Depends upon the parameters of the question.

If you can have bills, the amount is unlimited as long as you don't have a dollar bill. In Canada, you can have an unlimited amount with coins, as long as they are all 'toonies.'

[Other countries, like Canada, with dollar coins can have an unlimited amount of these as well without being able to make change for a dollar, i.e. change a dollar for multiple coins whose sum total is worth a dollar.]

one quarter(<----isnt this supposed to be nickel?(no)), nine dimes, and four pennies. not 3 quarters, because if you take two quarters and five dimes you have a dollar.

so $1.19.

you could also make a combination of 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, which would still equal $1.19.

99 pennies

The questions should be greatest amount of CHANGE you can have. And the answer is $1.69. Being 3 quarters 9 dimes and 4 pennies

This is wrong^

You can use 2 quarters and 5 dimes to make a dollar.

It doesn't ask how much you could have without having a dollar in change... it asks how much you can have without making change for a dollar... one quarter, nine dimes and four pennies... 25 cents, 90 cents, and four cents. No matter how you mix them, you can't get one dollar. Therefore... if someone asked for change for a dollar, you would not be able to give him, not out of stinginess, but out of ability.

Yes, the simple answer is $1.19 in multiple variants, one not mentioned is with a $0.50 piece.

As of the date of this writing (Feb. 2012) If you count separate US Mint issued coin faces (not years, and not commemorative coins that weren't put in circulation) as types of coins (Susan B Anthony is different than a Silver Dollar), and count coins issued since the 20th century, and don't duplicate coins, you can come up to $190.09 worth (at face value, not collector or metal value) of different coins and still not have a way to break up a dollar smaller than a dollar.

What makes the big differences are the Presidential and First Spouse coins, being $1 and $10 respectively, and there's 20 Presidential coins and 16 First Spouse coins. There's also 4 different Sacajawea Dollar coins, 4 Silver Dollars, and the Susan B. Anthony Dollar.

Not included are the Eagle and Bullion coins since their inclusion might be slightly stretching the idea, since they were not normally circulated, although a full Legal Tender by the face amount (although generally worth much more than face as they are precious metal bullion.) If you were to include them at face value, you could add $346 to the total.

What is interesting, though, and makes a difference are the individual state quarters and nickles. As stated above, if you have quarter from each state, you would still have $12.50, and could easily make change for a dollar with 4 of those coins, so that doesn't actually help you. If you leave out the "separate coin faces" qualifier, then, with the dollar and higher coins, obviously you could have a absurdly high amount since you could just pile up all the coins over a dollar ever printed. So to keep it rational, putting it at separate coins still makes this a good exercise if ever asked. On the down side, though, what this qualifier does do is limit the number of dimes to 3, since there have only been 3 dime designs since the beginning of the 20th century. There are 7 penny designs, choose 4. You only get to chose one of the 2x $0.50 pieces, though, since having 2 of them gives you a dollar; unless you go the Quarter route, in which you get to chose any 3 of the 68 Quarter designs.

So, for the most impressive answer, you can easily say $536.09, and if you back it up with qualifiers and know how to reduce it when people say that the Bullion doesn't count, it can become a fun conversation piece for people that get in to technicalities.