COINAGE 



1467 



COINS 



Coins must also be of such shape as will 

 make them convenient for handling and at the 

 same time enable one to detect at sight any 

 clipping or other defacement. Rounded forms 

 have been found most desirable; therefore the 

 coins of nearly all countries are circular. In 

 Japan and China oval coins are still used, and 

 some of the small coins of these nations have 

 square holes in the center. 



United States. The Constitution conferred 

 upon Congress the power to coin money and 

 regulate its value. A mint (see MINT) was 

 established in Philadelphia in 1792, and the 

 first coins were struck the following year. The 



FIRST AMERICAN COIN 

 Coined in Massachusetts in 1776. 



first machinery employed, compared with that 

 now in use, was very crude, and some of the 

 operations of manufacture were by hand. Now 

 all work is done by machinery and such a 

 degree of precision has been reached that sel- 

 dom one coin in a million varies from the 

 precise limit in size and weight allowed by law. 



Gold and silver come to the mint in bars, 

 and are known as bullion. The metal is puri- 

 fied, then the necessary proportion of copper 

 to make it nine-tenths fine is added (see AL- 

 LOY). It is then cast into bars, which are 

 rolled into ribbons the width and thickness of 

 the coin. From these ribbons the coins are cut 

 by punches, the "blanks" so formed being 

 known as planchets. These "blanks" are 

 cleaned and weighed, then placed in tubes on 

 the stamping machines, from which they are 

 automatically fed to the stamps. These ma- 

 chines will stamp ninety large coins and 120 

 small ones in a minute. 



Classes. Every system of coinage has two 

 classes of coin standard coins and token coins. 

 Standard coins are those whose actual value 

 in metal is the same as that stamped upon 

 them; that is, the gold in the gold coins is 

 worth as much as the coin. If your house burns 

 down and melts ten $10 gold pieces and you 

 can find the entire melted mass no financial 

 loss has resulted. Gold and silver are the only 



metals from which standard coins are made, 

 and in most countries the standard has been 

 restricted to gold. 



Token coins are those whose actual value is 

 less than that stamped upon them, such as 

 those of the denominations twenty-five cents, 

 ten cents, five cents and one cent. They pass 

 for the value given them, because they are 

 guaranteed by the government; that is, they 

 can be exchanged for gold coin of the same 

 value. One having fifty dimes could exchange 

 them for a five-dollar gold piece. 



Free Coinage. England and the United 

 States have always coined standard coins free 

 of charge. One can take his gold to the mint 

 and receive its full value in coin, no charge 

 usually being made for coinage; when such a 

 charge is made it is called seigniorage. No per- 

 son can exchange his bullion for "small change," 

 for all governments reserve to themselves the 

 right to make token coins, since a large revenue 

 is derived from this coinage. For instance, 

 if the United States makes from a bar of nickel 

 costing ten dollars twenty dollars' worth of 

 five-cent pieces, the government gains ten dol- 

 lars less the cost of coinage. 



Other Nations. All large nations coin their 

 own money, but government control of coinage 

 does not mean that a nation must make its 

 own coin. The smaller nations of Europe and 

 the nations of South and Central American 

 countries have their coins made in Europe and 

 the United States. Canada maintains a branch 

 of the Royal Mint at Ottawa, which makes the 

 coin for the Dominion. See MONEY. E.D.F. 



Consult Hepburn's History of Coinage and 

 Currency in the United States. 



COINS, FOREIGN. All civilized countries 

 have some form of money, for whenever men 

 trade or a change of commodity is made a 

 medium of exchange is necessary. The mone- 

 tary value of coins of various nations, however, 

 is subject to frequent change, though in the 

 relative value there is but little variation. 

 Names are given to the various coins from their 

 value or from the device or effigy stamped 

 thereon. In the series of earliest coins we find 

 records of tradition and historical events. The 

 monetary pound was once a pound weight of 

 silver and was derived from the money of 

 Charles the Great. The money systems in 

 Europe all trace back to this system, but with 

 the adoption of flat, circular coins the cumber- 

 some method of weighing was abandoned. A 

 distinct advance was made when each nation 

 began to make its own coins, each piece being 



