Dollar

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A Snow Crash and spanning page on Currency

Stephensonia

"What'll it be then?" "What does Snow Crash cost?" "One point seven five Gippers," the guy says. "I thought it was one point five," Y.T. says. The guy shakes his head. "Inflation, you know. Still, it's a bargain. Hell, that plank you're on is probably worth a hundred Gippers." "You can't even buy these for dollars," Y.T. says, getting her back up. "Look, all I've got is one-and-a-half quadrillion dollars." She pulls the bundle out of her pocket. The guy laughs, shakes his head, hollers back to his colleagues inside the warehouse. "You guys, we got a chick here who wants to pay in Meeses." - Snow Crash p. 242-243

Authored entries

Community: United States Dollar

"NOT WORTH
A CONTINENTAL!"
This paper currency, as it
was overprinted and
counterfieted throughout
the Revolutionary War,
is the terms origin.
Larger Image Many countries have used a dollar currency, which is a linguistic evolution of the Thaler, including Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Bermuda, among others, but none have become as ubiquitous as the United States Dollar, which has both a storied, and disappointing, history and possible future.

In Irons: The Continental Dollar and the Revolutionary Economy

The Continental Congress issued both paper currency and coin specie. The coins were interesting in that they were struck first in pewter, then in silver and pewter. They featured the title "Contenental Currency" on the obverse with two mottos, "Mind Your Business" in english and "Fugio Eg Fecit" in latin, with a logo of an enlightening sun shining down upon the land with a sundial showing no shadow. The reverse features a ring of rings, each labelled with the name of a state, with a center ring of the "American Congress" and the motto "We Are One." They were 276.5 grains in weight and 40.6 mm diameter.

Silver/Pewter Continental Coins
Note the masonic symbology

During this period, The Republic of New Hampshire, the first state to drive off its Royal Governor in its act of independence, found need to produce copper coinage to serve the needs of small change. These were produced for the legislature by a William Moulton, a family of long standing that remains in the state to this day.

"The Committee humbly report that they find it expedient to make Copper Coin, for the Benefit of small Change, and as the Continental and other Bills are so large that William Moulton be impowered to make so many as may amount to 100lb w.t subject when made to the Inspection and Direction of the General Assembly, before Circulation. Also we recommend that 108 of said coppers be equal to one Spanish milld [milled] Dollar: That the said Coin be of pure Copper and equal in Wt to English halfpence, and bear such Device thereon as the Genl Assembly may approve." (Crosby, p. 175)

Other states found similar necessity, at first, to see to the coinage needs of their citizens, including Massachusetts and Virginia, but as the war against Britain expanded there was a redistribution of resources to support the war effort. Metal, of course, was in high demand. Coins were hoarded, as in the case of the Virginia halfpenny, and copper that was mined was designated for the war effort rather than for the minting of coins. After the Continental Dollar and the State patterns of 1776, no coins were minted in the colonies (except perhaps for a few counterfeits) until the end of the war in 1783. Throughout this period all coinage was difficult to come by. To meet the needs of the new nation during this period the Continental Congress and the states relied on numerous paper currency emissions, including some private small change issues.

February 17, 1776

An emission totaling $4,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the Continental Congress resolution of February 10, 1776. Of this $1,000,000 was reserved for the first national fractional currency. The front design on the fractional notes includes the first use of the "FUGIO" (I fly) legend and sundial as well as the "Mind your Business" legend. The back shows the thirteen linked rings representing the colonies and the legends "We are one" and "American Congress". Eric Newman has discovered these designs were created by Benjamin Franklin (see his indispensable The Early Paper Money of America p. 53). Note that on the fractional bills the dots in the corners of the front design reflect the denomination, with one dot designating a sixth of a dollar, two dots for a third, three dots for $1/2 and four dots for $2/3. Also, fractional denominations come in plates A, B and C. Again it was Newman who discovered the devices and border designs for the fractional bills were cut by Elisha Gallaudet, who also designed the Continental Currency coin. There is one signer, in red ink, on the fractional bills and two signers, using red and brown ink, on the dollar denominations. Counterfeit detectors for the dollar denominations were made on blue paper. The Franklin designs were adopted for the Continental Currency coin made a few months later and for the 1787 Fugio cents. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes. Printed by Hall and Sellers in Philadelphia. Denominations printed were the: $1/6, $1/3, $1/2, $2/3, $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7 and $8. [1]

