The Bland-Allison Act of 1878 recently popped into my head and got me wondering about a couple things. While the act's main purpose was to resuscitated the silver dollar, I've always wondered why it didn't do more. Five years earlier the "Crime of 1873" was passed and eliminated the silver dollar. Also eliminated were the 3 cent silver coin, and the silver half dime. At the time, both of these coins were doing okay and were actually being hoarded. They were replaced by their nickel counterparts, namely the 3 cent nickel and the 5 cent nickel coin. Between 1873 and 1878, the 20 cent piece was introduced (which was a failure) as well as the trade Dollar (also a failure). 1878 would witness the demise of both coins and see the return of the silver dollar. Now here's my question: With the western silver mining states successfully lobbying for the return silver dollars, why didn't they also press for the return of the silver trime and half dime? Both of these coins could have easily made up the difference from the demise of the 20 cent piece, which was only introduced by the silver lobby to make use of more silver. I believe silver trimes and half dimes could have been struck and circulated well into the end of the 19th century if reintroduced, and could have provided better use of silver than an abundance of silver dollars sitting in bank vaults. 

There is apparently an "American born underground street artist" by the name of Rency who creates "pop art" on actual two dollar bills. Subjects include everyone from Martin Luther King, Elvis Presley, Donald Trump, and even Ronald McDonald. Copies of his work sell worldwide starting at $19.95 on up. As most of us are just sitting around the house, I'd figured I'd toss this out for everyone's opinion. Some collectors find anything added to a piece of U.S. currency an act of  disrespect, while other's might say at least he's doing something with the $2 bill, and it beats sitting them in bank vaults. As for myself, I find it all  "interesting," but there's a fine line to some of the subject matter.  PMG and Legacy probably wouldn't touch them, and whether they would attract new collectors is anybody's guess. In the end I guess art is in the eye of the beholder.