Westward Journey nickels.

Designed to simultaneously celebrate the Lewis and Clark Expedition and annoy coin collectors, the US Mint announced today the production of newly-designed 5-cent pieces, or what you and I would call "nickels." The front stays the same, with Mr. Jefferson looking solemn, but the back shows Uncle Sam and a nameless Indian shaking hands, under a crossed axe and golf club, the words "The Louisiana Purchase," and the date of 1803. Later this fall, another nickel design will come out, with Lewis & Clark themselves aboard a longboat. (So, if you're a coin collector, you can't just get one nickel with each mint mark to represent the year's coinage, you'll need one of each combination of mint marks and the three reverses.) Presumably additional designs will come out in 2005, and in 2006, Mr. Jefferson and Monticello will return to the nickel, although not necessarily the same depictions as are currently on the coin.

And, thanks to the success of the state quarter program, they're considering a program showing portaits of U.S. presidents on the dollar coin. The theory being that this will increase the popularity of the Golden Dollar coin, as the presidential portrait coins would be the same size and color as the Sacagawea dollars. And for trivia buffs, yes, Grover Cleveland would appear twice in the series, due to his non-consecutive terms.