Trade dollar (United States coin)
The United States trade dollar was a dollar coin minted by the United States Mint to compete with other large silver trade coins that were popular in East Asia. The idea first came about in the 1860s, when the price of silver began to decline due to increased mining efforts in the western United States. A bill providing in part for the issuance of the trade dollar was put before Congress, where it was approved and signed into law as the Coinage Act of 1873; the act made trade dollars legal tender up to five dollars. A number of designs were considered for the trade dollar, an obverse and reverse created by William Barber were selected; the first trade dollars were struck in 1873, the majority of the coins were sent to China. Bullion producers began converting large amounts of silver into trade dollars, causing the coins to make their way into American commercial channels; this caused frustration among those to whom they were given in payment, as the coins were maligned and traded for less than one dollar each.
In response to their wide distribution in American commerce, the coins were demonetized in 1876, but continued to circulate. Production of business strikes ended in 1878, though the mintage of proof coins continued until 1883; the trade dollar was re-monetized. Following the California gold rush that began in 1849 and the Australian gold rush that began in 1851, a larger amount of gold was put into commerce than could be absorbed by the normal channels; this resulted in a decrease in the value of an increase in the relative value of silver. As a result, silver coins disappeared from circulation due either to hoarding or melting. In response, Congress authorized the Mint to reduce the quantity of silver in all denominations except the three-cent piece and silver dollar. Beginning in the 1860s, silver production rose and the price decreased. During this time, silver coins disappeared from circulation and were replaced by copper and paper currency. In China, the Mexican peso was valued in commerce.
However, the Chinese were sensitive to any changes in the coin's design, were reluctant to accept newer coins due to a minor design change. The American silver dollar, 7.5 grains lighter than its Spanish counterpart, was unpopular in the Orient due to its light weight, forcing American merchants to purchase the Spanish or Mexican pieces to use in trade. Beginning in 1866, during the reign of Emperor Maximilian, the design was changed to show the Emperor's portrait. While conducting an investigation of the Mint at San Francisco, deputy comptroller of the currency John Jay Knox began discussing the monetary situation with Louis A. Garnett, a man who had worked as both the treasurer and assayer of the San Francisco Mint. Garnett recommended that the United States mint a commercial dollar that would be exported to the Orient to compete with other countries' silver trade coins that were popular in that region. Garnett's rationale was that the majority of the coins would be hoarded or melted in Asia and would never be presented for redemption, allowing the government to make a profit from the seigniorage.
During his time in San Francisco, Knox discussed the proposed commercial dollar with Henry Linderman, working as a special agent for the Treasury Department at that time. In 1870, Knox wrote the draft for a bill on coinage. Knox's bill was approved by Secretary of the Treasury. After modification and review from current and former government officials, the bill was put before Congress. On November 19, 1872, while the coinage bill was still before Congress, Linderman made a report to the Secretary of the Treasury. In the report, Linderman argued that the coin need not hold legal tender status, that it could be a piece of silver imprinted with its weight and fineness. Linderman notes that such a product could supersede the Mexican dollar and command a six to eight percent premium. Linderman proposed that the coin be named the "silver union" in order to distinguish it from the standard coins in production. In February 1872, the bill was amended by a House of Representatives committee to include authorization for a commercial dollar weighing 420 grains.
While in the Senate, a provision was added to the bill requiring the Treasury to coin a trade dollar of 420 grains, as had been done earlier in the House. The revised bill, which came to be known as the Coinage Act of 1873, was approved in the House and Senate and was signed by President Ulysses S. Grant on February 12, 1873; the bill provided, in part, for the striking of trade dollars which held legal tender status up to five dollars. The legal tender provision was added by a last-minute rider at the behest of silver interests. At the insistence of Ohio Senator John Sherman, the weight and fineness of the piece was indicated on the reverse, an attribution which numismatic historian Don Taxay found incomprehensible as "Chinese merchants would never understand them". Prior to the passage of the Coinage Act, the director of the Philadelphia Mint oversaw all branch mints. After the Act, the office of director was transferred to Washington, D. C. and responsibility for each mint was handed over to a superintendent.
