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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 959741, member: 66&quot;]No I got my date wrong.&nbsp; The end of the free coinage of silver was 1853 not 1873.&nbsp; (I&#039;m not sure but I believe free coinage of gold may have lasted until 1933.) </p><p><br /></p><p>Actually when the mint first opened they preferred you to leave you metal and WAIT to get your coins.&nbsp; The fee was actually to discourage you from asking for immediate payment.&nbsp; The reason was because until 1837 the Mint did not have a bullion fund and could not go out into the market to buy gold or silver to creat coins on the governments account.&nbsp; So the Mint never had any stock of coins to use for immediate payment for deposits.&nbsp; Instead they had to dip into stocks of coin that didn&#039;t belong to them but which instead belonged to another depositor (Usually the Bank of the United States).&nbsp; After 1837&nbsp; the mint got their bullion fund and so they then had coins for immediate payment and the fees were reduced.&nbsp; But if you were willing to wait coinage was still free.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1853 was when free coinage of silver ended.&nbsp; The act of Feb 12th 1853 reduced the weight of the half dime through half dollar, and reduced their legal tender status from unlimited to no more than $5 in any one transaction.&nbsp; Silver dollars could still be struck for free, but since their weight was not reduced each silver dollar would contain $1.04 worth of silver.&nbsp; That final free coinage of silver window did close, partially in 1873 after which you could only have the silver coined into Trade dollars, and then in 1878 it was cut off completely.&nbsp; (After 1876 the depositor also had to sign an affidavit that they would export the Trade dollars.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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