US aluminum coinage proposal

shirohniichan

Many of us know that the Mint considered replacing copper cents with aluminum back in 1974.

Did you know the Mint considered striking aluminum 5 cent pieces back in 1867? At the time aluminum was worth the same amount as silver, so the Mint considered striking 5 cent coins in aluminum of the same weight as the half dime. It seemed like a logical way to prolong die life since striking 5 cent pieces in nickel meant dies wore out quickly because of the hardness of the metal.

mdwoods

I'm glad they didn't. I have a few Aluminum darkside coins. They seem more like a token than a coin. I know Aluminum was very expensive in days of yore. I read somewhere that Napolean had a set of Aluminum dinnerware that was used for special occasions. At that time, I think it was very rare in a refined state.

RKKay

Pollock quotes a memo from the Mint Director to Mint officers:

"Referring to the experiments made at the Mint on aluminum for coinage, and to the manifest advantages of this metal for the fractional coinage over other metals as far as the same can be determined by experiments on only a small scale, it is ordered that the capacities and adaptation of this metal for coinage be tested on a working scale."

BigAlan

At that time, I think it was very rare in a refined state.

Before the days of electricity it was.

Conder101

When the Washington Monument was being completed the capstone was a 100 oz pyramid of aluminum. this capstone spent some time in the display window at Tiffany's being shown off as the largest piece of aluminum in existance at the time.

The mint also considered the use of aluminum in dimes, quarters and halves to be used for the redemption of fractional currency rather than using silver.