February 26, 1777

An emission of $5,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the Continental Congress then meeting in Baltimore because Philadelphia was occupied by British troops. The location of the printers, Hall and Sellers, which had been mentioned on previous issues was left off of this and all subsequent Continental Congress issues. Although this emission is known as the Baltimore issue Newman suspects the bills could have been partly or entirely printed in Philadelphia. This was the last issue to use the phrase "The United Colonies." The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes. Detector bills were printed on blue paper. Denominations printed were: $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $30. [2]

April 11, 1778 - Yorktown

Emissions totaling $25,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by Continental Congress resolutions passed at Yorktown on April 11, May 22 and June 20, 1778 and resolutions passed at Philadelphia on July 30 and September 5, 1778. This issue is known as the Yorktown issue. Because of the extensive counterfeiting discovered in the May 20, 1777 issue this issue includes new engraved border cuts on the obverse and on the reverse newly redesigned letter type, typeset ornaments, border designs and new nature prints. Also, because of inflation denominations below $4 were eliminated and $20 and $40 notes were added. Even with the new designs there was extensive counterfeiting so that these bills were included in the January 2, 1779 recalled mentioned above in the May 20, 1777 issue. Also, this was the first issue which was not even accepted at face value by the Continental Congress at the date of issue. By April of 1778 the Congress officially valued the currency at $2.01 in Continental dollars for $1 in specie. The devaluation of continental currency had begun in most states as early as January 1777, by April of 1778 in some states the exchange was as high as $6 continental to $1 specie. Printed by Hall and Sellers who moved to Yorktown with the Congress from September 30,1777 - June 27, 1778. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes. Detector bills were printed on blue paper. Denominations include the: $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $30 and $40.[3]

January 14, 1779

Emissions totaling $95,051,695 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, were authorized by seven separate resolutions between January 14 and November 29, 1779. $50,000,000 of this was to be used to exchange the for the recall of the May 20, 1777 and April 11, 1778 issues. A new border cut used the legend "United States of North America" and on the reverse are a new series of leaf and cloth nature prints. Also emblems and mottos were cut in a smaller size and part of the emblem and left border of the obverse were printed in red with the remainder in black. Francis Hopkinson designed the new $35, $45, $70 and $80 bills (the last two replacing the $7 and $8), others designed the new $55 and $65 bills. Detector bills were printed in red and black on blue paper. By the date of this issue the Congress officially valued the currency at $7.42 in Contenental dollars for $1 in specie. Printed by Hall and Sellers Philadelphia The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes. Denominations printed were the: $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $20, $30, $35, $40, $45, $50, $55, $60, $65, $70 and $80.[4]

It is clear from the above that inflation was a serious issue during the war. Part of the problem was that the British forces and native Tory loyalists intentionally set about undermining the Continental currency through counterfeiting. New Hampshire President Josiah Bartlett (alleged ancestor of the fictional President Bartlett of the tv show "The West Wing") was noted for his frequent commentaries against the treasonous currency activities of Tories in the Colonies[5]. However, even without the wholesale undermining that the enemy engaged in, the Continental Dollar was doomed to high inflation for the simple reason that the Continental Congress had absolutely no assets with which to back its increasingly greater number of emitted notes (and the states were notorious at not fulfilling the obligations of the Congress), which was demonstrated after 1777 when the Congress refused to exchange notes for specie. This led to the saying, "not worth a continental" as the value of a continental at the end of the war ranged in a few pence.

