The Authorized US Coin That Was Never Struck Before we get to that coin, here's some excerpts from the USA Congressional Coinage Act of 1872: Congress titled the document MONEY LAW and subtitled it The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 Chapter XVI reads: An Act establishing a Mint, and regulating the coins of the United States. Section I. Be it enacted by the Senate and at the seat of House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That a mint for the purpose of a national coinage to be situate and carried on at the seat of the government of the United States, for the time being; and that for the well conducting of the business of the said mint, there shall be the following officers and persons, namely, --a Director, an Assayer, a Chief Coiner, an Engraver, a Treasurer. ... Now, let's fast forward to Section 9: Section 9. And be it further enacted, That coins to be there shall be from time to time struck and coined at the said mint, coins of gold, silver, and copper, of the following denominations, values and descriptions, EAGLES--each to be of he value of ten dollars or units, and to contain two hundred and forty-seven grains and four eighths of a grain of pure, or two hundred and seventy grains of standard gold. HALF EAGLES--each to be of the value of five dollars, and to contain one hundred and twenty-three grains and six eighths of a grain of pure, or one hundred and thirty-five grains of standard gold. QUARTER EAGLES--each to be of the value of two dollars and a half dollar, and to contain sixty-one grains and seven eighths of a grain of pure, or sixty-seven grains and four eighths of a grain of standard gold. DOLLARS OR UNITS--each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver. HALF DOLLARS--each to be of half the value of the dollar or unit, and to contain one hundred and eighty-five grains and ten sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or two hundred and eight grains of standard silver. QUARTER DOLLAR--each to be of one fourth the value of the dollar or unit, and to contain ninety-two grains and thirteen sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or one hundred and four grains of standard silver. DISMES--each to be of the value of one tenth of a dollar or unit, and to contain thirty- seven grains and two sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or forty-one grains and three fifths parts of a grain of standard silver. HALF DISMES--each to be of the value of one twentieth of a dollar, and to contain eighteen grains and nine sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or twenty grains and four fifths parts of a grain of standard silver. CENTS--each to be of the value of the one hundredth part of a dollar, and to contain eleven penny-weights of copper. HALF CENTS--each to be of the value of half a cent, and to contain five penny-weights and a half a penny-weight of copper. Followed by Section 10: And be it further enacted, That, upon the said coins respectively, there shall be the following devices and legends, namely: Upon one side of each of the said coins there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty, with an inscription of the word Liberty, and the year of the coinage; and upon the reverse of each of the gold and silver coins there shall be the figure or representation of an eagle, with this inscription, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and upon the reverse of each of the copper coins, there shall be an inscription which shall express the denomination of the piece, namely, cent or half cent, as the case may require. Now we transport (viz. Star Trek) to the nut of this trivia; Section 20: Note the two references to Milles and thousandths (bold italics): And be it further enacted, That to be expressed in the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units, dismes or tenths, cents or hundredths, and Milles or thousandths, a disme being the tenth part of a dollar, a cent the hundredth part of a dollar, a Mille the thousandth part of a dollar, and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. The Mille (aka Mil or Mill) was authorized, but never minted. However, the denomination is in use all through the United States: Property Taxes are expressed in terms of Mills per dollar assessed (a Mill Levy, known more widely in the US as a Mill Rate . For instance, with a Millage rate of 5.753 Mills, a $100,000 house would be taxed 575,300 Mills, or $575.30. The term is often spelled "Mil" when used in this context. Here's some interesting tidbits on the Mil in World coinage: Photos courtesy of worldcoingallery.com: Maltese Lira coinage included 2 Mil, 3 Mil, and 5 Mil coins from 1972 to 1994, with 10 mils being equal to one cent. Prices could still be marked using mils until the country switched to the Euro in 2008, however these were then rounded up for accounting purposes. Malta 2 Mils (1972-1981)Malta 1982 10 Years Commemorative 2 Mils Malta 3 Mills (1972-1981) 1982 Malta 3 Mills 10 Years