Welcome to Wiser Now’s weekly email blast which reflects my eclectic interests and, I hope, yours. This week, just in time for the U.S. tax deadline, my focus is on bread, bucks, chicken feed, dough, loot, moola, peanuts, shekels, and wampum or more succinctly, Coins and Currency Month and beginning Sunday, National Coin Week. I set out to write about the colorful currency around the world as pictured here, but got sidetracked with songs, idioms, quotes, and quirky facts. Check out the Resources for what I didn’t have space for. There’s a lot of bang for your buck below.

I hope you find these offerings fun, and perhaps even useful, and welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com) And if you haven’t yet pressed the subscribe button so this newsletter doesn’t go to spam, please do so now.
The Quirky Quote
If it's a penny for your thoughts and you put in your two cents worth, then someone, somewhere is making a penny. ~ Steven Wright

The Quirky Facts
My first impulse in choosing the topic of currency was to write about colorful foreign currencies because U.S greenbacks (a nickname that stemmed from their controversial introduction during the Civil War) seemed rather dull precisely because they were basically a green cotton-linen combo throughout history. But then I started reading about quarters.

The decision to mint a new version of coins or series of coins rests with Congress, and by 1999, when the first of the 50 states and territories designs began to be produced, there had been 16 previous quarter changes including the one of George Washington’s profile on one side and an eagle with wings spread on the opposite side, which is still in production and has been since 1932. (A change in 1965 was just of the metal composition in order to make it less costly to produce.) Aside from the Bicentennial Commemorative quarter design produced in 1975-1976 (All dated 1776-1976) no major changes were made until those state quarters were introduced over a period of 10 years.
The success of the state quarters designs to inspire coin collecting, was perhaps an impetus behind the newest quarter series which has just begun in 2022: The American Women Quarters™ Program celebrates American women in a variety of fields. The first to be honored are:
  • Poet, memoirist, and Civil Rights activist Maya Angelou
  • Astronaut and physicist Dr. Sally Ride
  • Native American activist, and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller
  • Suffragist, author, educator, and businesswoman Nina Otero-Warren and
  • Chinese American actress Anna May Wong.
Through 2025, the U.S. Mint will release up to five new circulating quarters each year. On the reverse side will also be a new portrait of George Washington, now facing right, that was created for a new 1932 quarter design by sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser, but never used.

Now our coins are getting interesting!
The Quirky Observations
Well, there’s a lot of quirky stuff, but here are just a few facts:

The Philadelphia and Denver Mints make more than 10 billion circulating coins a year, which include pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Those two, plus the San Francisco Mint also make coins for collectors, which include half dollar and dollar coins that can be spent, but often aren’t.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) prints millions of bills per day. These two entities are also responsible for the disposal of worn out coins and bills. Coins generally have a lifespan of about 30 years and are melted down in their destruction, but bills’ lifespan vary by denomination from as little as 3.4 years for $5 and $10 bills to almost 9 years for $100 bills (also known as Benjamins for the portrait of Franklin on one side).
While most bills taken out of circulation are shredded and sent to landfills, it is illegal to destroy a bill yourself, but you can buy money shredded by the bureau in multiple forms and amounts including an acrylic ring, Christmas ornament, skull, pen, Cash Patch Doll, and in bags of many sizes.

There’s much more, but let’s switch to music. Money is a more common theme than I realized in popular songs and has been for many decades. Here are a dozen:
The Featured Product
In The New Yorker Book of Money Cartoons, Second Edition, (2012) “the cartoonist and cartoon editor of The New Yorker Robert Mankoff brings together over a hundred classic images that show the influence, power, and occasional insanity of money.” (Amazon description) I love New Yorker cartoons and have several other books edited by Robert Mankoff. Comedian Stephen Wright has said, “A fool and his money are soon partying.” This book will put you in a fun-loving mood.
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The Questions
  • Do you have any funny or interesting money experiences to share? Do so.
  • How do you feel about money? How important is it to your wellbeing?
  • Whether or not you are rich in money, what else do you have a wealth of – family and friends, love, gratitude . . .?
The Quiz - Money and Body Parts
There are more than 200 English language expressions related to currency. For example:

  • Money: time is ___, ___ doesn’t grow on trees, ___ talks, on the ___, in the ___, ___ to burn, take the ___ and run, put your ___ where your mouth is
  • Penny and pennies: ___ from heaven, ___ pincher, cost a pretty ___, turned up like a bad ___, ___-wise and pound foolish, in for a ___, in for a pound, plus not worth a red cent
  • Animals: pony up, squirrel away, cash cow, and poor as a church mouse
  • Food: gravy train, bring home the bacon, worth your salt, earning your bread and butter, and nest egg
  • Clothing: tighten your belt, money’s burning a hole in his pocket, rags to riches, get along on a shoe string
So here’s the quiz: Can you fill in the body part that fits with the following expressions?

1.   To pay through the _____
2.   Trying to keep his _____ above water
3.   Just take it at _____ value
4.   It cost an _____ and a _____
5.   Living from _____ to _____
6.   Sticky _____
7.   He’s making money _____ over ______
8.   ______ the bill

Choices: arm, face, fingers, fist, foot, hand (used twice), head, leg, mouth, nose
Answers to the quiz
1. nose  2. head  3. face  4. arm, leg  5. hand, mouth  6. fingers  7. hand, fist  
8. foot
My multiple goals are to amuse and inspire you, to share what I and people whom I admire are doing, to stimulate your curiosity and spur you to action. I hope you enjoyed this offering. You can access previous issues here. I welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com)
© 2022 Kathy Laurenhue | www.wisernow.com | All rights reserved.