No King’s Day is set for March 28, 2026. My wife and I will be at one. Last year, there were millions of protestors in over 130 cities across the US. Hopefully, we will surpass those numbers this year. We must act together to end this full-speed ahead toward  dictatorship by Donald Trump.

A little known act recently until Time magazine ran the story on its front cover (March 20, 2026), was that of Trump’s order to have his face, leaning body with clenched fists on his White House office desk photographed. This image is to be used on 24-karat gold coin; the back side will feature a bald eagle. There will be two more coins sought to be minted: a $1 dollar gold coin and another collectible gold piece with a face value of $250. This approval was passed over by the US Mint in their meeting last February and is now on the agenda again in April. These coins must get US Mint approval before the can be minted. This has been so since the Thayer Amendment of 1866 (35 U.S. Code 5714) which reads “…only deceased individuals my appear on US currency and securities.”

Of course, he wants them to be in gold. He thinks he has the reputed Midas touch that everything he touches turns to gold. It does not. He has filed for 6 corporate bankruptcies in years past. He probably will disregard the law as he does in most other decisions and will not wait to get approval from the US Mint. He is the King.

Birth of Coinage in the US

In 1350, King Pedro I de Castilla had minted the first peso, even before there was a unified Spain. Later in the 16^th Century, a Bohemian Count, Hieronymus Schlick, created his own silver coin. He called it a Joachimsthaler, later shortened to thaler.  Then, it was Americanized in the US as the dollar. The idea of a silver coin spread to similar thalers being minted in Burgundy, France, Rome, Germany, and among the Dutch who called it a leeuwendaalder. This leeuwendaaler was used in the 13 colonies which became the USA. But first place for trade was always the Spanish peso or ‘piece of eight.’ This peso, peso duro, peso fuerte, real de ocho, and just a real became the world’s first currency in the 16^th century..  

The US Dollar

It was not until April 2, 1792, however, that the US Congress created the US dollar as the standard unit of money. Believe it or not, it was the Spanish silver peso called the Real back when, that was used prior to that time after the American revolution succeeded. The US Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1792. Gold coins were minted in several denominations: $2.50, $5, and $10. Silver coins were minted in quarters, half dollars, and dollars. For the longest, and still today among the elderly, the quarter was referred to as the 2-bits. The 2-bits referred to as the two pieces of the 8 piece silver peso. Cents and half cents were minted from copper.

 Over time, some of these coins went out of use. In 2026, the nickel is made from only 25% a nickel alloy. The penny is actually made from only 2.5% cooper. It may come to pass soon that the penny will become extinct as may the paper currency of the $2 bill. I usually give a $2 bill to those who buy my books to use as a book marker.