spindles

I have a US dollar coin on my desk here and I had no idea who the lady on the coin was.

Like this:


Her name is Spoiler: SUSAN B. ANTHONY

It got me thinking - do people who use currency regularly actually recognise the people on them? Coins in Oz only have the queen on them, so she is easy to recognise.

We do have different people on our bank notes. Of these, I only know Banjo Patterson on the $10 and the Queen is also on the $5 (not in the picture below)



I wonder what the criteria for ending up on currency is and whether the average person cares, as long as you can swap it for something you want?

So - who do you recognise?

and do you care who's on the coins and notes you spend?

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Xerxys

I know all the people on the US currency. I also knew that was Susan B Anthony. I am filled with useless info ... porn and money trivia are the bulk of which ...

Charlatan

I can name all the faces on Canadian money but I have no idea who the folks are on the Australian bills.

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telekinetic

I'm familiar with the people on all of the US currency in common circulation....Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Grant, Franklin; also Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Washington.

I'm sure I'd know the names of the people on old 50 cent and dollar pieces, (JFK is one of them, I think) as well as the 2 dollar bill, but I don't know them off hand, as I rarely handle them. I'm ashamed to admit that I *only* know of Susan B Anthony because of her appearance on the Susan B Anthony dollars...I ignorantyl assume she had something to do with women's rights movement. Also, my absolute favorite colloquialism for dollars ever is "Sacagaweas" used in a Simpsons episode, in reference to the gold-colored Sacagawea dollar coins.

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Pearl Trade

Yeah, the people on American currency are pretty easy to recognize, even to the most average citizen.

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telekinetic

I am super jealous of this currency, by the way:

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spindles

OK - I got off my backside and researched the Aussie ones:

$5 - Queen on one side and Parliament house on the other (this is also our smallest bank note). $1 and $2 were replaced with coins ages ago.

$10 - AB (Banjo) Patterson - poet/author. and Dame Mary Gilmore - journalist and trade union pioneer (according to wikipedia)
$20 - Mary Reiby (convict transported to Oz and later successful business woman - thanks google) - Reverend John Flynn - started the Royal Flying Doctor service
$50 - David Unaipon (native Australian preacher, author and inventor - again thanks google) and Edith Cowan -pioneer of women's and children's rights (google)
$100 - Dame Nellie Melba - opera singer and Sir John Monash - soldier, engineer and administrator (google)

not really good - 8 people, of which I knew what 3 of them were known for. So much for national pride

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Martian

From top to bottom are Wilfred Laurier, John A. McDonald, Queen Elizabeth II, William Lyon Mackenzie King, and Robert Borden. They're all important figures in the history of Canada -- all Canadians learn the names in school, but I'm not sure how many actually recognize or remember.

I thought that the names belonging to the faces were on the bills, which makes it kind of easy. I pulled a $20 out of my pocket to confirm this, but was unable to see it. As it turns out, the name is on every bill except the $20 -- it seems whoever designed our modern currency assumed that everyone would recognize the Queen.

Regarding what these people are famous for -- with one obvious exception they're all former Prime Ministers of varying degrees of importance. Wilfred Laurier was the first French PM, John A. McDonald was the first PM after the BNA Act, the Queen is the Queen, Mackenzie King was PM during the second world war and Robert Borden was PM during the first world war.

As with all of the commonwealth nations I think, the Queen is on all of our coins.

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spindles

Interesting that all the pictures on the notes are Prime Ministers. The US ones are all ex-presidents aren't they?

Politicians just aren't that important in Oz. I can name a bunch of modern ones, but start to struggle once I get pre-1978 (which is only about 6 guys). With a history of Prime Ministers that is only 110 years long it shouldn't be too hard, but I just don't think we (as a nation) care about them.

edit: 26 PMs to be exact:
http://www.australianpolitics.com/ex.../pm/list.shtml
and I could name from memory back to Gough Whitlam. I was 50/50 about McMahon, but prior to that, there are a few names I recognise but putting them in any kind of order - forget it.

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snowy

Benjamin Franklin, who is on our 100, was never a president, though he is considered a Founding Father of our country.

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spindles

I stand corrected. So, almost all ex-presidents then

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Ratman

Hamilton was not a president either.

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spindles

At least I've heard of Benjamin Franklin...

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Fremen

spindles, Hamilton was a pretty interesting historical figure in his own right.
Alexander Hamilton
Reading about what all he accomplished in his life, starting from when he was orphaned as a teen, to when he was killed in a duel by Aaron Burr, you realize we (most people) lead a pretty pedestrian existence nowadays.
----
About the Aussie and Canadian currency, I'm jealous.
They look so colorful and much more interesting than US currency.

Btw, for those of you that didn't know, AB "Banjo" Paterson was the poet that wrote "The Man From Snowy River" and "Clancy of the Overflow", both characters that were in the 80's movies "The Man From Snowy River" and its sequel.
If you follow this link, The Man from Snowy River (poem) it tells you the significance of why Banjo Paterson is on the Aussie's $10 bill.

Here's a quote from the link that I found pretty cool, as the poem is very long.
Here's a link to the poem.
The Man From Snowy River - The Poem

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who%27s_pi...on_US_currency

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Martian

Our currency got redesigned a few years ago to be counterfeit-proof. I don't know if it prevents counterfeiting, but it was made more colourful as a side effect.

The previous notes were multi-coloured, but not quite as vibrant:

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Sirensong12

If I say I knew that was Susan B Anthony would it tell my age?

Wow, 1980...I was a freshman in HS! (OK, that tells it!)

This was about eight years after we were assured that the US would go to the metric system.

I still save every wheat penny I find. I have a two dollar bill my grandpa gave me to "hang onto because they're not going to last," and a Kennedy dollar...oh and a buffalo nickel I found a billion years ago.

None of them worth much except sentimental value, which is better anyway.

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spindles

The queen gets a gig on 3 notes. Did they run out of historical figures, Martian?

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Martian

The Queen is technically our head of state. Yours too, I suppose.

The $2 and $1000 bills are no longer in circulation, so she's just down to the one now. $2 bills went out about 15 years ago I think, so the only ones left at this point are collecter's iterms, and the $1000 wasn't exactly common to begin with.

Once upon a time all of our currency featured the King and/or Queen. I'd guess the move towards historical figures from Canada's past is a symbolic thing, but I'm really not sure.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Baraka_Guru

She sure does appear on a lot of coins though!

Princes and princesses too! My guess was that it was the Canada Act 1982 that spurred the Prime Ministers being featured. But I was wrong. The currency featuring the Prime Ministers began circulation in 1969.

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spindles

Yes, she's our head of state and is on all our coins. I reckon the mint saved some money not having to make different shaped mouldings for the heads side of our coins

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little_tippler

Euro bank notes are all similar and have no faces. Euro coins vary from country to country but the portuguese ones have only a symbol and no faces on them.

I don't see the point of having people on them. Having some always excludes others.

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To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
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By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
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When we would utter to our thought our being.
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Charlatan

We also have Mr. Spock on the Canadian currency.

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The_Jazz

The mention of Alexander Hamilton requires this video, which might make more sense to those who didn't grow up in the States now:

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flat5

Too bad Aaron Burr is so maligned.

spindles

That makes it hard to toss a coin - which side is "heads" and which side "tails"?

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