Throughout the year of 1872, the Mint struck a series of commercial dollar patterns in anticipation o
United States Mint
The United States Mint is a unit of the Department of Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; the Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, soon joined by other centers, whose coins were identified by their own mint marks. There are four active coin-producing mints: Philadelphia, San Francisco, West Point; the Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, placed within the Department of State. Per the terms of the Coinage Act, the first Mint building was in Philadelphia, the capital of the United States. Today, the Mint's headquarters are in Washington D. C.. It operates mint facilities in Philadelphia, San Francisco, West Point, New York and a bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Official Mints were once located in Carson City, Nevada. Part of the State Department, the Mint was made an independent agency in 1799, it converted precious metals into standard coin for anyone's account with no seigniorage charge beyond the refining costs.
Under the Coinage Act of 1873, the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury. It was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981. Legal tender coins of today are minted for the Treasury's account; the first Director of the United States Mint was renowned scientist David Rittenhouse from 1792 to 1795. The position was held most by Edmund C. Moy until his resignation effective January 9, 2011; the position was left vacant until April 2018. Henry Voigt was the first Superintendent and Chief Coiner, is credited with some of the first U. S. coin designs. Another important position at the Mint is that of Chief Engraver, held by such men as Frank Gasparro, William Barber, Charles E. Barber, James B. Longacre, Christian Gobrecht; the Mint has operated several branch facilities throughout the United States since the Philadelphia Mint opened in 1792, in a building known as "Ye Olde Mint". With the opening of branch mints came the need for mint marks, an identifying feature on the coin to show its facility of origin.
The first of these branch mints were the Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega and New Orleans, Louisiana branches. Both the Charlotte and Dahlonega Mints were opened to facilitate the conversion of local gold deposits into coinage, minted only gold coins; the Civil War closed both these facilities permanently. The New Orleans Mint closed at the beginning of the Civil War and did not re-open until the end of Reconstruction in 1879. During its two stints as a minting facility, it produced both gold and silver coinage in eleven different denominations, though only ten denominations were minted there at one time. A new branch facility was opened in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870. Like the Charlotte and Dahlonega branches, the Carson City Mint was opened to take advantage of local precious metal deposits, in this case, a large vein of silver. Though gold coins were produced there, no base metal coins were. In 1911 the Mint had a female acting director, Margaret Kelly, at that point the highest paid woman on the government's payroll.
She stated that women were paid within the bureau. A branch of the U. S. mint was established in 1920 in Manila in the Philippines, a U. S. territory. To date, the Manila Mint is the only U. S. mint established outside the continental U. S. and was responsible for producing coins. This branch was in production from 1920 to 1922, again from 1925 through 1941. Coins struck by this mint bear either the M mintmark or none at all, similar to the Philadelphia mint at the time. A branch mint in The Dalles, was commissioned in 1864. Construction was halted in 1870, the facility never produced any coins, although the building still stands. There are four active coin-producing mints: Philadelphia, San Francisco, West Point; the Mint's largest facility is the Philadelphia Mint. The current facility, which opened in 1969, is the fourth Philadelphia Mint; the first was built in 1792, when Philadelphia was still the U. S. capital, began operation in 1793. Until 1980, coins minted at Philadelphia bore no mint mark, with the exceptions of the Susan B.
Anthony dollar and the wartime Jefferson nickel. In 1980, the P mint mark was added to all U. S. coinage except the cent. Until 1968, the Philadelphia Mint was responsible for nearly all official proof coinage. Philadelphia is the site of master die production for U. S. coinage, the engraving and design departments of the Mint are located there. The Denver branch began life in 1863 as the local assay office, just five years after gold was discovered in the area. By the turn of the century, the office was bringing in over $5 million in annual gold and silver deposits, in 1906, the Mint opened its new Denver branch. Denver uses a D mint mark and strikes coinage only for circulation, although it did strike, along with three other mints, the $10 gold 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Com
Mint mark
A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem. If a coin was underweight, or overweight, the mint mark would tell where the coin was minted, the problem could be located and fixed. Another problem which could occur would be a dishonest mint official debasing the coin, or putting less precious metal in the coin than specified; the first mint marks, called "Magistrate Marks" were developed by the Greeks, named the Magistrate in charge of producing that coin. Debasing a coin, or otherwise tampering with it, was a serious crime punishable by death in many civilizations. For example, in 1649, the directors of the Spanish colonial American Mint at Potosi, in what is today Bolivia, were condemned to death for debasing the coinage; the initials of the assayer as well as the mint mark were immediate identifiers when the coins were inspected. In some cases the symbols found in the field of ancient Greek coins indicated mints, not magistrates.
