Stamped on the front of the new $1 presidential coin, George Washington appears to be grimacing, as if his famously uncomfortable dentures still are bothering him, 200-odd years later.

Whether his slightly scowling visage will hurt popularity of the latest gold-toned offering from the U.S. Mint is unknown, but the American people haven't been hospitable to recent $1 coins. Witness the massive indifference accorded the unlamented Susan B. Anthony silver dollar of 1979 and the similar dearth of enthusiasm that greeted the more attractive, dark-gold Sacagawea piece in 2000.

One way to battle such malaise, the Mint figures, is to flood the market, which is why it has banged out 300 million initial copies of George, appropriately the first in a decade-long series of four a year that will eventually include all the dead presidents. A better way might be to withdraw the $1 bill.

Although John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison will complete the 2007 series, it's hard to say how the public will react to the coin representing a presidential unknown like William Henry Harrison, who caught pneumonia and lasted 31 days in office. Or how about the un-elected Millard Fillmore, who inhabited the White House from 1850 to 1853?

Perhaps the issuance of the presidential coins will promote greater interest in American history, which is always worth more attention. If so, the dead presidents in our pockets will have served their country once more.