"Groat (coin) The groat is the traditional name of a long-defunct English and Irish silver coin worth four pence, and also a Scottish coin originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and one shilling. The name has also been applied to any thick or large coin, such as the ""Groschen"" (""grosso""), a silver coin issued by Tyrol in 1271 and Venice in the 13th century, which was the first of this general size to circulate in the Holy Roman Empire and other parts of Europe. The immediate ancestor to the groat was the French ""gros tournois"" or"
"silver coins into circulation in 1432. The new pennies were known as quarting because they contained only a quarter of the silver content of the old currency. Bishop Lépes, who knew that pennies of higher value would again be minted in a few years, suspended the collection of the tithe in 1434. After the valuable coins were issued, Lépes demanded the tithe for the previous years in one sum. Historians estimate that the peasant families were required to pay six to nine gold florins, although the value of an average peasant lot was only about 40 florins. Most peasants were"
"fourpence. The shilling is 0.925 pure silver and weights 66 grains. The Maryland sixpence silver coin is the same quality and weights 34 grains. The shilling and sixpence are just under an inch in diameter. The Maryland groat silver coin came in two varieties with a small and large portrait and shield. It weights 25 grains and is about a half inch in diameter. The Lord Baltimore penny copper coin was similar to the silver coins with the main difference being the back side. The reverse side of the copper penny is a duke's coronet crown with two pennons flying"
"be redeemed in gold or silver. In 1862, the government issued “greenbacks”, which were unbacked notes that relied on government credit to retain value by themselves without the backing of metal. By the end of the war, gold was worth 1.5 greenback. This, combined with the amount of debt the government already owed, threatened the war-torn economy as it prepared to pay off its war debts. As a response to the growing concerns regarding the amount of paper money used and growing debt of the United States, the Congress passed the Fourth Coinage Act in 1873. This law eliminated silver"
"Silver coin Silver coins are possibly the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612-330 BC. Before 1797, British pennies were made of silver. As with all collectible coins, many factors determine the value of a silver coin, such as its rarity, demand, condition and the number originally minted. Ancient silver coins coveted by collectors include the Denarius and Miliarense, while more recent collectible silver coins include the Morgan Dollar and the Spanish Milled"
"the “Crime of 1873”, when the Fourth Coinage Act was passed. The act demonetized silver, as well as abolished its right to free coinage. Under free coinage, the government purchased and coined any silver that was sold. At the time, most people were using paper money, diminishing the importance of gold and silver coins. This gave the news and the people little reason to care about the demonetization of silver, according to Coin. The law was passed in relative obscurity, as newspapers did not report on it at the time of the law's passage, and then-president Ulysses S. Grant claimed"
"was primarily copper, but that included enough silver to give a reasonably-sized coin an intrinsic value of one cent. This billon alloy was considered by the U.S. Mint, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton feared that it would be too susceptible to counterfeiting, since its appearance differed little from that of pure copper. In 1792, the Mint's chief coiner, Henry Voight, hit upon a solution: a copper planchet, slightly smaller than that of a modern quarter, with a small silver ""plug"" inserted in a center hole during the striking process. The silver plug would have been worth approximately ¢ at"
"minted in San Francisco had a small ""S"" mintmark placed to the left of the date; Philadelphia coins were without a mintmark. In 1904 all Spanish and other foreign coinage was demonetized. The territorial coinage minted for the Philippines was locked in an exchange rate of two Pesos to one Dollar, and issued in denominations of Half, One, Five, Ten, Twenty, and Fifty Centavos, and One Peso. The Half Centavo proved useless in commerce and was withdrawn from circulation in 1904, and owing to a rise in silver prices the silver denominations (Ten centavos on up) were all reduced in"
"The copper penny was the only one of these coins to survive long. To alleviate the shortage of silver coins, between 1797 and 1804, the Bank of England counterstamped Spanish dollars (8 reales) and other Spanish and Spanish colonial coins for circulation. A small counterstamp of the King's head was used. Until 1800, these circulated at a rate of 4/9 for 8 reales. After 1800, a rate of 5/- for 8 reales was used. The Bank then issued silver tokens for 5/- (struck over Spanish dollars) in 1804, followed by tokens for 1/6 and 3/- between 1811 and 1816. In"