Mints in territories conquered by Alexander the Great struck coins with the types he used in Macedon but marked with a local symbol. For example, Rhodes struck coins with Alexander’s types marked with a rose, a local symbol used on its own coins. A reform of Diocletian made mint marks a regular feature of ancient Roman coinage; these mint marks were contained three parts. The first part indicates that this was a coin with either SM for Sacra Moneta, M for Moneta, or P for Pecurnia; the second part was an abbreviation of the name of the mint such as ROM for LON for London. The final part indicated the workshop within the mint; the reform of Anastasius, the traditional dividing point between the coinage of the Roman and the Later Roman empires, replaced the mint marks on gold coins by the inscription CONOB, meaning the pure standard of Constantinople, used by a variety of mints. Mint marks continued on copper coinage until the second half of the seventh century, however. Mint names became mandatory under Charlemagne.
In 1389, Charles IV adopted. This scheme placed a dot under the first letter of the legend on coins of Crémieu, under the second letter for Romans, up to the twenty-second letter for Bourges. In the fifteenth century letters or symbols placed at the end of the legend indicating the mint were used in addition to Secret Points. In 1540, Francis I discontinued Secret Points in favor of a system of letters, he made it the rule for mint-masters to place their personal marks on coins, as they had done with increasing frequency since the coinage of Louis XI. This was one of the few royal practices continued by the Republic of France; the mint letters continued until 1898 and the mint-masters marks, supplemented by the mark of the Chief Engraver, are still used. Some Medieval English coins used mint names; when William III retired hammered coinage, branch mints which helped strike machine made coins to replace it put their initials below his bust. The Royal Mint established branches to coin sovereigns near the sources of gold.
These issues show the initials of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth Australia as well as Canada, South Africa, India. The owned Soho Mint obtained a contract to strike royal copper coins with steam presses and put its name on these coins and on coins it minted for other countries; when it closed, Ralph Heaton acquired its equipment, founded the Birmingham Mint, put his H mint mark on coins of Canada, among others. The Spanish Empire introduced mint marks to the New World when they authorized Mexico City to open a mint on 11 May 1535; the Spanish Empire established mints throughout its American territories, each with their own mint mark. After its revolution, Mexico continued to use its colonial Mo monogram mint mark shown on either side of the date in the Spanish Milled Dollar; the United States of America established mints in Charlotte, North Carolina and Dahlonega, Georgia in 1838 after the Georgia Gold Rush and put its first mint marks on the gold coins struck there. Like other countries, the United States has since placed mint marks not only on its own coins but those of its territories, such as the Philippines, other countries for which it has contracts to strike coins, such as Fiji.
In the 19th century, numismatists did not collect coins according to mint mark. A turnaround began after 1893, when A. G. Heaton's "A Treatise on Coinage of the United States Branch Mints" was published. Heaton cited example after example of mint-marked coins that were much scarcer than Philadelphia products and that should bring high premiums; when the United States abandoned silver coinage in 1964, mint marks were removed from the new copper-nickel coins in the belief that it would reduce the removal of coins from circulation by collectors. The silver coins disappeared from circulation, it was feared that if collectors saved too many of the new coins, there would be a serious shortage of coinage. Mint marks were returned to United States coins in 1968; the current mint marks on United States coinage are P, D, S, W for the 4 operating US Mints. The letter P is used for the Philadelphia Mint, D for the Denver Mint, S for the San Francisco Mint, W for the West Point Mint. Over time there have been 9 official United States Mints.
The first US Mint was in Philadelphia which began coin production with large cents and the half cents of pure coppe
Eagle (United States coin)
The eagle was a United States $10 gold coin issued by the United States Mint from 1792 to 1933. The eagle was the largest of the five main decimal base-units of denomination used for circulating coinage in the United States prior to 1933, the year when gold was withdrawn from circulation; these five main base-units of denomination were the mill, the cent, the dime, the dollar, the eagle, where a dime is 10 cents, a dollar is 10 dimes, an eagle is 10 dollars. The eagle base-unit of denomination served as the basis of the gold quarter-eagle, the gold half-eagle, the eagle, the double-eagle coins. With the exceptions of the gold dollar coin, the gold three-dollar coin, the three-cent nickel, the five-cent nickel, the unit of denomination of coinage prior to 1933 was conceptually linked to the precious or semi-precious metal that constituted a majority of the alloy used in that coin. In this regard the United States followed long-standing European practice of different base-unit denominations for different precious and semi-precious metals.
