A question or two about the importance of the legal tender status of coinage
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Half cents and cents were minted with the intent that they circulate domestically. Yet copper (and copper-nickel) coins issued before the bronze coinage beginning in 1864 were not legal tender. The reduction of the legal tender limit on these coins to four cents gave the banks an excuse to refuse to redeem them for silver. Yet the mint did redeem them.
The trade dollar was never intended to be used domestically. Yet it was legal tender for amounts up to five dollars until its legal tender status was revoked in 1876.
Why was legal tender status important important in the 19th century?
Subsequently all prior issues of the U.S. mint including half cents, pre-1864 cents, and trade dollars were declared legal tender at face value without limitation. As far as I can tell that piece of legislation was utterly useless. What am I missing?
The trade dollar was never intended to be used domestically. Yet it was legal tender for amounts up to five dollars until its legal tender status was revoked in 1876.
Why was legal tender status important important in the 19th century?
Subsequently all prior issues of the U.S. mint including half cents, pre-1864 cents, and trade dollars were declared legal tender at face value without limitation. As far as I can tell that piece of legislation was utterly useless. What am I missing?
The strangest things seem suddenly routine.
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I would add to it some notes about limitations on legal tender.
The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 provided that gold and silver coins were legal tender without limitation. If there were limitations placed on them, that would have been in later legislation.
The legislation authorizing the bronze cent and two cent pieces limited their legal tender status to ten and twenty cents respectively. However, the next year their legal tender limitation was reduced to four cents.
The nickel three cent piece was legal tender to the amount of sixty cents, and the shield nickel was legal tender to the amount of one dollar.
The Coinage Act of 1873 declared all silver coins legal tender to five dollars. It also declared the nickel and bronze coinage legal tender to twenty-five cents. Then in 1876, the legal tender status of the trade dollar was revoked.
This should help fill in some of the gaps in the earlier thread.
<< <i>And all to soon will be an item of history as all coinage is eleminated. In the near future there will be only credit and debit cards. Cash will be a thing of the past. >>
I hope this doesn't happen until after I croak!
<< <i>The Coinage Act of 1873 declared all silver coins legal tender to five dollars. It also declared the nickel and bronze coinage legal tender to twenty-five cents. Then in 1876, the legal tender status of the trade dollar was revoked. >>
And just to fill the final gap, the trade dollar's legal tender status was reinstated by the Coinage Act of 1965 (along with half cents, and the rest). So, go ahead and buy your cup o' joe with a trade dollar -- it's legal!
<< <i>And all to soon will be an item of history as all coinage is eleminated. In the near future there will be only credit and debit cards. Cash will be a thing of the past. >>
I've already started my credit card collection. I have about 150 in a nice holder. I love the holograms! I started collecting them back in the late 80's.
Seriously.
Jonathan
<< <i>
<< <i>The Coinage Act of 1873 declared all silver coins legal tender to five dollars. It also declared the nickel and bronze coinage legal tender to twenty-five cents. Then in 1876, the legal tender status of the trade dollar was revoked. >>
And just to fill the final gap, the trade dollar's legal tender status was reinstated by the Coinage Act of 1965 (along with half cents, and the rest). So, go ahead and buy your cup o' joe with a trade dollar -- it's legal! >>
That may be true, but folk have accepted all kinds of things that weren't legal tender in payment of debts. They've accepted postage stamps--gummed backs and all. They've accepted copper hard times tokens and merchant's tokens. I guess if they had Starbucks gift cards, they'd accept those, too. Not only that, but the various forms of legal tender did not always (in fact usually didn't) trade on par.
My question, I guess is Was there really any difference between a merchant's token and a cent apart from who made them--I mean, before Congress criminalized the making and issuing of bronze one and two cent tokens?
Camelot
<< <i>What about legal and....tender? >>
You mean like the Olsen twins?
Check out the Southern Gold Society