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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jrg79, post: 25485058, member: 161676&quot;]Exactly! To be clear my annoyances with the chart posted previously are (a) that it is unsourced and hence hard to verify, and (b) that the tolerances seem anachronistically precise (like if I said &quot;the population of Boston in 1700 was approximately 6,713.41,&quot; which is technically true but misleading).</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for the replies, which inspired me to look up the old U.S. coinage laws. No need to just speculate since the U.S. Mint has helpfully posted the Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 here:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/coinage-act-of-april-2-1792" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/coinage-act-of-april-2-1792" rel="nofollow">https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/coinage-act-of-april-2-1792</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Relevant clauses:</p><p><br /></p><p>(From Section 9) &quot;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 half a penny-weight of copper.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>(From Section 18) &quot;<i>Be it further enacted</i>, That from every separate mass of standard gold or silver, which shall be made into coins at the said Mint, there shall be taken, set apart by the Treasurer and reserved in his custody a certain number of pieces, not less than three, and that once in every year the pieces so set apart and reserved, shall be <b>assayed</b> under the inspection of the Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretary for the Department of State, [<i>etc.</i>]&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;... it shall be found that the gold and silver so assayed, shall not be inferior to their respective standards herein before declared more than one part in one hundred and forty-four parts, the officer or officers of the said Mint whom it may concern shall be held excusable; but if any greater inferiority shall appear, it shall be certified to the President of the United States, and the said officer or officers shall be deemed disqualified to hold their respective offices.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>This confirms what other commenters above have said, that they&#039;d pick three coins to test each year (at least amongst the gold and silver pieces) and weigh them, and that they took minting underweight coins to be a fireable offense.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the case of, say, a Half Disme [<i>sic</i>], for example, the Coinage Act didn&#039;t really specify the exact <i>weight of the coin</i> but rather <i>how much silver it should contain</i>, set at &quot;eighteen grains and nine-sixteenth parts of a grain of pure of pure [silver],&quot; or about 1.2028 grams. The unsourced chart linked above lists the specified weight as 1.350 grams, which is approximately equal the &quot;twenty grains and four fifth parts of a grain of standard [i.e<i>. slightly adulterated</i>] silver&quot; of the Coinage Act. The Coinage Act gives a tolerance of 0.694 %, which would be about 9 milligrams for a 1.35-gram Half Dime.</p><p><br /></p><p>The weight tolerances for copper coins (Cents and Half Cents) were not specified in the Coinage Act of 1792, nor even in the &quot;Act to provide for a Copper Coinage&quot; signed by Washington a month later (see <a href="https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/1/STATUTE-1-Pg283.pdf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/1/STATUTE-1-Pg283.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/1/STATUTE-1-Pg283.pdf</a>), but surely these were codified somewhere not long after.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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