Ask!: Chief currency
By Mike Rudeen, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published April 30, 2008 at 6 p.m.
John Adams is pictured on the second presidential dollar coin issued by the U.S. Mint.
A Mr. Q. Adams wrote that he got the James Madison and James Monroe dollar coins in change the other day and wondered what happened to George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
He's right - those coins are being issued in the order in which the presidents served, in a program modeled after the popular 50-states quarter series, as reader Bill pointed out. The versions honoring Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison were released last year; coins for Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren are being issued this year, with the second Adams' piece scheduled for May 15.
The coins have several unusual features: Some of the standard U.S. coin language is printed on the edge to leave room for larger images, and the word liberty on other coins is represented by a big rendition of the Statue of Liberty on the reverse.
For a wealth of information, go to www.usmint.gov/$1coin.
Try this challenge:
In New Mexico, along I-25 near Las Vegas and Santa Fe, there are brown signs that say "The original U.S. 66" or something like that. Didn't Route 66 always go through Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Tucumcari and Albuquerque, a route now followed by I-40? - John, Lakewood
Know the answer? Post it on the Ask! blog, blogs.RockyMountainNews.com/denver/ask, or e-mail rudeenm@RockyMountainNews.com. While you're on the blog, check out the other questions on the Ask! home page, or post one of your own by clicking on the link to the left on the page.
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