Wow, and we still have one cent coins up here that cost more to mint than they are worth. Progress!
The only point I can see for such tiny denominations (now that even gumball machines cost a quarter) is for dealing with sales tax. Even then I'd rather they round to the nearest ten cents, even if it means always rounding up.
At that scale, it's largely symbolic, so I'm just as happy to hand over a ten-cent coin.
My favourite coin (that I've came across so far) is Papua New Guinea's one kina coin. I wish I'd kept more than just the two that I brought back from my visit there a few years ago.
I like the two-tone design of the €1 & €2 coins too, it'd have been hard to come up with a design that wasn't too bland while trying to be representative of 15 different countries.
I see the abandonment of smaller-denomination coins as a sort of resetting of the pricing point of inflation. When these coins are dropped, people accept a general shift of prices up-ward, giving the state more lee-way to expand the money supply. On the other hand, an embarrassing struggle to keep them in circulation is a reminder to all of what the state has done to the money.
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The only point I can see for such tiny denominations (now that even gumball machines cost a quarter) is for dealing with sales tax. Even then I'd rather they round to the nearest ten cents, even if it means always rounding up.
(an echidna would have been cool)
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My favourite coin (that I've came across so far) is Papua New Guinea's one kina coin. I wish I'd kept more than just the two that I brought back from my visit there a few years ago.
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I'm moderately fond of the two metal 2&Euro; coin. It doesn't have any interesting creatures on it, though.
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I'll have to start collecting five-cent coins now for my grandchildren...
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