although I want to check some references first. Hint: I'm going to disagree with you.

------------------
"I wept because I had no shoes, then I met a man with no feet. So I took his shoes" - Dave Barry

[bwo]

Since nitpicking is a Canadian specialty, I should point out that the Canadian dollar coin's familiar name is spelled "loonie".

About 5 years ago, a two dollar coin was introduced, and immediately gained the horrible moniker: "twonie". Of the several alternatives suggested, my personal favorite was: "One US Dollar".

Perhaps the US should forget the SBA debacle and issue a two dollar coin. With old Jefferson rarely seeing daylight, the issue of yanking the equivalent paper would be moot.

[rjk]

Bwo spells it "twonie", but I've always seen it spelled "toonie". (Yes, that makes one of each be called "loonie toonie", a fairly widespread opinion about our government.)

But what I really wanted to mention is that a toonie, even though it is round, has ten alternating sections of milled and plain edge around the rim.

Old Canadian nickels were polygonal too, but I don't have one at hand, and don't know how many sides they had or when they were discontinued.


------------------
Bob the Random Expert
"If we don't have the answer, we'll make one up."

[tracer]

And now, the new Sacajaweia [sp?] dollar coin the U.S. is gonna introduce will be the SAME size as the Susan B. Anthony dollar was, AND round, AND with a reeded edge just like the SBA dollar had. Aside from the brass color, we're gonna be repeating every mistage we ever made with the Susan B. coin in the first place.

Almost makes you think they have mysogynists working in the mint.

[cgleason]

The Sacagawea dollar coin will be the same size as the SBA (due to pressure from the coin-operated machine industry), but it's supposed to have a *smooth* edge that is *raised* somehow, so that it will be easier to distinguish from the quarter.

See http://www.usmint.gov for more info.

(I'm really bored today!)

[C K Dexter Haven]

I dunno... Britain can do it, and no one confuses the pound coin with any other coin.

[Aaron]

This is in response to the original question that spawned this topic; what is a thirteen sided polygon called.

A thirteen sided polygon is commonly (although not very common) known as a Tridecagon. Although Cecil affectionately named it a Triskaidekagon, based on the word triskaidekaphobia, was quite close to the true name, which is Triskaidecagon.

___
Aaron.

[Kyberneticist]

bwo

About 5 years ago, a two dollar coin was introduced, and immediately gained the horrible moniker: "twonie". Of the several alternatives suggested, my personal favorite was: "One US Dollar".

My personal favourite was "doubloonie" or "dubloonie".

I was kind of hoping people would return to the original pun and start using "dubloons" as the currency of choice in Canada.

[Jois]

I'm just hoping that I'm not going to read in the Washington Post that we paid some consulting firm $11,769,999.00 to determine the perfect coin for the American public and still ended up with this.

------------------
Oh, I'm gonna keep using these #%@&* codes 'til I get 'em right.

[jab1]

I still haven't seen any of those Sackies.

------------------
>< DARWIN >
____L___L__

[Irishman]

Me neither, but I have run across a couple of Susan B's. I've also come up with a handful of wheat pennies in the last 5 years. *smile*

[The Ryan]

Originally posted by tracer:
You think I'm kidding about that?

The following text comes from http://www.icss.com/usflag/confedera....and.bars.html :

"The crimes committed by these [modern hate] groups under the stolen banner of the conderacy only exacerbate the lies which link the seccesion to slavery interests when, from a Southerner's view, the cause was state's rights."

Just how did you go from "States' rights was the primary issue" to "Slavery had nothing to do with it"?

[The Ryan]

BTW, is anyone going to post a link to Cecil's column?

[cfc]

Back to the original question: Could it be that someone made the Susie B eleven sided, just because they thought nobody ever used 11 before and wanted to be different?

[jab1]

Did you know they were still minting Suzies last year? I rode the Metrolink train Saturday and the ticket machine gave me five Suzies in cahnge. All of them were dated 1999.

------------------
When all else fails, ask Cecil.

[jab1]

At last! A link to the column in question: www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_252.html

------------------
When all else fails, ask Cecil.

[Arnold Winkelried]

And Kennedy Half Dollars are still being minted this year.

[KimKatt]

Originally posted by rjk:
Bwo spells it "twonie", but I've always seen it spelled "toonie".

My understanding of it is: spelled twonie, pronounced toonie. And a loonie is spelled loonie.