The Morris Proposal for a National Decimal Coinage

When the Articles of Confederation became effective on March 1, 1781 article nine gave the Congress the "sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective states." In practice Congress was never able to regulate state coinage but Robert Morris, who had been appointed as Superintendent of Finance for the Confederation on February 20, 1781, was determined to exercise the government's right to produce coins.

On July 9, 1781 the Congress forwarded a letter to Superintendent Morris from the Continental agent in Boston, John Bradford, alerting the finance office to an experienced metallurgist named Benjamin Dudley who had recently emigrated from England to Boston. Bradford said Dudley could assay metal and roll it out into sheets of any thickness. Concerning the coining of coppers he could, "make the Apparatus and go through the whole process"; furthermore Dudley was, "a warm friend to our cause ... [and] possessed a most uncommon extensive Genius." (Morris Papers, vol. 3, p. 204). On July 16, 1781 Morris wrote in his diary that he had invited Dudley to Philadelphia. Benjamin Dudley arrived by October 23, 1781 and began to oversee preparations for establishing a national mint in Philadelphia.

From Morris's diary entries for November 12 and 16, 1781 we know Dudley was assaying various silver crowns and dollars "for our information respecting the Mint." (Morris, Papers, vol. 3, pp. 172 and 188). Meanwhile, Robert Morris, in close association with his assistant, Gouverneur Morris (no relation), proposed a plan for a totally new coinage system. On January 15, 1782 the coinage plan was submitted to Congress. This plan was based on a monetary unit called a mill, defined as 1/4 of a grain of silver. The proposal called for the minting of five denominations of coins, with values based on the decimal system. There would be two small copper coins: a five unit piece called a five and an eight unit piece called an eight. There would also be three silver coins: a 100 unit piece called a cent (sometimes referred to as a bit), a 500 unit piece called a quint and a 1,000 unit piece called a mark. There would not be a one unit piece.

Jefferson's Opposing Plan

Jefferson proposed a system based on the practical necessities of daily transactions rather than the complex accounting systems of the merchants. He adopted the dollar (equal to the Spanish American dollar) as his standard unit in a decimal system that was easy to use. The dollar would be divided into a tenth and a hundredth, both of which were close to currently circulating coins. The tenth was equal to the Spanish bit or half pistareen, while the hundredth was very close to the circulating coppers; thus the denominations were quite close to coins which were already in daily use. He also proposed a $10 gold piece, similar to the half Joe or double guinea. Jefferson also suggested, if needed, coins of 50, 25, 20, 5 and a 1/2 cents might be helpful. Jefferson felt these to be easy ratios for multiplication and division and certainly more intuitive than the English system or Morris's proposal. He felt the long term benefits of this simple and practical system outweighed the benefits of Morris's system, which, in order to adapt itself to the accounting systems of the merchants, made daily transactions cumbersome and difficult as they were based on 1/1440th of a dollar. Jefferson felt the merchants should convert their accounts to his more simple system. In his notes for a reply to a letter of May 1, 1784 from Robert Morris, Jefferson wrote:

The conversion of the merchants accounts is but a single operation. Once done it is done for ever. He is skillful and equal to the task. Tho the adoption of the Financier's Unit may relieve this one operation of the merchant yet it throws the difficulty on the farmer who knows what a dollar is but not what the Financier's Unit is. The farmer is ignorant. (Jefferson Papers, vol. 7, pp.193-194) Elizabeth Nuxoll has succinctly stated the Jeffersonian position,"It would be better to have merchants and states change their account books all at once, and have a simple mathematical system thereafter, than to accommodate merchants and states in the short run, but to leave Americans using multiples of 1/1440 of a dollar forever." (Nuxoll, p. 61)[6]

The Mint Act

By the end of the war, the Continental Congress had thoroughly had the end of paper currencies and their attendant inflationary pressures. Founding father Roger Sherman, the only one of the founding fathers to sign all four of the founding documents of the nation (Decl of Ind., Articles of Association of the Continental Congress, Articles of Confederation, and the US Constitution), was adamantly against allowing the nations finances and currency to come into such disarray and disrepute. Sherman was responsible for ensuring that the US Constitution contained the words "No State shall make any thing but Gold and Silver a tender in payment of debts", a prohibition which the present day government blithely ignores.

