Wilson Coin Bucks Inflation

Woodrow Wilson, New Jersey governor and 28th President of the United States, will be featured on a commemorative coin.

At the height of the Great Depression, Woodrow Wilson’s portrait adorned the $100,000 bill, the largest denomination in U.S. history. On October 20, Wilson will enjoy a numismatic encore with the debut of a new presidential coin—worth $1.

It’s the first appearance on a coin for Wilson, the former president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey and 28th President of the United States. The coin is one in a series honoring presidents that began in 2007. Wilson’s wives, Ellen, who died in 1914 while Wilson was in the White House, and Edith, also will be honored with $10 gold coins to be issued in the fall as part of a First Spouse series.

Don’t look for the coins in general circulation, says U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White. Since 2012, new presidential dollars have been marketed solely to collectors. The coins are made of copper (88.5 percent), zinc (6 percent), manganese (3.5 percent) and nickel (2 percent). Between 9 million and 10 million Wilson dollars will be minted.

“There is no numismatic value to these [presidential] coins; they are worth $1 each,” says Tom Deaux, operator of the Coin Store in Evesham. “They are not likely to appreciate because there are so many of them.” The $10 coins honoring Wilson’s spouses, on the other hand, are 24-karat collectibles valued at $840.

As for those $100,000 bills, some 42,000 were printed in 1934 and 1935. “The notes were withdrawn from circulation and destroyed in 1969, when the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve made the decision to discontinue producing notes larger than the $100 denomination,” says Lisa Lynam of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

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