In the United States, the cent was the base-unit of denomination in copper. The dime and dollar were the base-units of denomination in silver; the eagle was the base-unit of denomination in gold although, unlike "cent", "dime", "dollar", gold coins never specified their denomination in units of "eagles". Thus, a double eagle showed its value as "twenty dollars" rather than "two eagles"; the United States' circulating eagle denomination from the late 18th century to first third of the 20th century should not be confused with the American Eagle bullion coins which are manufactured from silver or gold, platinum, or palladium. Gold eagles were issued for circulation by the United States Mint from 1795–1933, half eagles from 1795–1929, quarter eagles from 1796–1929, double eagles from 1850–1933, with occasional production gaps for each type; the diameter of eagles was 27 mm, half eagles 21 mm, quarter eagles 17 mm, double eagles 34 mm. The purity of all circulating gold coins in the United States was eleven twelfths pure gold and one twelfth alloy.
Under U. S. law, the alloy was composed only of silver and copper, with silver limited to no more than half of the alloy by weight. Thus, U. S. gold coins had 22/24 pure gold, at most 1/24 silver, with the remaining one–two 24ths copper. The weight of circulating, standard gold, eagles was set at 270 grains, half eagles at 135 grains, quarter eagles at 67.5 grains. This resulted in the eagle containing 0.5156 troy ounces of pure gold. In 1834, the mint's 15:1 legal valuation of gold to silver was changed to 16:1, the metal weight-content standards for both gold and silver coins were changed, because at the old value ratio and weight content, it was profitable to export and melt U. S gold coins; as a result, the specification for standard gold was lowered from 22 karat to.8992 fine. In 1837 a small change in the fineness of the gold was made, the alloy was again defined as silver and copper, with silver capped at no more than half; the new 1837 standard for the eagle was 258 grains of.900 fine gold, with other coins proportionately sized.
Between 1838 and 1840, the silver content was reduced to zero—the eagle in 1838, half eagle in 1839, quarter eagle in 1840,—resulting in U. S. gold coins being 10 % copper. Using only copper as the alloy in gold coins matched longstanding English practice; the 1837 standard resulted in a gold content of only 0.9675 troy ounces of gold per double eagle and 0.48375 troy ounces for the eagle. It would be used for all circulating gold coins until U. S. gold coin circulation was halted in 1933. As part of its Modern United States commemorative coins program the United States mint has issued several commemorative eagle coins. In 1984, an eagle was issued to commemorate the Summer Olympics, in 2003 to commemorate the Wright brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk; the pre-1933.900 fine gold standard was restored, this would be used in half-eagle gold commemoratives as well. The coins would be identical in fineness and size to their pre-1933 counterparts of the same face value. In 2000 a unique eagle, the 2000 Library of Congress bimetallic ten dollar coin, was issued commemorating the Library of Congress.
Turban head 1795–1804 Turban Head, small eagle 1795–1797 Turban Head, large eagle 1797–1804 Liberty Head 1838–1907 Coronet, without motto 1838–1866 Coronet, with motto 1866–1907 Indian Head 1907–1933 American Gold Eagle American Buffalo American Silver Eagle American Platinum Eagle American Palladium Eagle Double Eagle Half Eagle The English eagle, a 13th-century coin outlawed under Edward I US Gold Eagle by year and type. Histories and more. American Eagle production numbers
Carson City Civic Auditorium
The Carson City Civic Auditorium, at 813 N. Carson St. in Carson City, was designed by architect Lehman A. Ferris and was built during 1938-39, it was funded by the Public Works Administration. Known as Municipal Auditorium, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, it was deemed significant as a depression era works project and "as a rare example of a monumentally-scaled Romanesque Revival-styled building in Nevada"
Carson Brewing Company
The Carson Brewing Company, at 102 S. Division St. in Carson City, was built in 1864. Known as the Carson City Nevada Appeal Building, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It was a brewery and bar, it is one of Carson City's "oldest and largest brick buildings remaining from Nevada's territorial days."It is a two-story brick building, just one of multiple buildings in a larger original complex. In 1971, it became an arts center, known as the Brewery Arts Center. One of the groups that helped saved the building was the Nevada Artists Association, which still maintains its gallery at the site. Carson Brewing company was a brewery and lodging house, has been described as the "West's first microbrewery"; the brewery was located on the bottom floor of the building, the bar and lodging room was on the second floor. The company brewed steam beer, which it purveyed in bottles and kegs, changed its operations to produce a lager named "Tahoe Beer" circa 1910. During this time, the company began producing bottled mineral water sourced from Carson Hot Springs and bottled soft drinks, as well as manufacturing and purveying artificial ice
Seated Liberty dollar
The Seated Liberty dollar was a dollar coin struck by the United States Mint from 1840 to 1873 and designed by its chief engraver, Christian Gobrecht. It was the last silver coin of that denomination to be struck before passage of the Coinage Act of 1873, which temporarily ended production of the silver dollar for American commerce; the coin's obverse is based on that of the Gobrecht dollar, minted experimentally from 1836 to 1839. However, the soaring eagle used on the reverse of the Gobrecht dollar was not used. Seated Liberty dollars were struck only at the Philadelphia Mint. In the late 1840s, the price of silver increased relative to gold because of an increase in supply of the latter caused by the California Gold Rush; the Coinage Act of 1853 decreased the weight of all silver coins of five cents or higher, except for the dollar, but required a supplemental payment from those wishing their bullion struck into dollar coins. As little silver was being presented to the US Mint at the time, production remained low.
