The U.S. Mint's redesigned $1 coin goes into circulation today, seven years after the largely disappointing introduction of the Sacagawea dollar.
The new coin features George Washington, the first in a series of 38 former United States presidents who will be honored in rotation on the $1 coins. The mint is offering the series of $1 dollar coins, instead of the single likeness used in the past, in response to the success of the 50-state quarter program.
"Americans just love looking through their change for that new design every couple of months," said Edmund C. Moy, the director of the mint. Such coins would let Americans make more convenient transactions at parking meters, toll booths, vending machines, and subway kiosks, Mr. Moy said.
The Federal Reserve has placed an initial order for 300 million $1 coins from the mint, and will make at least three more orders this year. Though the mint made 1.3 billion Sacagawea coins in 2000, it only distributed about 500 million.
"In the coins that will actually get into people's hands, we're going to outstrip the Sacagawea," Mr. Moy predicted.
A spokeswoman for the Fed declined to specify future $1 coin orders.
Both the Sacagawea coin and the 11-sided Susan B. Anthony dollar failed to attract wide use when they were introduced in 2000 and 1979, respectively.
In addition, nearly three-quarters of Americans oppose replacing the paper dollar with a $1 coin, according to an Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs survey in December.
