How much was a gold $20 Double Eagle worth in the late 1800s?

Facts matter, reality matters. That’s all - if that’s not for you, it will affect how others view you in the world.

 

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Everything looks great when you're cruisin' along on the highway.

 

I like your optimism, but $35K is too low. Or 20% is too high.

Rent, some state taxes, rent or a mortgage...insurance.....you'd be hard-pressed to save 10%.

 

As a prepper I keep silver coins around for barter if anything were to happen, would be about the same way it was back n the 1800's. Back then $20 gold piece was worth $20. Now with gold so high its almost worth $3000 but the gov will only back it for $20, so.why can we buy them.for $20 from.the mint . Makes no sense, the whole gold standard is gone.

 

Do you keep constitutional?

Just asking because I never really understood why people buy Mercury Dimes & Washington Quarters.

I've been told it's because if we ever return to a barter system in the event of societal collapse such small silver coins would be useful.

But like...why not just buy American Silver Eagles?

It's not like silver coins are indestructible. A Silver Eagle can be cut up into 4 or 8 pieces for smaller transactions just like the Spanish Milled Dollar used to be divided up into "bits".

 

Yeah i buy egales and mainly 1 to 10 oz silver bars...the 1, 5, 10 oz bars we figure will be good for barter and egales for prime money I guess...lol. I mainly buy silver for proffit. I bought my house buying/selling silver at 14 a oz and selling for 32 a oz on year.

 

I assume you meant "why can't we buy them for $20?" Of course this is one of the major reasons why precious metal standards for currency and precious metal coin issues were discontinued. As communication about markets, globally really, improved, the ability to trade government issued coins for more than their face value quickly got out of control. It would be crazy to be connected to precious metal values today with the flocculation in the markets monitored by the second. It's a lovely idea, but way not possible in any practical sense. What has been the value range of bitcoins over the last year! Haha, if we still had silver certificate currency all of your dollar bills would have doubled in value - but only if you traded them in, and what would happen to the US treasury if everyone suddenly wanted to do that? Wow!

 

that turning in silver certificate reminds me of a girlfriend that worked at a gas station and some kids came in trying to get candy with 20 silver egales...she knew the kids parents, fearing they would take the coins elsewhere she gave the kids $20 for the coins and used the $20 bill for payment, when she got off work she took the coins back to the kids house and found out grandpa's collection had been taken, by the time they figured it all out, rare quarters ect were spent all over town and the 20 silver egales were all they got back.

 

‍♂️

 

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My Grandmother was born in 1890 in a small town in upper Michigan. When she stopped going to High School she got a job as a switchboard operator in a town a few miles away. Had to walk to work of course, using snowshoes in the Winter.

In the late 1960's she had to come live with us. When she found out that I collected coins, this jogged her memory and she told me that when she was working at the telephone company she got a $2-1/2 gold piece in her pay envelope one Christmas. I naturally asked if she had kept it, and she said no, the $2-1/2 was her entire pay for the week, and she took it home and gave it to her Mother like she did every week, and her Mother gave her back the 50 cents she was normally allowed to keep for herself. She lived at home until she married Grandpa around 1915, so somewhere between 1907 or so and 1915 or so.

Probably the only gold coin she ever owned in her life, if only for a few hours, which was why the memory of it stuck with her for over half a century.

 

Watch a couple John Wayne type movies for the answer.

If I didn't have to pay income taxes, I could save 20+%.
If I didn't have to pay sales taxes i'd be able to save another 10%.
Car insurance, health insurance...etc.
its a different time from when people got paid in real money.

 

Those were the real days....

 

The average person living in the 1870s United States, never saw any gold coins. Your weekly salary maybe 1.50 if you where lucky. The only people with Double Eagles/ politicians/bankers/railway execs/bank robbers/capitalists/cattle barons.....

 

So then all those settlers who took the wagon trains west were bank robbers & cattle barons?

I don’t think so.

I think you’re probably underestimating how much wealth the average person could accumulate over a long period of time.

A wagon & oxen cost around $500 which means normal, average, middle class people who lived frugally could save up $500 over time even if they weren’t rich and didn’t have much money.

 

Those "settlers" that saved up $500 for their wagon/ oxen/ supplies where probably better off then most back in 1850s.
Back in those "Good Ole Days" the average American made just enough to cover the basic needs. For a factory worker in a Pittsburgh Steel Mill to save up $500-$1000 Dollars would have taken 20 years or more. It would be the same as an "Amazon" assembly line worker saving up to buy a 5 Million dollar house. Today, people have a lot of extra money left over to buy more extravagant goods and services, not at all in 1800-1899. Furthermore, why would a New Yorker save $1000 then risk her/ his life to trek across unknown territory, have to worry about getting robbed/ scalped/ dying from the elements. You could retire on a thousand dollars...

 

Even if it took 20 years it means it was still possible.

If you look at my original post I asked if perhaps gold coins were how people stored the wealth of their life savings.

So if someone saved up $500 over 20 years that's still 25 gold $20 Double Eagles.

Even if we assume $500 was out of the range of most people if it was doable by some people than $50 or $100 should've been doable by most.

My point though is that surely most people could've saved up enough money over decades to have at least some gold coinage yet people are acting like the average person never owned a gold coin in their entire life. An entire life is a LONG time to save and even small amounts add up over such a long period of time.