"these silver trade coins, dried up. The United Kingdom had adopted a very successful gold standard in 1821, and so the year 1825 was an opportune time to introduce the British sterling coinage into all the British colonies. An imperial Order in Council was passed in that year for the purposes of facilitating this aim by making sterling coinage legal tender in the colonies at the specified rate of 1 Spanish dollar to 4 shillings, 4 pence sterling. As the sterling silver coins were attached to a gold standard, this exchange rate did not realistically represent the value of the"
"press for cheap paper money backed by silver. The latter element – ""free silver"" – came increasingly to the fore as the answer to the same interest groups' concerns, and was taken up as a central plank by the Populist movement. Proponents of monetary silver, known as the silverites, referred back to the Fourth Coinage Act as ""The Crime of '73,"" as it was judged to have inhibited inflation, and favoured creditors over debtors. Some reformers, however, like Henry Demarest Lloyd, saw bimetallism as a red herring and feared that free silver was ""the cowbird of the reform movement, likely"
"also became known as a ""pound"". (240 actual pennies, however, weighed only 5400 troy grains, known as tower pound, a unit used only by mints. The tower pound was abolished in the 16th century.) The silver penny remained the primary unit of coinage for about 500 years. The purity of 92.5% silver (i.e., sterling silver) was instituted by Henry II in 1158 with the ""Tealby Penny"" — a hammered coin. Over the years, the penny was gradually debased until by the 16th century it contained about a third the silver content of a proper troy 24 grain pennyweight. By 1915,"
"(4,060 t) and Peru (3,780 t). The earliest known coins were minted in the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor around 600 BC. The coins of Lydia were made of electrum, which is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, that was available within the territory of Lydia. Since that time, silver standards, in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver, have been widespread throughout the world until the 20th century. Notable silver coins through the centuries include the Greek drachma, the Roman denarius, the Islamic dirham, the karshapana from ancient India and"
"the gold dollar was also struck at the new San Francisco Mint. The continued flow of gold from California made silver expensive in terms of gold, and U.S. silver coins began to flow out of the country for melting in 1849, a flow that accelerated over the next several years as the price of the metal continued to rise. By 1853, a thousand dollars in silver coin contained $1,042 worth of bullion. As silver coins vanished, the gold dollar became the only federal coin in circulation between the cent and the quarter eagle ($2.50 piece). As such, it was struck"
"disappear from circulation by hoarding or melting down. In the United States, bimetallism became a center of political conflict toward the end of the 19th century. During the Civil War, to finance the war the U.S. switched from bimetallism to a fiat money currency. After the war, in 1873, the government passed the Fourth Coinage Act and soon resumption of specie payments began (without the free and unlimited coinage of silver, thus putting the U.S. on a mono-metallic gold standard.) Farmers, debtors, Westerners and others who felt they had benefited from wartime paper money formed the short-lived Greenback Party to"
"$1.00. After the Coinage Act of 1834, silver (which was previously overvalued with respect to gold) became significantly undervalued and was exported to European markets where it was traded at a higher price. This led to its near disappearance from par-circulation after 1834. Despite the attempts by Jackson, Taney and members of Congress to supplant paper currency in favor of “hard-money,” there were over a thousand banks issuing their own notes in small denominations (between $0.01 and $2.50). Coinage Act of 1834 The Coinage Act of 1834 was passed by the United States Congress on June 28, 1834. It raised"
"after 1786 being in 1792, 1795, and 1800. After this the only circulating issues were from 1836 to 1855, with proofs known from 1857 and 1862, and a colonial issue of 1888. These last coins had the weight further reduced to about 27 grains (1.9 grams) and were the same diameter as the silver threepenny pieces of the day although thicker. They also had Britannia on the reverse, while all other silver fourpenny pieces since the reign of William and Mary have had a crowned numeral ""4"" as the reverse, including the silver fourpenny Maundy money coins of the present."
