Taking a Look at the New 1 Dollar Gold Coins

The United States Mint and the Federal Reserve are constantly updating our nation's currency, for a big reason to help protect our money against counterfeiters. But apart from this reason, currency is also updated to keep up with changing trends, to commemorate a special event or person and a variety of other reasons. This is why there has been a new line of gold $1 coins released, and these might be the most attractive coins to date.

Sure to be a highly sought-after collector's item in years to come, this new series of dollar coins started on February 15, 2007, with the first edition featuring the bust of our first president, George Washington. In May of 2007, a coin commemorating our second president, John Adams was also released. August 2007 would see a coin made for Thomas Jefferson, our third president, and our fourth president, James Madison was released in November 2007.

But just as thieves and criminals do with all new currency, they will find a way to counterfeit it. Of course, measures have been taken to help prevent counterfeiting of these new $1 gold coins. For starters, the year the coin was produced is printed in tiny letters around the edge of the coin; while this is not impossible for counterfeiters to reproduce, it is extremely difficult and time consuming, and it is only the first of many steps that have been taken.

Although you won't have to worry about whether or not vending machines will accept your new gold coins. Because all of the newly released $1 gold coins feature the same electromagnetic signature as the Susan B. Anthony $1 coin and the Sacagawea $1 coin, vending machines are already set up to accept them. Furthermore, these new coins aren't as susceptible to damage or normal wear and tear as ordinary dollar bills can be. This coupled with the fact that they will be so hard to counterfeit on a mass scale, is what makes many experts believe that these new $1 gold coins will indeed replace, at least in part, paper currency here in the very near future of our United States of America.

However, some citizens are still skeptical. Many are afraid of change, and believe if it isn't broke, you shouldn't fix it. But the fact of the matter is that our nation's current monetary system is broken, and it is in desperate need of some serious overhauls and reconsiderations.