At the Subcommittee on Historic Preservation & Coinage hearings held on May 31, 1978, the vice president and director of materials research of Gould Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Milton Selker, made a bid for titanium to be used in the small size dollar coin. Titanium is a strong, low-density, highly corrosion-resistant metal. It is used to alloy aircraft metals because of it’s low weight, strength, and high-temperature stability. Gould Inc. produced dollar size samples in titanium, along with samples in nickel for comparison. Utilizing the samples, Dr. Selker was able to show that titanium had a nicer, more eye-pleasing surface appearance, was lighter, and was a plausible choice for the small size dollar. It was also pointed out by Dr. Selker that titanium was non-toxic, unlike nickel which was shown in studies to cause cancer in rats. Besides titanium and nickel, Gould Inc. subsequently produced patterns in five other metals, including silver, copper, brass, iron, and aluminum. They were produced with four obverse and two reverse designs, all having a plain edge. Each type has a rarity rating of R-7 (4-12 pieces known). The piece pictured here is listed as P-5425 in Andrew W. Pollock III's book, United States Patterns and Related Issues.