How long did gold coins circulate in the West?

291fifth

Were they still in active use after 1880?

1890?

1900?

Active use means they are regularly seen in everyday business as opposed to being used primarily as bank reserves.

Elcontador

My grandmother hid some gold coins in 1933 when the Feds demanded that they be withdrawn from circulation. We still have them. There was a 1901 S and 1904 S Double Eagle, and about $45 face in Indian Head gold circa 1909-1914. With the exception of the 04 S $20, all coins look like they had been through many hands

adamlaneus

Just an ancedote of an old story I read in an obscure newspaper:

Boonville, CA in the 1850-1860s timeframe.

"Had to sell a horse and got an octagonal slug worth $50".

Oof.

Longacre

It's too bad Dr. Kagin is not a member of these boards. I would love to read his response to this question. A question of this historical magnitude should be answered by a doctor. I would love to hear his take on pioneer gold as well.

sumnom

Did you have to bring up "Dr." Kagin?

coinnuttius

They still do...

DaveG

Several years ago, my wife interviewed a woman who grew up in Michigan in the late 19th Century and who honeymooned in California in 1914. (Of course, I had her ask about gold coins!)

The woman said that she recalled her parents having quarter and half eagles in their "coin purses" when she was growing up and she particularly recalled that Californians disliked currency and preferred gold coins in 1914.

If you happen to wander ATS, you'll find a thread where RWB discusses that the Treasury actively discouraged the use of gold coins in commerce starting in 1917, so I suspect that the use of gold coins faded during/after WWI.

After all, no quarter eagles were minted in SF after 1879, nor were any minted in Denver (except for 1911, 1914 and 1925), although certainly half eagles were minted at both mints. However, $5 was a lot of money in the teens and twenties.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<If you happen to wander ATS, you'll find a thread where RWB discusses that the Treasury actively discouraged the use of gold coins in commerce starting in 1917, so I suspect that the use of gold coins faded during/after WWI>>

Good point. Quoting from Hepburn's book "A History of Currency in the United States" regarding WWI:
"... a premium on gold did appear in California and other Coast States, along the Mexican Border, and on the East Side in in New York, ..."
Hepburn felt that was a terrible mistake since so much gold was available.

The Treasury reversed its policy in 1922. I wonder if gold coins staged a comeback in California. That was a mistake too. Came the depression and FDR was elected in November, but took office in March. Nervous people with $ stocked up on gold. The FRB's had insufficient gold backing to issue more Federal Reserve Notes. Hence the emergency introduction of the small size Federal Reserve Bank Notes.