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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 825276, member: 66&quot;]For the reason you have to go back a little further.</p><p><br /></p><p>After the discovery of gold in California in 1848 so much gold began coming on the market that the value of silver as expressed in gold increased.&nbsp; This resulted in the value of the metal in our silver coins rising to the point where it exceeded the face value of the coins.&nbsp; So in 1853 the weight of the half dime, dime, quarter and half dollar were reduced.&nbsp; But it was felt that to reduce the weight of the dollar would result in a loss of prestige for the coin so it&#039;s weight was not reduced.&nbsp; Now this could result in people exchanging the lower weight minor coins for the heavy weight dollars and benefiting from the excess silver, so the legal tender status of the smaller coins was reduced from the unlimited status that they had previously to a maximum of $5.&nbsp; Unfortunately it also resulted in the ending of the only period in our history when the silver dollar actually circulated.</p><p><br /></p><p>This inequality in weights between the coins continued from 1853 til the end of the circulating silver coins[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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