Art by Linda Parker
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July 2003 Book Review Continued 2- Part One
 Special *July 2003* Early Addition Of Our Book Review:Indepth Book Review On 2000 North American Coins & Prices:
A Guide To U.S., Canadian and Mexican Coins....
 Collectible Treasures Antique and CollectiblesBook Review July 2003
Interesting Information On Coin Collecting as noted in the 2000
North American Coins & Prices: A Guide To U.S., Canadian and
Mexican Coins.
Hamilton also wanted a bimetallic ratio of 15-to 1, in contrast to
the Board of Treasury's 15.6-to1 ratio. Hamilton said his ratio was
closer to Great Britain's, which would be important for trade, and
Holland's, which would be important for repaying loans from that
country.
His report suggested the striking of a gold $10, gold dollar; silver
dollar; silver tenth, or disme; and copper one-hundredth and half-
hundredth. Hamilton felt the last of these, the half cent, was
necessary because it would enable merchants to lower their
prices, which would help the poor.
Congress passed the act establishing the U.S. Mint in April
1792. It reinstated several coin denominations left out by
Hamilton and dropped his gold dollar. In gold, the act authorized
a $10 coin, or "eagle"; a $5 coin, or "half eagle"; and a $2.50 coin,
or "quarter eagle". In silver were to be a dollar, half dollar, quarter
dollar, disme, and half disme, and in copper a cent and half cent.
Though it established a sound system of U.S. coinage, the act
failed to address the problem of foreign coins in circulation. It
was amended in February 1793 to cancel their legal-tender status
within three years of the Mint's opening.
COINAGE BEGINS
Coinage totals at first mint were understandably low. Skilled
coiners, assayers and others who could handle mint's daily
operations were in short supply in the United States. Also in
want were adaquate equipment and supplies of metal for coinage.
Much of the former had to be built or imported. Much of the latter
was also imported or salvaged from various domestic sources,
including previously struck tokens and coins, and scrap metal.
Coinage began in earnest in 1793 with the striking of half cents
and cents at the new mint located at Seventh Street between
Market and Arch streets in Philadelphia. Silver coinage followed
in 1794, with half dimes, half dollars and dollars. Gold coinage
did not begin until 1795 with minting of the first $5 and $10 coins.
Silver dimes and quarters and gold $2.50 coins did not appear
until 1796.
Under the bimetallic system of coinage by which gold and silver
served as equal representations of the unit of value, much of the
success and failure of the nation's coinage to enter and remain in circulation revolved around the supply and valuation of precious
metals. One need only to gain a cursory knowledge of such
movements to understand what role precious metals played in development of U.S. coinage. That role, to a large extent,
determined why some coins today are rare and why some
passed down from generation to generation are still plentifull
and of lower value to collectors.
From the Mint's beginning, slight miscalculations in the proper
weight for the silver dollar and a proper bimetallic ratio led gold
and silver to dis-appear from circulation. The U.S. silver dollar
traded at par with Spanish and Mexican dollars, but because
the U.S. coin was lighter, it was doomed to export.
A depositor at first mint could make a profit at the mint's expense
by sending the coins to the West Indies. There they could be
traded at par for the heavier Spanish or Mexican eight reales,
which were then shipped back to the United States for recoinage.
As a result, few early silver dollars entered domestic circulation;
most failed to escape the melting pots.
Gold fared no better. Calculations of the bimetallic ratio by which
silver traded for gold on the world market were also askew at first
and were always subject to fluctuations. Gold coins either
disappeared quickly after minting or never entered circulation,
languishing in bank vaults. These problems led President
Jefferson to halt coinage of the gold $10 and silver dollar.
The gold $10 reappeared in 1838 at a new, lower-weight standard.
The silver dollar, not coined for circulation since 1803, returned in
1836 with limited mintage. Full-scale coinage waited until 1840.
Nor was the coining of copper an easy matter for the first mint.
Severe shortages of the metal led the Mint to explore various
avenues of obtaining sufficient supplies for striking cents and
half cents.
Witness, for example, the half-cent issues of 1795 and 1797
struck over privately issued tokens of the New York firm of Talbot,
Allum & Lee because of a shortage of copper for the federal issue.
Rising copper prices and continued shortages forced the Mint to
lower the cent's weight from 208 grains to 168 grains in 1795.
By that same year Congress had begun to investigate the Mint. Complaints about high costs and low production had been raised. Suggestions that a contract coinage might be more suitable for
the new nation surfaced again, despite bad experiences with
previous attempts.
The Mint survived this and another investigation, but the problems
of fluctuating metal supplies continued to plaque the nation. In
1798, because of the coinage shortage, the legal-tender status of
foreign coins was restored. Several more extensions were given
during the 1800's, ending with the withdrawal of legal-tender status
for Spanish coins in 1857.