Sherman was also largely responsible for the passage of the Mint Act in 1792, also known as The Coinage Act, which established the United States Mint and set standards of coinage, although the common history credits its passage to Alexander Hamilton. This began the long American experiment with bi-metalism (and even, in this case, tri-metalism), in creating grain values in gold for 2.5, 5, and 10 dollar pieces, while using silver weights for dollar and fractional dollar denominations, and copper weights for pennies and half pennies.

"Eagleseach to be of the value of ten dollars or units, and to contain two hundred and forty-seven grains and four eighths of a grain of pure, or two hundred and seventy grains of standard gold."
"Half Eagleseach to be of the value of five dollars, and to contain one hundred and twenty-three grains and six eighths of a grain of pure, or one hundred and thirty-five grains of standard gold."
"Quarter Eagleseach to be of the value of two dollars and a half dollar, and to contain sixty-one grains and seven eighths of a grain of pure, or sixty-seven grains and four eighths of a grain of standard gold."
"Dollars or Unitseach to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenths parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver."
"Half Dollarseach to be of half the value of the dollar or unit, and to contain one hundred and eighty-five grains and ten sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or two hundred and eight grains of standard silver."
"Quarter Dollarseach to be of one fourth the value of the dollar or unit, and to contain ninety-two grains and thirteen sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or one hundred and four grains of standard silver."
"Dismeseach to be of the value of one tenth of a dollar or unit, and to contain thirty-seven grains and two sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or forty-one grains and three fifths parts of a grain of standard silver."
"Half Dismeseach to be of the value of one twentieth of a dollar, and to contain eighteen grains and nine sixteenths parts of a grain of pure, or twenty grains and four fifths parts of a grain of standard silver.
"Centseach to be of the value of one hundredth part of a dollar, and to contain eleven penny-weights of copper."
"Half Centseach to be of the value of half a cent, and to contain five penny-weights and a half a penny-weight of copper."

Until 1974 the value of the United States dollar was tied to and backed by silver, gold, or a combination of the two. From 1792 to 1873 the U.S. dollar was freely backed by both gold and silver at a ratio of 15:1 under a system known as bimetallism. In this system, the dollar could be exchanged for 371.25 grains (24.06 g) of silver or 24.75 grains (1.60 g) of gold.

In 1834, due to a drop in the value of silver, the 15:1 ratio was changed to a 16:1 ratio. This created a new U.S. dollar that was backed by 1.50 g (23.2 grains) of gold. However, the previous dollar had been represented by 1.60 g (24.75 grains) of gold. The result of this revaluation, which was the first-ever devaluation of the U.S. dollar, was that the value in gold of the dollar was reduced by 6%.

Wikipedia:The Bank of North America

The Bank of North America was chartered in 1781 by the Continental Congress and opened on January 7, 1782, at the prodding of Finance Minister Robert Morris, and was rechartered in 1784. This was thus the first modern United States bank. It was succeeded by the First Bank of the United States. After Robert Morris became superintendent of finance in May 1781 continental currency had ceased. Morris persuaded congress to charter the bank of North America, the first private commercial bank in the United States. He deposited large quantities of gold and silver coin and bills of exchange obtained through loans from Holland and France. He then issued new paper currency backed by this supply. He also managed to meet the interest rates on the debt which he estimated to be about thirty million dollars.

The First Bank of the United States

The First Bank of the United States was proposed by Alexander Hamilton to relieve the war debt from the United States Revolutionary War, develop a national currency, and dispose of the western territories. Housed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (in Carpenter's Hall for several years) when that city was the capital, it was chartered in 1791 for 20 years, and thus expired in 1811. It followed the Bank of North America and it was succeeded by the Second Bank of the United States.

