American coin question....confused

[aussiedaisy]

Hi,
Sorry for the silly question but being Australian, I am a little confused with the coinage you have in america. Is there an easy way to remember what is what? Maybe I could write it somewhere to take with me. I don't really understand what is a quarter, dime, nickel etc. I assume a quarter is 25 cents? but what is a dime, nickel and whatever else there is? Hopefully someone can give me a tip on how to figure it out In australia, we have 5, 10, 20, 50 cent coins which are clearly written on the coin then 1 dollar and 2 dollar coins.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Hi,
Sorry for the silly question but being Australian, I am a little confused with the coinage you have in america. Is there an easy way to remember what is what? Maybe I could write it somewhere to take with me. I don't really understand what is a quarter, dime, nickel etc. I assume a quarter is 25 cents? but what is a dime, nickel and whatever else there is? Hopefully someone can give me a tip on how to figure it out In australia, we have 5, 10, 20, 50 cent coins which are clearly written on the coin then 1 dollar and 2 dollar coins.

Just about the same in the US, but we apply word lingo to the coins: penny is one cent, nickel is 5 cents, dime is 10 cents and a quarter is 25 cents and a half dollar is 50 cents. We do have a dollar coin but it doesn't show up that often, gets confused with the quarter too much. Hope this helps.

 

[MagicMe]

To help a little further, the penny (one cent) is a copper color, the dime (ten cents) is a silver color and the smallest of the coins, the nickel (5 cents) is also silver but is slightly larger than the dime and a bit thicker, the quarter (25 cents) again is a silver color and is larger than the nickel.

You should know that the penny and nickel state on the back of the coin (the side without the face) what they are worth (ie. one cent and five cents). The dime states that it is one dime so you would have to remember that one dime is 10 cents. The quarter is different in that it states that it is a quarter dollar (1/4 of a dollar is 25 cents) on the front of the coin (the face part). Bottom line is that if you look closely, they are identified in some way.

We do have a 50 cent piece (larger than the quarter) but it really isn't used that often because it is bulkier. As stated above, the dollar coin is rarely used as it is too often confused with the quarter.

Chances are you will deal mostly with four coins (the penny, nickel, dime and quarter).

Bottom line - the CM's can be very helpful so don't be afraid to ask them to explain if you're confused. AND have a great time!!!!

 

[Nanu57v]

I usually get the dollar coin from machines...never as change from a store or something.

Here's some pics:

The bottom row is the one you need to know: quarter (25 cents), dime (10 cents), nickel (5 cents), and penny (1 cent). The ones on the top are half dollar and dollar, but you won't see them.

To confuse you further, here is another dollar coin that is being phased out.

Here is a new dollar coin they are rolling out.

Oh, it gets worse... they have special quarters and nickels that have different states on them. I never realized how confusing it was until you try to explain it to someone else. Best to get room charge in WDW, and remember the different sizes...small copper is penny, small silver is dime, medium is nickel and large is quarter. And if you don't know, the CMs will give you back change.

 

[Esteri]

We do this to confuse tourists, naturally. But we make up for it with the folding money... To make things easier, all the folding money is the same size and color.

Have a great trip!