In the 1830's great influxes of silver from foreign mints raised the
value of gold in relation to silver, which made it necessary for the
Mint to lower the numbers of gold coins in 1834. It also led to the
melting of great numbers of gold of the old specifications.
By the 1850's discovery of gold in California had again made silver
the dearer metal. All silver quickly disappeared from circulation.
Congress reacted in 1853 by lowering the weight of the silver half
dime, dime, quarter, and half dollar, hoping to keep silver in
circulation. A new gold coin of $20 value was introduced to absorb
a great amount of the gold from Western mines.
Not long after, silver was discovered in Nevada. By the mid-1870's
the various mines that made up what was known as the Comstock
Lode (after its colorful early proprietor, Henry P. Comstock) had hit
the mother lode. Large supplies of silver from the Comstock,
combined with European demonetization, caused a severe drop in
its value, which continued through the close of the 19th century.
It was believed that the introduction of a heavier, 420-grain silver
dollar in 1873, known as the Trade dollar, would create a market
for much of the Comstock silver, bolster its price, and at the
same time wrest control from Great Britian of lucrative trade with
the Orient. It didn't. Large numbers of Trade dollars eventually
flooded back into the United States, where they were, ironically,
accepted only at a discount to the lesser-weight Morgan dollars.
The latter had been introduced in 1878 as a panacea to the
severe economic problems following the Civil War. Those who
proudly carried the banner of free silver contended that by taking
the rich output of the Comstock mines and turning it into silver
dollars, a cheaper, more plentiful form of money would become
available. In its wake, they believed, would be a much needed
economic recovery.
The Free Silver Movement gained its greatest support during
the late 19th century when William Jennings Bryan attempted
to gain the White House on a plank largely based on
restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of the standard
412.5-grain silver dollar. He failed. Silver failed. Shortly
thereafter the United States officially adopted a gold standard.
Silver continued to be a primary coinage metal until 1964,
when rising prices led the Mint to remove it from the dime
and quarter. Mintage of the silver dollar had ended in 1935.
The half dollar continued to be coined through 1969 with a
40-percent-silver composition. It, too, was then debased.
Gold coinage ended in 1933 and exists today only in
commemorative issues and American Eagle bullion coins
with fictive face values. A clad composition of copper and
nickel is now the primary coinage metal. Even the cent is
no longer all copper; a copper-coated zinc composition
has been used since 1982.
Precious-metal supplies were also linked to the opening
of additional mints, which served the parent facility in
Philadelphia. The impact of gold discoveries in the 1820's
in the southern Appalachian Mountains was directly tied to
the construction of branch mints in Dahlonega, Ga., and
Charlotte, N.C., in 1838. These new mints struck only gold
coins. New Orleans also became the site of a branch mint
in the same year as Dahlonega and Charlotte. It took in
some of the outflow of gold from Southern mines, but also
struck silver coins.
Discovery of gold in California in the late 1840's created a
gold rush, and from it sprang a great western migration.
Private issues of gold coinage often of debased quality,
were prevalent, and the cost of shipping the metal eastward
for coinage at Philadelphia was high. A call for an official
branch mint was soon heard and heeded in 1852 with the
authorization of the San Francisco Mint, which began
taking deposits in 1854.
The discovery of silver in the Comstock Lode led to yet
another mint. Located only a short distance via Virginia
& Truckee Railroad from the fabulous Comstock Lode,
the Carson City Mint began receiving bullion in early
1870. It struck only silver coins during its tenure.
Denver, also located in a mineral-rich region, became the
site of an assay office in 1863 when the government
purchased the Clark, Gruber & Co. private mint. It became
a U.S. branch mint in 1906. In addition to the Denver and
Philadelphia mints, San Francisco and a newly upgraded
facility in West Point, N.Y., continue to serve as U.S.
mints, but the others have left behind a rich legacy.
The collector taking a more extended journey into the
history of U.S. coinage can find plenty of interesting tales--
some as tall as the day is long and others factually based--
all of which are part of the rich and ever-changing panoply
of U.S. coinage history. There are stories of denominations
that failed, great discoveries, great rarities, great collectors,
and, for those with an artistic bent, a rich field of pattern
coins to be explored and a wealth of much-heralded
designs by famous sculptors such as Augustus Saint-
Gaudens, Adolph Weinman, James Earle Fraser, and
others.
For those who are drawn to the hobby by the allure of age-old
relics of days gone by, or by coins handed down through the
family, or even by dreams of great wealth, coin collecting has
much to offer. The history of the U.S. Mint, with its small but
ever so important beginning, is the starting point.
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