The United States resumed minting commemorative coins in 1982 for the 250th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Modern commemoratives tend to be restricted to events, buildings and personalities of national or international importance. While silver dollars remain the traditional denomination, low-value circulating commemoratives have gained in popularity.
Famous quotes containing the words modern, united, states and/or coins:
“To the modern spirit nothing is, or can be rightly known, except relatively and under conditions.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity—an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS—our inferior one varies with the place.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“No Time, spoke the clocks, no God, rang the bells,
I drew the white sheet over the islands
And the coins on my eyelids sang like shells.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)