# US Currency Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339 "2008-09-19T17:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nirav98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8dc957/32.png) [@nirav98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nirav98)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/1 "2008-09-19T17:39:06Z")
I was wondering why we have a 20-dollar bill and a 25-cent coin? Why not a 25-dollar bill or a 20-cent coin? All the other denominations match up, but not this one. Is there a reason or is it just random? Thanks, Nirav Arlington, VA ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/2 "2008-09-19T17:42:20Z")
The $20 bill matches the old (and fairly rare) Double-Eagle, which had about one OZ of gold. The quarter is 2 “bits” where a bit was 1/8th of an old Spanish dollar. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/3 "2008-09-19T17:55:42Z")
Thomas Jefferson proposed a system using a 20 cent coin. As noted, the quarter was consistent with old Spanish currency. Spanish money was a defacto standard in the new world, and, in fact continued to circulate on par with the US dollar until the mid 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/4 "2008-09-19T17:59:15Z")
While I suppose you could make a case for a 25$ bill, it’s not really neccessary, and the 25-cent peice is actually rather nicer for making change than 2-cent peices would be. Just a little more efficient. Wish they’d bring back the half-dollar, though. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/5 "2008-09-19T18:05:57Z")
A twenty cent piece WAS issued briefly, BTW, in 1875. The story in back of it is rather strange, involving the political influence of silver interests: > **[Twenty-cent piece (United States coin)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-cent_piece_(United_States_coin))** > > The American twenty-cent piece is a coin struck from 1875 to 1878, but only for collectors in the final two years. Proposed by Nevada Senator John P. Jones, it proved a failure due to confusion with the quarter, to which it was close in both size and value. > In 1874, the newly elected Jones began pressing for a twenty-cent piece, which he stated would alleviate the shortage of small change in the Far West. The bill passed Congress, and Mint Director Henry Linderman ordered pattern coins struc... What the article doesn’t mention and is a story I’ve seen in other sources, is that it was partially precipitated by a shortage of pennies and nickels in the west. Many things cost a dime. People would pay with a quarter, and get shortchanged by being handed back a dime or a 12.5 cent Spanish bit (technically after these were no longer legal tender, but they circulated in the west). Because of those same silver interests, western mints were not permitted to mint non-silver coins, hence the silver 20 cent piece that would theoretically alleviate the situation by allowing a dime change. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/6 "2008-09-19T18:37:15Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > the 25-cent peice is actually rather nicer for making change than 2-cent peices would be. But not much different that a 20-cent piece would be, which I think is more of the point, particularly as it’s the more common division of a larger unit in other countries. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/7 "2008-09-19T18:50:37Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > But not much different that a 20-cent piece would be, which I think is more of the point, particularly as it’s the more common division of a larger unit in other countries. Ah, but _was_ it 200+ years ago? I think not. The US started making “quarters” in 1796 and has made them ever since. This was inline with the Spanish 8 Real/4 Real/2 Real system. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/8 "2008-09-19T18:52:06Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Wish they’d bring back the half-dollar, though. They never did away with it. Just go to your local bank and ask for them. Virtually no one likes them, so they don’t circulate. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/9 "2008-09-19T18:55:33Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Ah, but _was_ it 200+ years ago? I think not. > > The US started making “quarters” in 1796 and has made them ever since. This was inline with the Spanish 8 Real/4 Real/2 Real system. I don’t know how many decimal systems were in use at that point. Perhaps it’s one of these cases where the early adopter of a system gets left with traces of older ones, while once the system proves popular, everybody else manages to avoid the same situation. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/10 "2008-09-19T19:02:35Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I don’t know how many decimal systems were in use at that point. . AFAIK, the USA was the one of the first. wiki sez we were 2nd (1792), behind Russia (1710). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-currency-question/464339/11 "2008-09-19T20:45:01Z")
At the time the U.S. adopted the dollar, the principal crown-size coin in circulation in the Americas, both Anglo- and Hispano-, was the Spanish “milled dollar” valued at eight reals. This was literally halved and quartered (semicircles and 90-degree wedges) to produce four-bit and two-bit “coins”, “bit” being synonymous with the Spanish _real_ (“ray-ahl”, not “reel”). Hence when the U.S. issued the larger subdivisions of the dollar as coins, a four-bit (50-cent) and two-bit (25-cent) piece made sense. The early coinage included: [ul][li]Copper half cents and cents[/li][li]Silver half dimes, dimes, quarter ahd half dollars, and dollars[/li][li]Gold quarter eagles ($2.50), half eagles ($5), and eagles ($10). The double eagle ($20) came along some years later.[/ul][/li] In 1857, the coinage was reformed. The half cent was dropped, the old large cent (about quarter size) shrunk to the present “penny” size, and the silver 3-cents and half dime were discontinued, with copper-nickel replacements (the origin of our present 5-cent “nickel”). Other denominations that got at least trial issues, some for many years, included copper/bronze two-cents, silver 20-cents, and gold coins worth $1, $3, and $4. All gold coinage was discontinued in 1933.