More than 100 million $1 coins featuring the likeness of Thomas Jefferson were put into circulation in September, but few people plan to use them, or even know they exist.

Only a quarter of U.S. residents have actually seen a Jefferson coin, or either of the other two Presidential $1 coins that are part of a series the United States Mint started to released earlier this year, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll. Americans are also attached to their paper bills, another poll found, and prefer using them instead even if it costs the government more money.

It’s a far cry from the social and political upheaval caused by the introduction of the first coins more than 2,500 years ago, said Tom Figueira, professor of Classics at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

“Mental changes with the introduction of coins were profound,” Figueira said. “It was a whole new way of thinking about value.” Read Full Story

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