The establishment of the Bank raised early questions of constitutionality in the new government. Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, argued that the Bank was an effective means to achieve the authorized powers of the government. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson argued that the Bank violated traditional property law and that its relevance to constitutionally authorized powers was weak.

Tenets the bank was based on include: 1. Sound finance, with a balanced government budget deficit, except during wartime emergency 2. Sound banking, with reserves in gold 3. Lender last resort availability 4. The currency notes issued could serve as instruments of national policy

However, great controversy arose over this bank, in that it was founded with capital of the United States Government, but gave half ownership to european banking interests, who ran the bank into debt to the tune of twice its initial capitalization. When congress discovered the malfeasance, the bank's charter was not renewed and a movement arose to prevent the government's elected officials from being persuaded by foreign influences to engage in such enterprises again.

The 1804 Dollar

The 1804 silver dollar is one of the rarest and most famous coins in the world, due to its unique history.

In 1834, the U.S. Department of State was creating sets of coins to present as gifts to certain rulers in Asia in exchange for trade advantages. However, the United States Mint ceased production of silver dollars in 1804. In order to have quality pieces for the set, new coins were struck for the presentation sets and dated 1804. However, it was common practice at the mint to continue to use dies from the previous year as long as they were usable, and all coins reported as being struck during 1804 were dated 1803. Therefore, when the mint struck these new 1804 coins thirty years later, they actually created a coin that had not previously existed.

The first 1804 silver dollars minted in 1834 were presented as gifts to the King of Siam and the Sultan of Muscat. These silver dollars are known among numismatists as original 1804 dollars. Eight of these coins are known to exist.

A single 1804 silver dollar was minted in 1857. This particular coin was actually struck onto an existing coin (A Swiss "Shooting Thaler" coin), and it is believed the coin was minted as an experiment by employees of the United States Mint.

Between 1858 and 1860 a small number of 1804 silver dollars were illegally struck by an employee of the Mint named Theodore Eckfeldt, and sold to coin collectors through a store in Philadelphia. The number of coins minted is believed to be between ten and fifteen, struck with two separate coin dies, known to numismatists as "Class II" and "Class III" strikes. The illegally minted coins (which are not classified as counterfeit because they were actually produced at the United States Mint) were hunted down and retrieved by officials of the Mint, with most of them being destroyed. One single Class II coin is known to exist (currently held at the Smithsonian Institution), while six or seven of the class III coins are believed to exist today.

Popular legend states that the rare coin given by King Rama IV of Siam to Anna Leonowens, as seen in the story of Anna and the King of Siam and the movie The King and I, was indeed the same 1804 silver dollar produced in 1834 as a gift to Siam. This coin was kept in Annas family for several generations, until in the 1950s it was sold by a pair of British ladies claiming to be Annas descendants. This coin was displayed as part of the King of Siam collection at the Smithsonian Institution in 1983, where it was given the name the King of Coins. It was purchased by an anonymous collector in 2001, who purchased the entire set of coins from the King of Siam collection for over $4 million.

On August 30, 1999, an original 1804 silver dollar from the 1834 minting was sold at auction for over $4 million.

The records of the United States Mint state that 19,570 silver dollars were minted in 1804, but numismatists believe these were all dated 1803; it was a standard practice of the Mint to continue to use coin dies from the previous year if the dies were in decent condition.

Various silver mints have produced commemorative replicas of the 1804 dollar over the years, and these replicas are widely available to coin collectors. The replicas have little worth as collectors items, with their silver content fetching them a typical price of between ten and twenty-five dollars. These duplicate 1804 silver dollars can frequently be found on Ebay and other auction sites. Con artists and perpetrators of fraud have been known to attempt to sell these replicas for large amounts of money, claiming that they are the original 1804 silver dollar.