Commemorative Malta 5 Mils 1972=1981 1982 Malta 5 Mils Commemorative The Palestine Pound, used as the currency of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1927 to 1948, was divided into 1000 mils. Its successor currencies, the Israeli Lira and the Jordanian Dinar were also divided into 1/1000 units, respectively named Prutah and Fils. The Israeli Prutah lasted until 1960, and the Jordanian Fils until 1992. Palestine 1 Mil 1927-1947 Palestine 2 Mils 1937-1947 Palestine 5 Mils 1927=1947 Palestine 10 Mils 1927-1947 Palestine 20 Mils 1927-1941 Palestine 20 Mils 1942, 1944 <a href="http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/coine.php?image=img7/94-6&desc=Palestine%20km6%2050%20Mils%20(1927-1942)&query=Palestine%20km%206">Palestine 50 Mils 1927-1942 Palestine 100 Mils 1927-1942 Israel 25 Mils 1948-1949 Israel 1949 1 Prutah Israel 1949 5 Prutah Israel 1949 10 Prutah Israel 1952 10 Prutah Israel 1957 10 Prutah Israel 25 Prutah 1949, 1954 Israel 50 Prutah 1949-1954 Israel 100 Prutah 1949, 1955 Israel 1954 100 Prutah Israel 1949 250 Prutah Israel 1949 500 Prutah Jordan 1 Fil 1949 Jordan 1 Fil 1955-1965 Jordan 1968 1 Fil Jordan 1 Fil 1978-1986 <a href="http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/coine.php?image=img2/99-3&desc=Jordan%20km3%205%20Fils%20(1949)&query=Jordan%20km%203">Jordan 1949 5 Fils Jordan 5 Fils 1950-1967 Jordan 5 Fils 1968-1975 Jordan 5 Fils 1978, 1985 Jordan 1949 10 Fils Jordan 10 Fils 1955-1967 Jordan 10 Fils 1968-1975 Jordan 10 Fils 1978-1989 Jordan 1949 20 Fils Jordan 20 Fils 1964-1965 Jordan 25 Fils 1968-1977 Jordan 25 Fils 1978-1991 Jordan 1949 50 Fils Jordan 50 Fils 1955-1965 Jordan 50 Fils 1968-1977 Jordan 50 Fils 1978-1991 Jordan 1949 100 Fils Jordan 100 Fils 1955-1965 Jordan 100 Fils 1968-1977 Jordan 100 Fils 1978-1991 Between 1863 and 1866 the Mill coin was the lowest denomination issued by the British government in Hong Kong; it was eliminated due to its unpopularity. Hong Kong 1 Mil 1863-1865 Hong Kong 1 Mil 1866 Mill Coinage was used with the Cypriot Pound, starting with decimalization in 1955, and lasting until 1983, when it was replaced by the Cent. Cypriot 1 Mil 1963-1972 Cypriot 1955 3 Mils Cypriot 5 Mills 1955, 1956 Cypriot 5 Mils 1963-1980 Cypriot 1981 5 Mils Cypriot 1982 5 Mils Cypriot 1955 25 Mils Cypriot 25 Mils 1963-1982 Cypriot 1955 50 Mils Cypriot 50 Mils 1963-1982 Cypriot 100 Mils 1955, 1957 Cypriot 100 Mils 1963-1982 Cypriot 1970 500 Mils FAO issue Cypriot 500 Mils (Tribute to Hercules) 1975, 1977 Cypriot 1976 500 Mils Cypriot 1978 500 Mils Cypriot 1980 circulation commemorative honoring the Olympics Cypriot 1981 500 Mils To this date, the Tunisia 1, 2, and 5 Millim (Mills) are still in circulation, but they're no longer issued by the central bank. However larger denomination coins such as the 10, 20, 50, and 100 Millim coins are still in use and production. Tunisia 1 Millim 1960, 1983 Tunisia 2000 1 Millim (FAO issue) Tunisia 2 Millim 1960, 1983 Tunisia 5 Millim 1960-1996 Tunisia 1997 5 Millim Tunisia 10 Millim 1960-1996 Tunisia 20 Millim 1960-1996 Tunisia 50 Millim 1960-1996 Tunisia 100 Millim 1960-1996 Great Britain's intra-history Mil usage (equivalent to Farthing) was in tax accessments, accounting computations, and insurance actuarials. I hope you found this as interesting as I did... Clinker
Clinker Very interesting! The UK had coins approximating one thousandths of a pound. The farthing (4 to a penny) was actually 1/960th of £1, with a penny being 1/240th. During the C19th, half, third and even quarter fathings were minted (for colonial use) - so these were 1/1920ths, 1/2880ths and 1/3840ths of £1! Of these, the 1/3rd farthing was minted most often, the last being in 1913. The final couple of mintings (1885, 1902 and 1913) saw 288,000 minted every year - exactly £100 worth of 1/3 farthings for each year!
Thanks for proving my paragraph on Britain's Mil usage including the Farthing, but a special "Thanks" for the addendum on "fractional" Farthings... Clinker
The Mille was authorized for use as a MONEY OF ACCOUNT. It was never authorized as a coin. They were just stating that the government books would be kept accurate down to a tenth of a cent. A money of account is quite often a theorectical curreny that does not exist in physical form. During the pre-federal era each of the states kept their books in defined units of a money of account even though they issued no such money and used a potpouri of different forms of money in actual commerce. These different forms of money would be "converted" on paper using what ever the current exchange rate was and then entered into the books using the official money of account. Because of all the different currencies the accounts typically would not come out to even cents so this law required the keeping of the records to the tenth of a cent.
Ooops! My mistake. I let this percolate for a couple of days and then guessed Norse Commmemorative. Alas, it was in truth struck but never authorized by Congress.
