Why do U.S. Coins Only Feature Dead People?
Why do U.S. Coins Only Feature Dead People? Monday October 9, 2006 A common question among new coin collectors is, “How come only dead people appear on U.S. coins?” After all, this question makes a lot of sense to collectors who know that many other countries put the current king, queen or other head of state on their coins. But the U.S. is a little peculiar in this regard, and it stems from a combination of our anti-royalist founding as a nation, and ancient pro-democracy traditions. In fact, these traditions, insofar as coinage was concerned, were so deeply ingrained in our national psyche that it wasn’t until the twentieth century that we finally put a real person on a circulating coin! Previous to that, the only “person” on our coins was the personification of liberty or the quintessential “Indian.” Learn who got the honor of being the first real person on a U.S. circulating coin, and why. You’ll also find out
