In The history of the dollar, or for that matter, silver coins, goes back to the time before Jesus! In BC 425-401 in Phoenicia, small silver coins with five towers on one side and horsemen on the other, were struck, and obviously used as money. Silver Roman denarius were struck in the AD 40’s, and I have one. Silver coins with the image of Emperor Constantine on the obverse were struck between AD 305 and 306. On the reverse was a man holding a jar from which liquor flows. See? Nothing new under the Sun, be it silver coins or liquor. These coins were small, perhaps a quarter ounce or less.
Coinage of silver continued down through the centuries, and England produced millions of ‘crown type’ silver shillings, a classic example would be one with Henry 8th on both sides, minted between 1509 and 1547. Inflation was not unknown in Mother England then, as now. Initially, the Henry 8th coins were 75% silver, and gradually were degraded, till at the end they were of a 50% silver alloy. The coins became known as ‘crown coins’ because they mostly had heads of kings, queens, or other heads of state on them, obviously to satisfy the egos of whoever held the throne at the time, and were nearly always of a one troy ounce size. The gold-silver ratio was then 16 to 1, so silver would purchase more then, than it will now at 80 to 1.
When the American Revolution was in full swing, the colonists had not started a mint with which to make coinage, so beginning in 1760, through 1820, a silver dollar was struck in England, but was ‘countermarked’ (defaced with a flat spot punched in the center), to indicate that while it may have been struck in England, it was an official American silver dollar. Those dates were the dates of King George IV, so there is no count as to how many were struck, and what years. Only one – 1799 is in existence. The word ‘dollar’ is not unique in America. James the sixth of Scotland struck a 30 shilling coin between 1567 and 1571, and it was called ‘the sword dollar,’ due to having a character holding a sword on the reverse. Charles the Second of England struck ‘thistle dollars’ in 1578 for Scotland, but the silver coins used mostly in infant America were the Spanish 8 reales produced from silver mined in central and South America. What coins which were not shipped back to Spain, were kept here and used as currency, and came to known as “milled dollars.” They became so popular, that 8 reales were cut into half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth sizes, and became known famously as ‘pieces of eight.” Thomas Jefferson, in 1785, urged the nation to make a silver dollar coin, but there was no mint in the US at the time, nor was silver plentiful, so the 8-reales were in common use, and had a silver content of .903 ounces of pure silver. Colorado soon took care of the silver shortage.
The ‘Mint Act’ was signed into law April 2, 1792, and the first silver coins were produced in 1793 with a silver content of .8924 oz, mixed in an alloy of copper to make it firm.. The ‘draped bust with flowing hair’ on the obverse silver dollar, was produced between 1795 and 1804. The ‘seated liberty dollar’ was made between 1804 and 1873. That silver dollar had a sort of ‘Miss Liberty’ seated, and holding an American flag on the obverse, with 13 stars portraying the original 13 colonies, and the reverse had an American Eagle with the lettering “United States of America,” and at the base, “One Dollar.” In 1775, the Continental Congress printed paper money in the dollar denomination. More next week.
“CONSEQUENCES”
My book “Consequences” sold through two printings, and left me with a few for my personal use. A client loved it so much that he wanted a lot to give away. The printer would print no fewer than 100, so the client took 50 and I took 50, splitting the cost evenly at $6.30 each. The 50 I have are available at $6.30 each, Plus $3 to ship, making a total of $9.30 each, delivered to you. If you wish one or more, send me a check for $9.30 each to “Don Stott, 222 S. 5th St. Montrose, Co 81401.”