»Numismatic feminism

I stopped in at the bank to pick up some of the new fifties th' other day. The sprightly young branch manager directed me to a window, where a grandmotherly woman addressed me: "Slide the card, dearie," and, when she learned my stats from the computer, she called me by my first name. I asked for a couple of the new bills, and she was excited: she unwrapped a package, and began doling them out. I then pressed my luck, and asked if she had any $2 bills. She wandered to each of the other tellers, asking if any had some Jeffersons. She returned, disappointed. "But I'm sure they'll be glad if you give them dollar coins," she suggested. "How old are the children?" And then we decided that I'd give the kids (which kids? She was assuming some bouncing nieces and nephews, no doubt) some Sacagaweas and a few Susan B.s. " ... though the Anthony dollar is not widely used, many operations such as mass transit systems and vendors currently use it." She and I chatted some more, and she asked me why I didn't keep more money in short-term CDs. "It's liquid, but it earns interest!" she told me energetically. I wished her a good day while the bank manager glared -- during our exchange, the queue for the tellers had grown four-deep.

My next-door neighbour (also grandmotherly) gave me a dollar coin when I met her, in 1979. Why are the only two pieces of U.S. currency to feature a woman relegated to short production runs and a usefulness only in mass-transit vending machines? I suggest we put Harriet Tubman on the quarter-dollar. Washington's played.