Here's one reason why we stopped making silver coins in 1964...
PhillyJoe
Posts: 2,700 ✭✭✭✭
I think one of the most dramatic changes the U.S. Mint implemented since it started making coins in 1792 was the removal of silver as the dominant metal in 1964.
To me, coinage was either made up to 1964 or after 1964.
Profit margins were slim on half dollars because of their size. If people started hoarding Kennedys or the price of silver spiked, the Mint would be operating at a loss. (the purpose of the Mint is to return money to the Treasury not suck it out.)
In June of 1964, here are your raw material costs:
silver - $1.29 oz.
nickel - $ .82 lb.
copper - $ .32 lb.
zinc - $ .14 lb
One pound of alloy (90% silver & 10% copper) produced 36.29 half dollars
36.29 halves have a face value of $18.14
less: cost of metal.........................$16.99
Less: manufacturing costs.............$ .13
Total costs.....................................$17.12
Profit..............................................$ 1.02 (6%)
While I would love to see real silver coins make a return, it can never happen.
That's all for now. I'm off to my favorite 1964 burger joint where a hamburger, fries and shake costs $.50.
Not each; that was the total.
Joe
To me, coinage was either made up to 1964 or after 1964.
Profit margins were slim on half dollars because of their size. If people started hoarding Kennedys or the price of silver spiked, the Mint would be operating at a loss. (the purpose of the Mint is to return money to the Treasury not suck it out.)
In June of 1964, here are your raw material costs:
silver - $1.29 oz.
nickel - $ .82 lb.
copper - $ .32 lb.
zinc - $ .14 lb
One pound of alloy (90% silver & 10% copper) produced 36.29 half dollars
36.29 halves have a face value of $18.14
less: cost of metal.........................$16.99
Less: manufacturing costs.............$ .13
Total costs.....................................$17.12
Profit..............................................$ 1.02 (6%)
While I would love to see real silver coins make a return, it can never happen.
That's all for now. I'm off to my favorite 1964 burger joint where a hamburger, fries and shake costs $.50.
Not each; that was the total.
Joe
The Philadelphia Mint: making coins since 1792. We make money by making money. Now in our 225th year thanks to no competition. 
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Probably not, but it is something to ponder.
******
that's quite a broad statement. i think it might be a little more correct to say we won't have silver coins of the standard weights with the denominations we're used to such as 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and a dollar. however, if there were to be some stability in the price of silver we could certainly see a denomination valued close to that per ounce price. remember that during most of early U.S. coinage there was a continual fluctuation in weight of our coins as the value of silver in relation to the value of gold changed, or as the supply of either changed with discovery. our uncle continually held the price of gold steady which is all that allowed the use of precious metal in circulating coinage.
what would need to happen in the present would be the same thing, what would have needed to take place in 1964 to continue using silver in circulating coinage, either a weight adjustment or the simpler denomination change with a stable price. your reasoning that it can never return is predicated on the belief that the current world pricing economics won't change.
they might and probably will.
al h.
<< <i>While I would love to see real silver coins make a return, it can never happen.
that's quite a broad statement. i think it might be a little more correct to say we won't have silver coins of the standard weights with the denominations we're used to such as 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and a dollar. however, if there were to be some stability in the price of silver we could certainly see a denomination valued close to that per ounce price. remember that during most of early U.S. coinage there was a continual fluctuation in weight of our coins as the value of silver in relation to the value of gold changed, or as the supply of either changed with discovery. our uncle continually held the price of gold steady which is all that allowed the use of precious metal in circulating coinage.
what would need to happen in the present would be the same thing, what would have needed to take place in 1964 to continue using silver in circulating coinage, either a weight adjustment or the simpler denomination change with a stable price. your reasoning that it can never return is predicated on the belief that the current world pricing economics won't change.
they might and probably will.
al h.
Yep. Hey, I would love to see a circulating one-ounce silver coin with a face value of $20.
--Severian the Lame
<< <i>That's all for now. I'm off to my favorite 1964 burger joint where a hamburger, fries and shake costs $.50.
Not each; that was the total.
Joe
Yea, I remember going to town with my Dad on Saturday (only day we could go as farming took up the rest of the week) Dad gave me and my brother a silver dollar each (part of our pay for the week) and we went to the drug store fountain and bought a hamburger fries shake and a comic book with that dollar.
Ahh, those were some great times.
coin a $5 and $10 silver coin. take the time to reintroduce the public to the Sac, and maybe larger bimetal $2 coin.
here comes the good part.... burn all the $1, $5, and $10 U.S. FRNs, let the people and the Fed deal with it. of course, still using the new $20s, $50s, $100s notes. (maybe they can go later with a platinum/gold backed alloyed coins!)
it's probably possible, but it would do nothing other than make a few people happy, and hassle the rest into accepting it. i just like the idea of the U.S. telling the Fed to stick it, by roasting, "cashing out", all the low denomination notes in circulation.
really, how many bills $10 and under does someone carry at once? i'd like that amount jingling in my pocket, and shiny when i pay for something like a cheeseburger, fries and a coke, $5, *ting*.
(I know you meant to say 1964-dated)
<< <i>Actually they stopped making silver coinage in 1965 (June, I believe). The 1964 coinage was "frozen" until then.
(I know you meant to say 1964-dated) >>
You are correct and I am
Now go sell some defective WI quarters.
Joe
<< <i>Yeah, I remember those days. Dad giving me a dollar for a hard weeks' work. Then on the weekend we would go to town and I would have to beg or tap dance on the sidewalk in order to get the other $5 I needed to get a hamburger and a comic book.
Ahh, those were some great times.
I had to get up in the morning, at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill and pay millowner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our dad would kill us and dance about on our graves, singing Hallelujah!
Obscurum per obscurius
<< <i>
I had to get up in the morning, at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill and pay millowner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our dad would kill us and dance about on our graves, singing Hallelujah! >>
I concur.
...and we liked it.
There were also physical constraints on the continuing use of silver as coining metal. The
nation was in the midst of a tremendous coin shortage caused largely by the rising cost
of silver and the government was increasing mintages at a rate which would deplete all
silver reserves in only a few years. If the switch weren't made it was possible that the
coin shortage would have continued even as the silver supply was exhausted which would
have been devastating to merchants, consumers, and tax payers.
The switch to base metal coinage did facilitate more inflation but it ended the hoarding of
the circulating medium even with the lower denomination coins. Note that cent and nickel
production were not greatly affected but the psychology change with the larger coins did
have the effect of getting these circulating more freely also.