Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1879 — VALUE OF WORN GOLD COINS. [ARTICLE]

VALUE OF WORN GOLD COINS.

Letter of Information From tiie Coiner at the New Orleans Mint. M. Y. Davis, Coiner of the United States Mint at New Orleans, has addressed the following letter to a local newspaper: Inquiries are daily made at the mint as to the least current weight at which the Government will receive gold coins at their nominal value. Under the fourteenth section of the Coinage act of 1873 it is provided “that gold coins reduced in weight by natural abrasion not more than one-half of 1 per centum below the standard weight, after a*period of circulation of twenty years, and a proportionate rate for a less period, shall be received at their nominal value at the United States treasury and its offices.” The following statement exhibits the standard weight and least current weight of gold coins after a circulation of twenty years, and at which least current weight they are receivable in payment of debts to the United States: Standard Leant CurWeight rent Weight in drains. in drains. Double eagle 516 613 42 Eagle 258 256.71 uif eagle li'.l 128.86 Three d'liar 77 4 77 (2 Quarter tagle 64 5 61.18 Dollar 25 8 25.67 The legal deviation from the standard weight of the gold dollar being onequarter of a grain, it will continue current until reduced iu weight below 25 55-100 grains. All double eagles which have not been artificially reduced in weight will lse found within the limit of natural abrasion allowed by law. The same rule will apply to eagles coined since 1815, half-eagles coined since 1855, and quarter eagles coined since 1860. The double eagle should continue current for fifty years from the date of coinage; the eagle for thirty-five years; the half-eagle for twenty years; and the three-dollar piece and quarter-eagle at least fifteen years. The deviation from standard weight of one-quarter of a grain allowed by law in the coinage of the gold dollar exceeds the legal limit of wear by nearly one-eighth of a grain. All pieces of this denomination coined since 1860 will be found within the legal tolerance, if not fraudulently reduced in weight. These periods are estimated for coins when they constitute a part of the circulating medium, or are frequently transferred in treasury and customs transactions. In this country, as in England, there is no “ least current weight ” for silver coins fixed by law or treasury regulations. The natural abrasion of silver coins is not so great as generally supposed. It is expected that fully fifty years will elapse before the coins issued under laws passed within the last five years will need renovation. Careful observation and experiments in this /country show the average loss from natural abrasion of the whole body of silver currency, when in actual circulation, to be about 1 per cent, in twelve years, the smaller coins, quarter-dollars and dimes, showing a greater percentage of loss than halfdollars or dollars.