"never reached circulation at the time and some were stored for more than 75 years until being sold off in 2012. The high quality specimens were sold to the public and the visually unappealing ones were melted. In 1920, the size of the 1¢ was reduced and the silver fineness of the 5¢, 10¢, 25¢ and 50¢ coins was reduced to 0.800 silver/.200 copper. This composition was maintained for the 10¢, 25¢ and 50¢ piece through 1966, but the debasement of the 5¢ piece continued in 1922 with the silver 5¢ being entirely replaced by a larger nickel coin. In"
"and so 1825 was an opportune time to introduce the British sterling coinage into all the British colonies. An imperial order-in-council was passed in that year for the purposes of facilitating this aim by making sterling coinage legal tender in the colonies at the specified rate of $1 = 4s 4d (One Spanish dollar to four shillings and four pence sterling). As the sterling silver coins were attached to a gold standard, this exchange rate did not realistically represent the value of the silver in the Spanish dollars compared to the value of the gold in the British gold sovereign."
"quarters, all of the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, and bore various dates, from 1642 to 1682."" The coin hoard was later found to contain coins from Spain, and included a large quantity of Spanish Cobbs. Also found were Pine tree shillings dating from 1652, as well as various coins from other countries. The earliest coin found was from the reign of King John IV, while the most recent coins dated no later than 1688. The coins were dispersed over time after their discovery, and by 1942 the Maine Historical Society had 26 of the coins remaining. More"
"the Treasury vaults, including issues once thought rare. Individuals began purchasing large quantities of the pieces at face value, and eventually the Treasury ceased exchanging silver certificates for silver coin. Beginning in the 1970s, the Treasury conducted a sale of silver dollars minted at the Carson City Mint through the General Services Administration. In 2006, Morgan's reverse design was used on a silver dollar issued to commemorate the old San Francisco Mint building. In 1873, Congress enacted the Fourth Coinage Act, which effectively ended the bimetallic standard in the United States by demonetizing silver bullion. Prior to enactment of the"
"Classic Head Quarter Eagle The classic head $2.50 gold coin is an American coin, also called a Quarter Eagle, minted from 1834-1839. It features Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. 1834 witnessed tough economic times in the United States. President Andrew Jackson was opposed to the developing central bank of that era known as the Second Bank of the United States. His aim was to reform a system which took power away from the states and concentrated it in the hands of a few. He recognized the potential for abuse and manipulation that was not necessarily"
"of William Jennings Bryan, famed for his Cross of Gold speech in favor of free silver. The Populists also endorsed Bryan and free silver in 1896, which marked the effective end of their independence. In major elections free silver was consistently defeated, and after 1896 the nation moved to the gold standard. The debate over silver lasted from the passage of the Fourth Coinage Act in 1873, which demonetized silver and was called the ""Crime of '73"" by opponents, until 1913, when the Federal Reserve Act completely overhauled the U.S. monetary system. Under the gold specie standard, anyone in possession"
"for trade advantages. Since 1804 was the last recorded year of mintage for both the dollar and $10 Eagle, it was decided that the set would contain examples of those coins dated 1804, as well as the other denominations currently being produced. Mint officials, not realizing that the 19,000+ dollars recorded as being produced in 1804 were all dated 1803, proceeded to make new dies dated 1804. Little did they know the stunning rarity they were creating. Only 15 silver dollars with the date of 1804 are known to exist; in 1999, one of them sold at auction for more"
"1804, prompting them to use that date rather than the date in which the coins were actually struck. A limited number of 1804 dollars were struck by the Mint in later years, and they remain rare and valuable. Coinage began on the first United States silver dollar, known as the Flowing Hair dollar, in 1794 following the construction and staffing of the Philadelphia Mint. The Coinage Act of 1792 called for the silver coinage to be struck in an alloy consisting of 89.2% silver and 10.8% copper. However, Mint officials were reluctant to strike coins with the unusual fineness, so"
