Steve: Which coin has “Rizz?”
When the Oxford University Press announced its word of the year for 2023 I’ll admit that it was one that was new to me: Rizz. UrbanDictionary.com gives some colorful examples of the word in application which you can review at your leisure, but explains more broadly:
"Rizz actually comes from the word charisma, where in southern Baltimore they've started to shorten it, to "rizzma" (the noun replacing charisma) and to "rizz" (the action of showing charisma), through twitch live streamer Kai Cenat's editor, a resident of south Baltimore, he started putting rizz in the compilation thumbnails and the word was adopted all over the United States."
Smithsonian Magazine defines it as “style, charm or attractiveness” or “the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner.” Apparently, it also beat “Swiftie” (shorthand for fans of Taylor Swift).
It made me think of a word I came across when reviewing Heritage Auctions’ offering of selections from the Bob Simpson collection at the 2024 Florida United Numismatists convention. The “Bickford” 1874-dated $10 pattern coins with the word UBIQUE on the reverse. It is Latin for everywhere and was part of inventor Dana Bickford’s proposal for an international coin that would be accepted for a stated value across national borders. Bickford came across the idea in Europe where he would lose money exchanging currency between countries and encounter other inconveniences. The UBIQUE inscription would suggest that the coin was good everywhere, or that it was ubiquitous.
The proposed coin was supposed to be a $10 gold Eagle weighing 16.72 grams of .900 fine gold – so it would have 15.046 grams or .48375 troy ounces of pure gold. Six cartouches circle the reverse, conveniently providing the value of the coin in U.S. dollars ($10), British pounds (£2.1.1), German marks (41.99), Danish kroner (37.31), Dutch gulden (20.73), and French francs (51.81). While fluctuations in the value of gold and silver meant that the exchange rates would have varied, and one coin would not be able to serve varied nations. Unthwarted, Bickford continued promoting this idea for several decades.
Image: An 1874-dated pattern was part of a proposal for an international coinage by inventor Dana Bickford where one coin could be used across multiple countries. The word UBIQUE is centered on the reverse, implying that it would be ubiquitous. Coin images courtesy Heritage Auctions (ha.com).
Dennis, is there a word on a U.S. coin that surprised you?
Dennis: This is the first time I’ve heard “charisma” abbreviated to “rizz.” It reminds me of the “new options for shortened names” meme (Jennifer = Niffer; Elizabeth = Zabe; Jonathan = Onath; Christopher = Stop, etc.). I don’t think I’ll ever be able to work “rizz” into everyday conversation, but who knows? English is a language on the move, and we have to stay nimble.
As for Dana Bickford, I love that he thought Americans would appreciate “Ubiqua” on our coins a thousand-plus years after people stopped speaking Latin! Seems optimistic. But maybe he did understand his audience. . . . A $10 gold piece would never be an uneducated day-laborer’s coin (a factory worker had to toil for a week to earn that much in 1875). But doctors, lawyers, bankers, and others who learned Latin in private school, and who would be more likely to handle gold coins, would appreciate the inscription.
Latin isn’t completely dead. Today we still have “E Pluribus Unum,” and that’s on every U.S. coin from the cent to the dollar.
I like the strange spellings, typographical errors, and odd language on old coins and tokens—not technically “U.S.” coins, because they predate the Revolution, but “early American.” I’m thinking of the Massachusetts Willow, Oak, and Pine Tree coinage that spelled the colony as “Masathusets” or “Masatusets.” The 1737-dated Higley coppers that show a broad axe saying, “J Cut My Way Through.” The 1776-dated Continental Currency pieces with the typo “Curency.” I remember reading the front sections of my first Red Book and being fascinated by these oddities!
Image: U.S. Colonial, Massachusetts, silver Pine Tree Shilling, 1652 | Obverse: Pine tree at center, IN MASATHVSETS around; Reverse: 1652 / XQQ at center NEW ENGLAND.AN.DOM around. ANA #1984.64.1
As someone who copyedits compulsively, the 1793 AMERI. large cent is frustrating to me. Why didn’t the designer tighten the letter spacing just a wee little bit, so they didn’t have to abbreviate UNITED STATES OF AMERICA as UNITED STATES OF AMERI.?
Then there are “misspellings” caused by die-related errors in early U.S. coins, like the 1796 LIHERTY large cent, and the 1796 LIKERTY and 1800 LIBEKTY half dimes. They’re fun, they stand out in a crowd, and they educate us on the challenges of early U.S. minting technology.
Fast-forward about 220 years, and I’m happily surprised to see so much diversity in language on modern U.S. coins, particularly the American Women quarters of 2022–2025. These coins are innovative in their use of the Cherokee syllabary (on the Wilma Mankiller quarter), Spanish (for Nina Otero-Warren, Jovita Idar, and Celia Cruz), Hawaiian (for Edith Kanakaʻole), and Osage orthography (for Maria Tallchief).
Dr. Lawrence Brown, past chairman of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and a collector of modern coins, has spoken about the importance of representation in coin designs. The United States Mint’s inclusive, innovative use of language shows Americans—and the world—that we’re truly a nation of one, made up of many. E Pluribus Unum, and kudos for that.
Be on the lookout for another installment of Collecting Friends next month or subscribe here and never miss a post! In the meantime, explore beautiful coins from the ANA's Edward C. Rochette Money Museum Virtual Exhibits.
About the Collecting Friends Blog
Hello! And welcome to the ANA’s blog series, “Collecting Friends.”
We decided to approach this much like a conversation between friends. One of us starts with a topic, then the other responds. Simple as that. Along those lines, we’ll keep the tone conversational as much as possible.
We both write about coins professionally, and will keep our relative style guides in our writing. For Dennis, Publisher at Whitman Publishing, that means capitalizing “Proof” and italicizing Red Book and never saying anything bad about Ken Bressett, who’s awesome anyway.
For Steve, who’s written with Coin World for 15 years, it means Winged Liberty Head dime instead of “Mercury” dime, and similar nuances and oddities. And, it means writing A Guide Book of United States Coins (better known as the “Red Book”).
Both of us started collecting when we were little, introduced to coins by a chance encounter with an old coin that sparked our curiosity. One of Steve’s interests is coin valuation, and he gravitates towards the intersection of art and coins. Dennis enjoys medals and world coins, and studying modern U.S. coins in the context of older series, what came before.
We met in 2012 at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia at an event hosted by the Austrian Mint where there was both a Ben Franklin and a Betsy Ross impersonator. We’ve become great friends in the past decade. We even were appointed together to sit on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee starting in 2016, but Steve resigned soon after he was appointed to accept a full-time job at the Treasury Department while Dennis was re-appointed in 2020.
We taught a course together on numismatic publishing and writing a few years ago at the Summer Seminar, and while life has gotten in the way of us teaching another class, we jumped at our friend Caleb’s suggestion that we write a column. We hope you enjoy it!
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About the American Numismatic Association
The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect coins and related items. The Association serves collectors, the general public, and academic communities with an interest in numismatics.
The ANA helps all people discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of educational programs including its museum, library, publications, conventions and numismatic seminars.