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Here
is a little introduction to how American money came to be.
It wasn't until foreign tradesman came to trade with the American
immigrants and demanded coins for payment of goods. Before
then immigrants used beaver skins, tobacco, and wampum, which was
fashioned from mussel shells in the form of beads. Many
foreign coins were excepted as payment, however, the Spanish
Dollar became the standard monetary unit used throughout the
colonial period. As time went on, many coins and tokens of
all different types were introduced by the colonist, and the money
came to be. March
1 1781, the Articles of Confederation provided that Congress
should have the sole right to regulate not only the alloy, but
also the value of any coin struck. This meaning each state
had the right to coin money, and New Hampshire was the first of
the states to consider coinage, but few coins were placed into
circulation. Other states, such as Vermont, Connecticut, and
New Jersey were granted coining privileges and Massachusetts began
coining copper coins.
Copper Coins were the first coins to be
minted by the United States Mint, which officially opened its
doors in 1793. The Mint produced the Large Cent and the
Half Cent, which both went through some rather major design
changes. But none the less the cents were produced in a
time where they were greatly needed. After the era of the
Large and Half Cents, which ended in 1857, came rise to a new
copper coin series called the small cents which escalated into
what we use now. The Flying Eagle Cent gave birth to a new
metal used in minting coins. This new metal was Nickel,
and it began the basis of coins today. The new
copper-nickel coins are what a majority of our coins today are
made of in some facet or another.
Many of the most popular and famous
coins were struck in silver. Silver coins were what the
United States Mint primarily produced and are very popular in
the collecting community. Many denominations of
silver coins have been struck including the three-cent piece,
the silver half-dime, the twenty-cent piece, quarter dollar,
half dollar, and the one dollar coins. All these coins,
whether short lived or here to stay, brought some importance
to the economic structure of the United States. And
whether the coins were produced for the sheer value of showing
England that we could stand on our own two feet, or that we
actually needed the adoption of the silver coins for just a nice
coin to look at in our pockets. The Silver Coins were
without a doubt one of the most regarded collectible coins
minted by our United States Mint.
Our US Gold coins were minted in 1795
in denominations of the 5 and 10 dollar pieces. These are
a very desired collectible among coin collectors all over the
world, and the are as rare as they come. The United States Mint
produced gold denominations of $1, $2.50, $5, $10, and the 20
dollar gold piece. A $4 Gold piece was struck as well as a
$50 Gold, but these were merely pattern coins for the upcoming
new coins and were never released into the economy. Owning gold
coins today, wasn't really to spend them with actual circulating
currency, but to regard them in the same effect as collectible
coins, only knowing that they were worth their weight in gold.
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