In the final years of the series, there was more silver produced in the US, mintages increased. In 1866, "In God We Trust" was added to the dollar following its introduction to United States coinage earlier in the decade. Seated Liberty dollar production was halted by the Coinage Act of 1873, which authorized the trade dollar for use in foreign commerce. Representatives of silver interests were unhappy when the metal's price dropped again in the mid-1870s; the Mint Act of 1792 made silver legal tender. The United States Mint struck gold and silver only when depositors supplied metal, returned in the form of coin; the fluctuation of market prices for commodities meant that either precious metal would be overvalued in terms of the other, leading to hoarding and melting. In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson ordered all silver dollar mintage halted, though production had not occurred since 1804; this was done in part to prevent the coins from being exported to foreign nations for melting, causing a strain on the fledgling Mint for little gain.
Over the next quarter century, the silver coin struck for bullion depositors was the half dollar. In 1831, Mint Director Samuel Moore requested that President Andrew Jackson lift the restriction against dollar coin production. Despite the approval to strike the coins, no silver dollars were minted until 1836; the Bureau of the Mint in the 1830s was undergoing a period of significant change, as new technologies were adopted. In 1828, the Mint, whose authorization had been subject to periodic renewal by Congress since its inception in 1792, was given permanent status. A new building to house the Philadelphia Mint was authorized by Congress, opened in 1832. Congress adjusted the precious-metal content of US coins in 1834 and 1837, was able to achieve a balance whereby US coins remained in circulation alongside those of foreign nations. In 1836, the first steam machinery was introduced at the Mint. Congress had in 1835 authorized branch mints at Dahlonega in Georgia, Charlotte in North Carolina, at New Orleans in Louisiana.
The Charlotte and Dahlonega mints only struck gold, catering to miners in the South who sought to deposit that metal, but the New Orleans facility would strike silver coins, including the Seated Liberty dollar. In mid-1835, newly appointed Mint Director Robert M. Patterson engaged artists Titian Peale and Thomas Sully to create new designs for American coinage. In an August 1, 1835, Patterson proposed that Sully create an obverse design consisting of Liberty seated on a boulder, holding a "liberty pole" in her right hand topped by a pileus, the headgear given by the Romans to an emancipated slave, he asked Sully to create a reverse design consisting of an "eagle flying, rising in flight, amidst the constellation irregularly dispersed of twenty-four stars". Patterson requested. Mint Chief Engraver William Kneass prepared a sketch based on Patterson's conception, but suffered a stroke, leaving him paralyzed. In 1835, Christian Gobrecht was hired at the Mint as a draftsman, die sinker, assistant engraver to Kneass.
Although nominally a subordinate, Gobrecht would perform much of the engraving work for the Mint until Kneass' death in 1840, when Gobrecht was appointed chief engraver. Sully prepared sketches of the artwork, which Gobrecht used as a guide in engraving copper plates; the plates were approved by various government officials, the production of trial strikes began. The design was not free from controversy. Quoting former president Thomas Jefferson, Moore had written to Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury, "We are not emancipated slaves."Following a series of trial strikes and modifications through 1836, the first of what would come to be known as the Gobrecht dollars were minted in December of that year. The dollars of 1836
.jpg)
