Coin Week: "The Great U.S. Mint Silver Coin Swindle"

Interesting article.... I did not realize the Mint's efforts were so extensive. And yet, I did get a silver dime in change recently... Just lucky I guess....Cheers, RickO

What a shame to let all that silver coin into circulation then do all that work to recover it. Amazing

@TurtleCat said:

My supposition is they needed them until 1965 to back the silver certificates. Then they came up with the brilliant idea of selling them to the public at enough profit to be worthwhile (at the time).

Yeah but those GSA sales didn't start till 1973 I think.. maybe it took the Government that long to remember they still had them,
Bob

@BobSav said:

@TurtleCat said:

My supposition is they needed them until 1965 to back the silver certificates. Then they came up with the brilliant idea of selling them to the public at enough profit to be worthwhile (at the time).

Yeah but those GSA sales didn't start till 1973 I think.. maybe it took the Government that long to remember they still had them,
Bob

They were literally holding onto hundreds of bags of CC minted dollars that had been stored at the Philadelphia mint into the 1960's. They were the bigger part of the GSA sales. There were some non- Carson City dollars in the sale, but they were a small part of the sale and largely overlooked now.

@CoinJunkie said:
Interesting history. Swindle in the title strikes me as hyperbolic clickbait, however.

That is not the title I put on the article, but authors do not have the final say in such matters. I did not like it either.

The US government needed the silver for the Vietnam war which was to be fought with high-tech weapons.

@MasonG said:
So- you take bullion worth more than face value, spend money turning it into coinage worth- well... face value, then melt it and you've got your bullion back.

I think the "swindle" is that taxpayers paid to have this done.

What most collectors do not know is that in the second half of 1967 the Mint secretly began clawing some of that silver back, melting down dimes and quarters and refining it back into .999 fine bars that could be sold at a higher price than the face value on the coins so destroyed.

The coins were already in possession of the government. Why wouldn't they maximize the value of that asset?

@MasonG said:

@CoinJunkie said:
The coins were already in possession of the government. Why wouldn't they maximize the value of that asset?

According to the OP:

"Most U.S. coin collectors know that the United States Mint continued to pump 1964-dated 90% silver dimes, quarters and half dollars into circulation through 1965 and into early 1966. What most collectors do not know is that in the second half of 1967 the Mint secretly began clawing some of that silver back..."

That makes it sound like the mint was recovering coins from circulation. I suppose "clawing back" could have a different meaning, but I'm not sure what that might be.

During testimony before a House Subcommittee on Appropriations on February 27, 1968, Mint Director Eva Adams said “During 1967 the Mint was assigned an additional task resulting from the decision to recall circulating coins from the Federal Reserve System in order that silver Dimes and Quarters could be held as reserve inventories for emergency situations. The Mint will separate the mixed lots of subsidiary coins returned, retaining the silver coins.”

I guess it depends on how you read the above. To me, the Federal Reserve System is part of the government, so I stand by my original statement. If the government was actually demanding that retail banks return silver coins in exchange for clad, I'd feel differently.