The Original 13th Amendment

This movement resulted in the passage of the original 13th Amendment, known as the Titles of Nobility Amendment, which enacted constitutional consequences for those who violated the constitutional prohibitions on accepting titles or other emoluments from foreign governments, including loss of citizenship, loss of ability to vote, hold office, or be an officer in a US corporation. The point was to prevent agents of foreign powers from holding office or lobbying congress for passage of laws as destructive as the Bank of the United States Charter.

Despite claims to the contrary, there is growing scholarly historical evidence that the TONA was properly ratified by Virginia shortly prior to the invasion of the US by British troops in the War of 1812 and that the purpose of this invasion was to destroy any record of its passage.

Following the war, it was commonly accepted that the TONA had been properly ratified, although over the next 50 years a curious phenomenon occured in that native owned publishing houses that printed copies of the US Constitution with the TONA in it were bought by european investors, then ceased printing the TONA in their publications of Constitution. One can find state archive records dating from as late as 1850 (including published textbooks) that printed the TONA as valid law, but this generally ceased by the post-Civil War period.

The Second Bank of the United States

Following the War, it became clear that those intent on profligate public spending were intent on enabling their fiscal irresponsibility through expanding fractional reserve banking. The problem, though, was a general lack of reliable currency and credit for merchant activity domestically or internationally. Currency printed by the Bank of Massachusetts was of dubious and heavily discounted value when it was used to pay for cotton in the southern states, and vice versa.

Full reserve local banks did not extend much credit, while fractional reserve banks were prone to crashing due to local bank runs. For this reason, the Second Bank of the United States was founded in 1816, five years after the expiration of the First Bank of the United States out of desperation to stabilize the currency. This second bank was patterned after the first. The legality of the Bank was upheld in the 1819 Supreme Court of the United States case McCulloch v. Maryland that also declared null and void any state law contrary to a federal law made in pursuance of the Constitution.

However, renewal of the Second Bank of the United States was vetoed on July 10, 1832 by Andrew Jackson, so it declined until 1836. Henry Clay and Nicholas Biddle had made the Bank a campaign issue. Tensions were still very high when on August 16, 1841 then-President John Tyler vetoed a bill that called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. This sparked a massive riot outside the White House from enraged Whig Party members.

The Second Bank of the United States is largely remembered for its fraud and corruption. The head of the Second Bank was William Jones. Jones, a friend of James Madison, had declared bankruptcy himself in 1815. He allowed political objectives to guide lending and gave loans to Congress without demanding payment. Under him, the Second Bank of the United States was run on whim. There was little oversight of the operations of the many branch offices, allowing widespread chaos among the branches. The worst of these branches was the Baltimore Branch. James Buchanan (manager) and James McCulloch (cashier) of the Baltimore Branch had unsecured debts of $1.4 million with no collateral. McCulloch had pocketed another huge sum, without the knowledge of his partner in crime, Buchanan.

At the time, there had been a post-war economic boom. American crops were in demand in Europe, due to the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars. The Bank aided this boom by its uncontrolled lending. At the time, land sales for speculation were being encouraged. This lending allowed almost anyone to borrow money and speculate in land, sometimes doubling or even tripling the prices of land. The land sales for 1819, alone, totaled some 55 million acres (220,000 km²). With such a boom, hardly anyone noticed the widespread fraud occurring at the Bank.

However, in the summer of 1818, the national bank managers realized the over-extension occurring in the bank. A policy of contraction began, and loans were recalled. This recalling of loans curtailed land sales. Simultaneously, the US production boom stopped due to the recovery of Europe. The result was the Panic of 1819 and the situation leading up to McCulloch v. Maryland.

Maryland adopted a policy to restrict banks, by placing a tax on any bank that was not chartered by the state legislature. This tax was either 2% of all assets or a flat rate of $15,000. That meant that the Baltimore Branch would have to pay this hefty tax. McCulloch filed suit against the state in a county court. The case made its way through the court system up to the United States Supreme Court.

