The national motto “In God We Trust” will move from the edge of new dollar coins honoring U.S. presidents to the front or back of the currency.
A provision in the $555 billion domestic spending bill for 2008, which President Bush signed into law on Dec. 26, calls for the change to take place “as soon as is practicable.” Greg Hernandez, a spokesman for the U.S. Mint, said the change will occur in 2009.
The Mint began producing presidential one-dollar coins in 2007, honoring George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the first four presidents. The words “In God We Trust” were placed along the edge of the coins, as instructed by Congress, Hernandez said.
“It wasn’t the Mint’s decision to move the motto (to the edge); it was according to law,” he said.
As a connoisseur of numismatic art(yes I am, in fact, that boring), the whole presidential series is an embarrassment. United States currency as Chuck-E-Cheese token or President’s Day promotional token(“Collect ‘Em All!). This change won’t help any.
Coin design seems to be vending-machine-friendly in design with extremely low bas-relief sculptures that tend to make the coins look like subway tokens…but none of us seem to want dollar coins anyway.