 |
|
United States Silver Dollars – Worth The WeightUnited States silver dollars may not be the first American coins a new collector would take up – but it doesn’t take long for these coins to make an impression. Representing the foundation of the US coinage series, silver dollars are as heavy in historical significance as they are in metallic content.Before you look at the coin, consider how it came to be called a dollar. “Dollar” is a term not invented by Americans. Its origin is traced to the “talers” produced during the 15th century in Germany, where significant deposits of silver were discovered. In time, taler became “daler” and “daalder”. In colonial America, large silver eight reale coins from Spanish-run mints in Mexico and Peru were commonly circulated. These coins were known as Spanish Milled Dollars by the English colonists, who relied on them for economic liquidity in the face of British royal antipathy towards local American coin production. Colonial paper currency, beginning in Maryland, was redeemable in Spanish Milled Dollars. With American independence, proposals for a domestic coinage were resolved in favor of a dollar of one hundred cents. This decimal concept departed from the British pound sterling, as well as the Spanish eight reale. Physically, the first United States silver dollars, struck in 1794, most resembled the Spanish Milled Dollar. They were large silver coins similar in size and purity to the Spanish pieces. The Spanish coins remained in circulation, legally, until 1857. During the early years of the United States, the Spanish “ocho reales” far outnumbered American silver dollars in domestic circulation.
Each major type of US silver dollar is pictured in the galleries beginning on the next page. Begin with the earliest dollars, the Flowing Hair and Draped Bust types, then later, the Seated Liberty dollars of Christian Gobrecht. After those come the coins struck for the China Trade, the US Trade Dollars. Then come the most abundantly produced dollar coins, Morgan dollars, one of the most popular series in US coin collecting. The Peace Dollar struck to commemorate the end of WWI was the last of the US silver dollars. Go to Top of United States Silver Dollars page… Go to Home page…
|