"a leading third party grading service such as Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) or Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). Classic Head Quarter Eagle The classic head $2.50 gold coin is an American coin, also called a Quarter Eagle, minted from 1834-1839. It features Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. 1834 witnessed tough economic times in the United States. President Andrew Jackson was opposed to the developing central bank of that era known as the Second Bank of the United States. His aim was to reform a system which took power away from the states and concentrated it"
"was less valuable. Farmers and laborers, especially, clamored for the return of coinage in both metals, believing the increased money supply would restore wages and property values. Democratic Representative Richard P. Bland of Missouri proposed a bill that would require the United States to coin as much silver as miners could sell to the government, thus increasing the money supply and aiding debtors. William B. Allison, a Republican from Iowa offered an amendment in the Senate limiting the coinage to two to four million dollars per month, and the resulting Bland–Allison Act passed both houses of Congress in 1878. Hayes"
"Fourpence (British coin) The pre-decimal fourpence (4d), sometimes known as a groat (from Dutch ""grootpennig"" = ""big penny"") or fourpenny bit, was a coin worth one sixtieth of a pound sterling, or four pence. The coin was also known as a joey after the MP Joseph Hume, who spoke in favour of its introduction. It was a revival of the pre-Union coin. Before Decimal Day in 1971 there were two hundred and forty pence in one pound sterling. Twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Values less than a pound were usually written in terms of"
"Quarter eagle The quarter eagle was a gold coin issued by the United States with a denomination of two hundred and fifty cents, or two dollars and fifty cents. It was given its name in the Coinage Act of 1792, as a derivation from the US ten-dollar eagle coin. Its purchasing power in 1800 would be equivalent to $71.12 in 2015 dollars. Designed by Robert Scot, the quarter eagle denomination was struck at the main mint at Philadelphia, and branch mints in Charlotte (1838-1859 not inclusive), New Orleans (1838-1857 only), and Denver (1911-1925). The first issues weighed 67.5 grains, fineness"
"effort to rehabilitate the Old Mint. In total, 100,000 gold and 500,000 silver commemorative coins were authorized. Authorization came at the behest of several hobby publications, who enlisted readers to contact their local congressmen and persuade them to pass necessary legislation. The designs approved for the silver dollar bear a left-frontal view of the Old Mint building and a copy of Morgan's eagle design on the obverse and reverse, respectively. Mint artist Joseph Menna made a new model for the reverse, employing a 1904 San Francisco-minted dollar as his model. The dollars were produced every year between 1878 and 1904"
"with the British trade dollar that circulated in the Orient. In 2014, a new world record price was achieved for a milled silver crown. The coin was issued as a pattern by engraver Thomas Simon in 1663 and nicknamed the ""Reddite Crown"". This was presented to Charles II as the new crown piece but was ultimately rejected in favour of the Roettiers Brothers' design. Auctioneers Spink & Son of London sold the coin on 27 March 2014 for £396,000 including commission. After decimalisation on 15 February 1971, a new coin known as a 25p (25 pence) piece was introduced. Whilst"
"to mint silver and bronze coins at their mints in Sydney and Melbourne respectively. In 1946, due to costs incurred during World War II, the silver content of the coins was reduced from 0.925 to 0.500 of the coin weight, which lasted until decimalisation on 14 February 1966. One coin highly sought-after by collectors is the 1930 penny. Its rarity is so well known amongst Australians, that demand for what is akin to a blue-chip investment has pushed prices to approximately A$26,000 for an average standard example. A proof example of the same coin recently changed hands for over A$620,000,"
"of 173,000 pieces. All coins were produced at the Philadelphia Mint until 1846, when 59,000 were struck at the Mint at New Orleans. Following the discovery of gold in California, a large amount of gold coins began appearing in American commercial channels. The influx caused the price of gold relative to silver to decrease, making silver coins worth more as bullion than as currency. They were exported abroad, or else melted locally for their bullion value. As it was profitable to export silver, little was presented at the Mint, which resulted in low mintage numbers for the silver dollar; 1,300"