Listen to Audio Version Steve: A marvelous thing about writing about coins is that you can immerse yourself in a specific area, figure out why a collector could be into it, and then share it with readers. I’ve never really been too jazzed about half dimes: just too small for my taste. But when Coin World’s managing editor William T. Gibbs suggested the.

In the modern era, Americans have become accustomed to a monetary system with only four circulating coins. But the familiar penny, nickel, dime, and quarter actually represent a historic low in denominational diversity.