100 Worst U.S. Coins of All Time

[James_OldeTowne]

I noticed that there's a brand new book out - 100 Greatest Modern Coins", or something like that. Now, I own a copy of "The 100 Greatest Coins", and I have to say it's practically the most useless coin book I own. In fact, it's being used right now to prop up one corner of a collapsed shelf .

 

So, just to be fair, give me some of your candidates for the 100 Worst U.S. Coins of All Time. By that, I don't mean the worst investments, most overrated, or anything like that, nor do I mean one particularly ugly damaged coin. Nor am I referring to a series (please don't simply say "shield nickels" ). I simply mean, THE WORST coins to own, the most unlikable, the most repulsive, the most revolting, disgusting or despicable you can think of. What coins would you NOT own under any circumstances?

 

I'll start... unfortunately, many of these are going to be repulsive to me because of being slabbed with something particularly disgusting, but here are some of my candidates:

 

1. World Trade Center "Death" coins

2. ICG State Quarters "signature series"

3. 1936 Bridgeport - simply as ugly as a coin can get

 

Yours?

[Razor2k]

Off the top of my head.....I would have to nominate the SBA dollar as one of the top candidates!

 

Give me a little time to think and I'm sure I'll come up with others!

[Walkerfan]

Off the top of my head.....I would have to nominate the SBA dollar as one of the top candidates!

 

Give me a little time to think and I'm sure I'll come up with others!

 

I agree......don't think this coin should have even been minted.

[cpm9ball]

1) The Satin Finish Mint Sets that ruined any chance of finding many decent business strikes.

 

2) The "Desegregation" $ Commem or whatever they call it. It really took an id-e-ut to come up with all those pairs of feet. (NOTE: I'm not a racist. I just think the design $uck$!)

 

3) The Native American $. Why couldn't they just leave the Sac alone?

 

4) The ATB quarters. They should have put the national parks on a circulating half dollar with a likeness of Teddy Roosevelt and put old Jack out to pasture.

 

5) Of course the biggest blunder of all was putting the 5 oz silver anti-personnel mines into the hands of a select group of dealers hoping that they would price them fairly.

 

Chris

[jtryka]

SBAs and of course the Shriver dollar!

[gmarguli]

The Sacajawea dollar. One of the most meaningless persons to ever be honored on a coin. If she weren't an Indian American Indian Native American she'd never have made it onto the coin.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Spaghetti hair Washington Quarters.

 

Matron Head Large Cents.

[grade it-migration]

Any bullion coin...

[DC Dawg]

Let's look at some of the bad state quarter designs:

 

1. Wyoming: "Is this a cud?"

2. Ohio's hanging astronaut.

3. Wisconsin: did someone come up with the idea over breakfast?

4. Montana: I just don't like images of dead animals on coins!

5. Any quarter with a state outline--BORING!

6. District of Columbia, not because I don't like Duke Ellington--I love his music--but because there were better ideas the city pols didn't think of that would have been more representative.

7. Jefferson on the "Return to Monticello" Nickel. The image just does not look correct compared with the Peele painting it is supposedly based on.

8. Benjamin Franklin "Founding Father" Silver Dollar obverse. Ben looks a bit ill.

9. 1995 Special Olympics World Games Silver Dollar obverse. I know Eunice Shriver was not a pretty woman, but this image make her look very masculine!

10. Thomas Jefferson 250th Anniversary Silver Dollar obverse. Jefferson looks a little thin and frail!

 

And that's not even looking at the classic commems!!!

 

Scott

 

[physics-fan3.14]

Anything made after 1964.

[cpm9ball]

Anything made after 1964.

 

Remind me never to accept an invitation for dinner at your house.

 

Chris

[okbustchaser]

1. Any coin created solely for the purpose of selling to collector/investors such as proofs, commems, bullion rounds, etc.

 

2. State/national park quarters. Although at least used for the purpose for which coins are actually created see Number 1.

 

3. ANY dollar coin. Through lack of use the American public has stated over and over again that they do not want one. Quit trying to force one down their collective throat.

 

3-a Especially the Sac and now the presidential dollars. No design-- regardless of artistic quality--can overcome that horrible baby poop yellow color.

 

3-b The Morgan dollar. Despite being one of the most collected series around the obverse is quite possibly the ugliest design ever released by the US mint on a regular issue coin.

[johnny9434]

1) the sba dollar

2) the shriver dollar

3) some of the barber coinage ( just an opinion )

[James_OldeTowne]

I'll add some more:

 

1921-S Buffalo nickel - seriously, have you ever seen a "NICE" one? They are always ugly, with planchet problems, and terribly expensive if actually "nice".

