How many coins have been demonetized?

well, you just can't exchange it for silver.
I believe those are still legal tender.

 

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Yes they are still spendable and they are legal tender.

Coinage Act of 1965 Sec 102

All coins and currencies of the United States (including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banking associations) regardless of when coined or issued are legal tender for all debts public and private, public charges, taxes, duties, and dues.

The section in () was included to make sure people couldn't claim that Federal Reserve notes, Federal Reserve Banknotes, or National Bank notes weren't legal tender because they were issued by private organizations and not the Federal government.

 

Which in my mind makes the fakes coming out of China even worse. If any coin or currency ever produced as money in/by the US is still legal tender, then those in China producing the fakes are nothing more then common criminals, produceing counterfit money.

Dave

 

The only US coin that has ever been demonitized is the Trade Dollar (in 1887); but a side effect of the Coinage Act of 1965 caused it to be re-monetized since, so it is still legal tender (though a genuine Trade Dollar has much more numismatic value than its face value anyway, so it's basically a moot point... but if you were so inclined, you could spend it for $1 worth of goods and services.).

 

Actually, it is not, according to Chinese laws. Many people have been prosecuted in China for producing and selling counterfeit coins. However the Chinese government apparently doesn't see it as an especially high priority for enforcement until Chinese coins are faked; they crack down really quickly when they catch people faking Chinese Pandas, for example.

 

Correct; the silver redemption is no longer valid but they are still considered to be legal tender for their stated face value.

 

I just looked it up, you are right.

http://narademo.umiacs.umd.edu/cgi-...home/images.umiacs/nara-cd/28/23,28-2293A.JPG

Sec 102. All coins and currencies of the United States (including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banking associations), regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal tender for all debts, public and pivate, public charges, taxes, duties, and dues.

 

I believe that date is 1948.

 

From the Dec. 1, 2008 issue of Coin World article 'Chinese coin counterfeiter legal in China':

 

The reason for the 1949 date is because that was the year when the Communists took control over the country and the opposition fled to Taiwan and set up the Republic of China. So from before that they don't care, after that it infringes on their power.

 

Although not minted in or by the United States, the Spanish Real de a Ocho "Pieces of Eight" was legal tender in the U.S. until it was demonetized by an Act of Congress in 1857.

 

I've heard that that is the historical reason that stocks on the NY Stock Exchange were traded in units of 1/8 until the mid 90s. Can anyone verify this?

 

This is quoted from the Wall Street Journal, June 6, 1997 page C1 [emphasis added]

"The U.S. is the only major market in the world that doesn't use decimals to quote securities prices. U.S. stocks have traded in eighths since colonial days, when Spanish coins were sliced into eight pieces for use as currency and called "bits." As an interim step, the exchange will begin quoting in 1/16 increments, half the 1/8 increments in which it has traded stocks since the exchange was established in 1792. The interim step of 1/16ths would help brokers prepare themselves for decimal-based trading."