The Silver Dollar

Silver dollars did not circulate much in the 19th century because one coin represented several days worth of pay. The average salary in 1900 was $8/week. So 8 of these was a week's wages. In today's terms, assuming average salary is $50,000, this would be the same as walking around with a $120 coin in your pocket. Most of the public would not do this.

This is why people didn't walk around with them in their pockets. It wasn't because they were not popular but because they were so valuable relative to earnings. Silver dollars were a store of wealth in those days and not something used for general commerce. The value of the coin was in the silver and it didn't matter to the people what was stamped on it.

Today in the 100% fiat world, this concept doesn't exist so a coin the size of a silver dollar isn't of much use. It's not because people don't like $ coins, but it is because such a heavy coin doesn't have any value relative to its inconvenience. Ike dollars were not unpopular because Ike was stamped on them, but rather, because the $ had become debased so much by that point they were not convenient to use. It took a lot of the heavy coins to buy something.

This is the real reason that people won't use $ coins now, it's why they don't use 50 cent pieces now. They are practically worthless compared to the inconvenience of using them. I was at a transit station a few weeks ago and bought a $3 ticket for the train with a $20. The machine returned 17 dollar coins. Put that in your pocket and try to walk around. LOL

I think the OP made a good topic and it's for the reasons that I mention that I don't think you will see a return to the old currency, barring a currency collapse or something similar. In the fiat world, of infinite $ creation, they don't provide any utility.

 

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I always assumed that most silver dollars were actually intended as value stores to back paper currency (Silver Certificates) and once they were no longer needed as such they were released or melted. The few that circulated outside casinos usually ended up back at the banks, much like the current dollar coins. When Ikes came around in the 70's the halves had dropped from every day use and everyone had gotten used to using the quarter as the largest value coin. Silver dollars hadn't been minted for 35 years by then and pretty much were out of circulation except in Nevada and maybe Montana for a good portion of that time. After the silver debacle of the 60's most were hoarded or melted. Since Ikes in circulation contained no silver there was no reason to hoard them except as curiosities and they just would wind there way back to storage.

I thought the UK got it right when they produced their £1 coin, an off-color coin about the size of 2 nickels stacked with edge lettering. It is unlikely to be confused with anything else, small enough to be carried around in normal quantities and absent competition with £1 bills. (Scotland still produced £notes for a while but they rarely were seen when I was there...)

 

I wouldn't mind seeing high value silver coins like say $100.00 ASE, 1/2 oz $50.00 ASE, 1/4 oz $25.00 ASE business strikes. I'm sure they wouldn't be very popular, but the mintage would be under a couple of million.

 

Jesse James probably never stole very many Morgan dollars either. Most of his activity ended by 1876. He did very little after 1879 and died in 1882. He never would have had much chance to steal many of them.

And bank robbers would probably have preferred to steal paper money. Steal $2,000 in silver dollars, throw 110 pounds of coins on your horse and try and out run a posse? I don't think so. no crooks would have preferred paper money for the same reason people did. The coins were just too bulky and heavy.

 

It's okay will, we're all passionate about collecting.

Here are a couple of books I recommend for you to begin with. The first one is the one mentioned in my post before:



This one is the best on U.S. coins, but the price guide is not reliable:

 

If you think by posting on a public forum where there's going to be differing opinions or facts presented that goes against what you've stated, where people won't agree with you, then you shouldn't post on a forum. Because it's going to happen if you like it or not. The world would be boring if everyone agreed with one another on everything.

 

N.Y. is in the beginning process of casino gambling in 7 different locations.

It's really got the reservations in an uproar over it.

 

Heck, I was born in 1947 in the Maryland suburbs of DC, and by 1963, I had accumulated 800 circulated Morgans (from the illicit gains of poolroom gambling. LOL!) which I got at face value from the area banks.

Chris

 

The problem is, Congress is too concerned about public opinion. Public opinion is that they do not want to get rid of dollar bills. If they took the path of other countries and just eliminated the dollar bill and forced dollar coins on the population, they'd likely get wider acceptance.

It's also been a source of party wrangling as well. There's been several times that the penny has been on the chopping block, but the Republicans were opposed because Lincoln was a Republican. They wanted to take Roosevelt off the dime and put Reagan, but the Democrats opposed. Just our messed up political process at work.

 

It was actually Nancy Reagan who opposed, more so than the Dems.

 

It takes a little while to understand the coins you collect. Every series has a story behind it, and reasons why it was made. The book that is recommended is a well written one, if you want a quick reference you can always google Morgan Silver Dollars.