The California Gold Rush

The Gold Coinage Act was an act of the United States Congress which allowed for the minting of gold coins. It was approved on March 3, 1849.

Civil War Currencies

Reconstruction Economics and Bimetalism

The Morgan Dollar Morgan Dollar A silver dollar coin issued by the United States government from 1878-1904 and again for one more year in 1921. The Morgan Dollar is named after its designer, George T. Morgan who designed the obverse and reverse of this coin. Morgan's monogram appears near Lady Liberty's neck on the obverse. The dollar was made law by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878.

Specifications

Obverse Design: Lady Liberty
Reverse Design: A Bald Eagle holding arrows and an olive branch
Edge: Reeded
Weight: 26.73 grams
Diameter: 38.1 millimeters
Composition: 90% Silver, 10% Copper
Silver Content: 0.77344 ounces

History

When the dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commerical use since the last Seated Liberty dollar of 1873. The Trade Dollar was minted during this time period but was for trade in the orient. The dollar was continuously minted until 1904 when the supply of dollars in circulation was high and there was an absence of silver bullion. Then in 1918, the Pittman Act called for over 270 million coins to be destroyed for silver content. In 1921, the coinage of the Morgan Dollar resumed for that year and was replaced by the Peace Dollar commemorative that would become standard issue. Since 1921, many Morgan Dollars have been melted, mostly when silver prices escalate and they yield silver bullion.

Caches of Carson City Dollars were discovered and were sold to coin collectors by the federal government in the late 60s. These dollars were uncirculated and are called GSAs and come in holds that mimic the holds used for Proof, Silver Eisenhower Dollars.

Large Notes

A large-sized note is a bill of any denomination of U.S. currency printed between 1863 and 1929. This is in contrast with small-sized notes, which were printed starting in 1928. Large-sized notes exist in denominations of $1 through $10000. The most common large-sized notes are the Federal Reserve Notes of Series 1914 and 1918. These are detailed below, but are only a subset of all large-sized notes made by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP).

Denominations for Series 1914/1918


Denomination	Portrait	Nickname	Design on back		$5	Abraham Lincoln	Fin	Arrival of the Pilgrims		$10	Andrew Jackson	Sawbuck	Farming with horses (left), American Industry (right)		$20	Grover Cleveland	Double sawbuck	Steam locomotive, Steamship		$50	Ulysses S Grant	Half C-note	Panama (center) and 2 Steam Ships		$100	Benjamin Franklin	C-note	Farmer with Wheat (left), The Roman god Mercury with package (right), Three women with cornucopiae (center)		$500	John Marshall		American Revolutionary War		$1000	Alexander Hamilton		Bald Eagle

According to the BEP, the small-sized notes measure 2.61 by 6.14 by 0.0043 inches. Large-sized notes were 3.125 by 7.4218 inches.

A large-sized note can also refer to a large-denomination banknote in various currencies.

Dollar

Stephensonia

Authored entries

Community: United States Dollar

In Irons: The Continental Dollar and the Revolutionary Economy

February 17, 1776

February 26, 1777

April 11, 1778 - Yorktown

January 14, 1779

Other Revolutionary War and Post-War Currencies

The Morris Proposal for a National Decimal Coinage

Jefferson's Opposing Plan

The Mint Act

Wikipedia:The Bank of North America

The First Bank of the United States

The 1804 Dollar

The Original 13th Amendment

The Second Bank of the United States

The California Gold Rush

Civil War Currencies

Reconstruction Economics and Bimetalism

Specifications

History

Large Notes

Denominations for Series 1914/1918

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913

The 16th Amendment and the Cross of Gold

The 1929 Crash

Roosevelt and the National Emergency of 1933

The Bretton Woods Agreement

Nixon Dumps the Gold Standard

Reagan Brings Back Gold Coin

The Liberty Dollar and the Sherman Dollar

The Money Supply

External links

References