Sacagawea, the wife of a French trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau, lived during the early part of the 19th century. Lewis and Clark chose Charbonneau to help their expedition only because Sacagawea, a Native American, was able to speak the language of a Native American tribe they expected to encounter. She is well known for being the translator for one of the most famous journeys in American history.
Beginning in 2000, this courageous woman has been featured on a gold-colored American dollar coin. WHen these coins were first minted, the hope was that they would ultimately replace the paper one dollar bill. However, the Sacagawea dollar coins, for a variety of reasons, did not circulate as widely as the government had hoped. They were no longer minted after 2003, but another edition of the coin has been approved by Congress and is tentatively expected to be minted starting in 2009.
There are about one billion Sacagawea one dollar coins currently in circulation; another 250 million remain in the US reserve. These coins are used by United States Post Offices to give change in their automated stamp machines. The coins are also used in slot machines and in transit systems.
Real Sacagawea dollar coins with "edge lettering" are available with coin traders. These coins are inscribed with phrases like "Darwin Rules","In God We Lust" and "Eat Spurious Tune". According to the coin dealers, these letterings were not marked by US Mint, but were inscribed later. These off-color spoof coins are expected to attract people whose hobby is to trade dollar coins.
There are Sacagawea coin enthusiasts who have even dedicated message boards and blogs to the elusive coin. Some message board posters are quite dismayed that vending machines do not accept the coins and seem to have no plans to do so. These enthusiasts trade Sacagawea dollars in order to have every year minted. Some are even dedicated to putting into circulation as many of them as possible, deliberately acquiring them from the USPS vending machines and spending them.
With this golden coin being reissued in 2009, it's possible that the average consumer will become interested in it again and will start using it more. Many people feel that paper dollars aren't worth much because they quickly fade and tear after little use. However, you can still find coins, such as pennies, in circulation as long as seventy years after they were minted. This longevity shows how durable a coin can be. The new Sacagawea coin may be just what is needed to turn around our out-of-date system of paper money.