Is the half cent the lowest face value coin ever produced in the US? Also, in world coins, what are the lowest face value coins and how much are they worth in US dollars? One last question. What coins now have no face value in the country they were minted in?
The half cent was the lowest denomination produced for circulation by the U.S. Mint. Other pieces were minted for tax purposes by states, down to 1/10 of a cent in value, I think. Not really for spending. Great Britain has made a Farthing for a long time, value of 1/4 of a penny. I can't think of anything with a smaller denomination than that, though there probably are some. The U.S. created the Trade Dollar and it was not accepted as a dollar in the U.S., even though it had more silver than the regular silver dollars. I have some old coin catalogs offering to buy them for 50c to 75c.
A brand new 2005 cent has far less value than the half cent did. Indeed it was possible to eat for a day for about half a cent at that time. Today there is nothing which can be bought with a cent and the nickel is coming to the end of its utility. You can still get a package of dried noodles for a dime. About the least required to eat for a day is close to a dollar. As worthless as the cent is, there are much less valuable coins circulating in other countries. While its rarely actually used and in the process of being withdrawn from circulation the Indian 1 Paisa is technically legal tender. It takes about 18 of them to equal a cent. There are probably less valuable coins around. Most all world coins are no longer legal tender. The US has a tradition of keeping most coins legal tender but this is not true through most of the world. Coins are destroyed by inflation or simply demonetized. Frequently they are recalled and exchanged for new coin. It's not even unusual for them to be counterstamped for use as another denomination or in another place. Most currencies do not last long and lose their legal tender status.
The current value of a Mexican Peso is about 10¢US. In the early nineteen nineties huge inflation in Mexico (arguably blamed on NAFTA) drove the real value of the Peso to such a low level that the government devalued its currency. They basically said that all old pesos were worthless, but you could trade 1000 of them in for 1 new peso. The name stayed the same (peso) but its value was multiplied by 1000. So I guess to answer your question, the old peso is worth (it has been demonetarized and isn't legal tender anywhere) ~1/100 of a US cent. (or was worth that 15 years ago)
I would totally agree with you that our cent today is worth less than the 1/2 cent was when it was retired in 1857. 100% true. However, just for reality-check sake, the half-cent generally could not buy you anything really even in the mid-1800's (there's a couple of good books about life in the 1800's -- definitely worth a read). The half-cent was typically needed for tax reasons and possibly the occassional odd purchase prices. During those times, I think five cents to a dime to a quarter was the difference between an okay meal to a good meal to a fantastic meal! The preceding prices are related more to the latter half of the 19th century.
These sound like restaurant prices. I was just talking about the minimum amount of food required to keep an individual alive. I believe that dried beans and flour could be bought for about one cent per pound. Perhaps a half cent is too little to have kept someone alive and it certainly wouldn't have provided a healthy diet, but there were substantial items which could be purchased for this amount of money even if they were sold in 1c increments. Today one cent's worth of Ramen noodles is a large bite. Pears cost thirty or forty cents apiece. At $10 / Lb one cent worth of steak constitutes about a good smell.
You're right. I didn't clarify what I was referring to. I think someone still needed a 2-3 cents a day to survive, foodwise. But, perhaps if you just ate grains and that type of stuff, maybe a cent might do.
Russia had 1/8 of a copeck in 15-early 16 centuary. still it was more moneywise than a penny here (much more)
The horsey ride at Meijer still costs a cent. That's all that I can think of for a cent though. Even a tootsie roll is a nickel now. In the Dealership episode of Seinfeld an old man is reminded of how he could buy a Hershey bar for a nickel. Now they are usually 50 cents or more. Milk is so expensive now also at $2.79 unless it is on sale somewhere. I bet it was a lot cheaper when the half cent was circulating.
Watch what you say fella! I certainly don't consider myself "old", but I remember clearly the repeated reductions in size of Hershey bars to keep the price stable at 5¢, and the eventual re-enlargement when the price finally went to a dime. Did you ever hear the expression "It's your nickle" from the recipient of a phone call to the originator? That came about because pay phones used to cost a nickle, up until the time of the Korean war.
I recently read in one of these life in the 1800's books that Five & Dime stores had a mind-blowing amount of goods that only cost five cents. This happened up until the early 1900's. To compare, think of your local dollar store, but the only difference is that the Five & Dime would have somewhat better goods!
Getting back to the original questions - I can't speak for all the countries of the world, but the Japanese rin (minted from 1873-92) was 1/1000th of a yen at a time that the yen and the dollar were roughly equal in value, so it's face value was 1/10 of a cent - equal to the U.S. denomination of "1 mil". There were also 1/2 sen (equal to 5 rin) coins during the same period, and 5 rin coins from 1916-19. The mil was never actually minted, but it was - and is to this day - used in commerce. In the early years of the 20th century mil and 5 mil tokens were issued by various states for use in paying sales taxes. And when was the last time you bought a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. that didn't include 9 mils as part of the price?
Others (relative to the currency at time of issue): China 1 cash (worth less than a mil) Hong Kong 1 mil GB struck-for-Ceylon 1/4 farthing (1/3840 of a pound, which was then $4.86 2/3c US, so roughly .1267 of a US cent)
Turkey is in the process of re-valuing the Turkish lira. Until recently, the exchange rate was about 3.5 million lira to the dollar. (When I was there I used 20,000,000 lira notes regularly, and still have one. It was always fun to ask "Do you have change for a twenty million?") The subdivision of the lira - like cent to dollar - was the kuru. Technically, it was still in use, but with a value of 3.5m lira to the dollar, minting of it had ceased. They are being minted again, now that they've revalued the Turkish lira by taking six (6!) zeroes off everything.
The smallest denomination I have is a 2 mill piece. I think there are 1000 mils to the dillar. The coin was issued in Liberia, I Think, Haven't had the time to decipher it proper. catman
Yes, but when the 1 kurus were used, they still had, say 100 lira notes, and the coins were of some value. They were practically scrap metal as of a decade ago.