[Michael DiNapoli]

Originally posted by tracer:
Not only was the original "polygonal" shape of the Susan B. Anthony dollar reduced to a picture of a polygon on a round reeded-edged coin (perhaps due to pressure from vending machine manufacturers) -- the original coin design didn't even call for a 13-sided polygon!

I just counted the sides of the polygon on one of my 1979 dollar coins. It has 11 of them.

[Greg Charles]

Did you know they were still minting Suzies last year? I rode the Metrolink train Saturday and the ticket machine gave me five Suzies in cahnge. All of them were dated 1999.

Are you sure you're reading that right? As far as I know, all SBAs were minted in 1979. I'm practically positive that there haven't been any new ones since then.

[samclem]

greg said

Are you sure you're reading that right? As far as I know, all SBAs were minted in 1979. I'm practically positive that there haven't been any new ones since then.

SBAs were minted in 1979, 1980, 1981 (but the 81s were never put into circulation). And they did make 1999s late last year.

[Irishman]

Why? I presume by late last year the plan was in works to release the new Sacky. If so, why mint new Susie's when they know they are just going to be replaced soon anyway? The whole point was the Susie's weren't effective, so why make new ones that nobody wants to use?

[Jois]

Irishman - that's called. "Government in action."

I have seen a SBA in ages, I didn't know I just go to Washington DC and get them from the Metro.

You just never know.

------------------
Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley

[samclem]

jab1 said

Did you know they were still minting Suzies last year? I rode the Metrolink train Saturday and the ticket machine gave me five Suzies in cahnge. All of them were dated 1999.

jois said

I have seen a SBA in ages, I didn't know I just go to Washington DC and get them from the Metro.

jab posts from LA, I believe. But the main thrust of the message is true. In many urban areas with metro rail systems, the SBA has finally found a home. Those of us who live outside of a major metro area might live forever without seeing a SBA.

[OxyMoron]

Actually, you don't have to live by a subway to get SBA's; what you really need is a post office. The stamp machines give SBA's as change.

According to the Mint (www.usmint.gov), sackies were given the same size and weight in order to minimize retrofitting. Take a look at the photographs, they really do look beautiful. N.b. the smooth, flat, raised edge.

[jab1]

Originally posted by samclem:
jab posts from LA, I believe.

I certainly do. (Check my profile.) Here's the link to the Southern California Metrolink: www.metrolinktrains.com (It doesn't say anything about Suzies.)

I still have four Suzies in my pocket and each one of them most definitely has "1999" below Ms. Anthony's profile.

------------------
When all else fails, ask Cecil.

[jab1]

Originally posted by samclem:
jab posts from LA, I believe.

I certainly do. (Check my profile.) Here's the link to the Southern California Metrolink: www.metrolinktrains.com (It doesn't say anything about Suzies.)

I still have four Suzies in my pocket and each one of them most definitely has "1999" below Ms. Anthony's profile.

------------------
When all else fails, ask Cecil.

[SavageNarce]

Loonie/Loony, Tooney/Twonie/Toonie, Lets call the whole thing off!

Since these are nicknames, I doubt that any case can really be made for ANY spelling to be "correct".

Although the Royal Canadian Mint http://www.rcmint.ca/products/en/Mai...s&Section_Id=2
admits the popular use of the term "loonie", they insist the correct names are "one dollar coin" and "two dollar coin".

But I never figured that the Mint was especially accepting of nicknames. They still insist that the "penny", "nickel", "dime" and "quarter" are the "one cent coin", "five cent coin", "ten cent coin" and "twenty-five cent coin" respectively.

Kinda takes some of the romance out of things, though: "Buddy, can you spare a ten cent coin" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

------------------
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity!

[Irishman]

Sho nuff, I've got 2 Suzies - a '79 and a '99.

Also have 2 two dollar bills, a '71 Liberty dollar coin (birth year), a bicentennial Liberty dollar coin, 5 wheat pennies, 2 Canadian pennies ('68, '93), 2 eagle-back quarters ('65, '72), and a 1971 Republic of Guatamala 5 Centavo coin (looks like a small dime). And a Soviet 10 Ruble note.

The two dollar bills, the 10 Ruble note, and one of the Liberty dollars were special gifts, but the other coins were all obtained from circulation. Still don't know how I ended up with the Guatamalan 5 Centavo coin.

I'm not an avid collector of coins. Just picked a few interesting ones I'd encountered. Thought I'd stock a couple old eagle backs and see what happens when I'm 80.