 

1804 dollar - hardly even a real coin anyway, and WAAAY overhyped and horrendously overvalued

 

1922 "plain" cent - By definition, these are always poorly detailed, and much too expensive for what they are, which is simply a late die-state coin - from a series that isn't even collected by die state!!

[RWB]

Iowa half

BTW half

WC half

Lincoln memorial cent

Anthony dollar

Ike dollar

USO dollar

 

lThe list could go on, and on....

[RWB]

Iowa half

BTW half

WC half

Lincoln memorial cent

Anthony dollar

Ike dollar

USO dollar

 

The list could go on, and on....

[BillJones]

This has got to be worst design for the entire commemorative series, both the new and the old. When I saw this coin for the first time I thought that the obverse was defective. Then I understood the symbolism. And then I saw the reverse. How could it have taken two “artists” to design THIS REVERSE?

 

 

One runner up was the Disabled Veterans commemorative silver dollar. The Little Rock Arkansas silver dollar which showed nothing but legs and feet was pretty bad, but then the mint repeated the mistake with the same thing on the Veterians coin.

 

Sorry no picture, but if you want see what I mean, I'll take and post them.

[James_OldeTowne]

Iowa half

BTW half

WC half

Lincoln memorial cent

Anthony dollar

Ike dollar

USO dollar

 

The list could go on, and on....

Especially if you double-post .

[bsshog40]

I have to agree with the SBA Dollar. That's a mean lookin hag on the front!

[123cents]

I think the 1913 Liberty Nickel is a very repulsive coin though worth mega bucks.

[jesbroken]

While I DO NOT think the Barber coinage ugly, I feel it is so Mediterranean looking as to make me think it is of a foreign design and more like an adaptation of a Roman caesar or the like. JMO. The reverse not so.

Jim

[Jeffrey Cardona]

The 1987 Constituition Silver Dollar Commemorative...the reverse looks like a friggin group of zombies on the attack!!

[coinman1794]

Having some of the Finest Known Business Strike Ikes on earth in my inventory, I really shouldn't come down too hard on that series... ...so I will say the SBA dollar instead. A few more would be:

 

 

Entire Presidential dollar series (bus tokens)

 

Spaghetti Hair Washington quarters 1995-2010

 

Most Modern commems, 1982-Present

 

 

 

[Walkerfan]

You guys are gonna laugh and probably hurl ridicule at me but I can take it, so here goes: Even though it is the most popular and most collected US coin, I still don't care, b/c I've NEVER liked the design of the MORGAN dollar. I just don't like it. Esp., the obverse (the design makes miss liberty's head look fat! .) I even like Barbers more than Morgans. I have a few of them, b/c they ARE so popular and hence worth money but I have NEVER found them to be very attractive coins. The only thing that I like about them is their big size, since I don't care for little coins. I collect only halves & dollars and sometimes quarters. Sorry... but that' s how I feel!

[Tradedollarnut]

1922 "plain" cent - By definition, these are always poorly detailed, and much too expensive for what they are, which is simply a late die-state coin - from a series that isn't even collected by die state!!

 

 

I don't think you're correct on two counts here, although it's not my series and I may be wrong. The true 1922 plain is a grease filled die [or something similar] and is not poorly detailed - nor is it late die state. Yes, some are that way, but not the ones that bring the big bucks.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Die Pair 2 is the big bucks pair, and the obverse is, indeed, a late die state. The dies clashed, rendering the reverse die useless, while the obverse was polished and repaired, in the process obliterating the mint mark. The reverse had a new die, and VOILA! 1922 plains.

 

The other die pairs were grease filled.

[mtnstyne]

1. Any coin created solely for the purpose of selling to collector/investors such as proofs, commems, bullion rounds, etc.

 

THIS!

[WoodenJefferson]

The 100W Ike light bulb. I do like the reverse.

[michael]

any coin in a third party graded holder ms/proof 70

 

and also to a lesser extent proof/ms 69

[pendragon1998]

 

Nice cause, ugly design: wow, boots...

 

 

TIE: Wow, more boots...

 

 

 

Stupidest design: braille...that you're not supposed to touch.

 

 

 

...because when you think about the army, the first thing you think about are poor grunts lugging around bags of cement...

 

 

They couldn't manage to make an "Army at peacetime" coin that had actual emotional pull, like the image below. I'm so sick of the modern mint.

 

(Pictured: U.S. Army Lt. Richard K. Jones shares his rations with a pair of young Japanese children found hiding in an abandoned tomb.)