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<p>[QUOTE="The Eidolon, post: 5430114, member: 102103"]Hmmm... I've searched around a little bit, and it seems like "constitutional silver" is just a marketing term. I think they are preying on people's discomfort with fiat money, and suggesting that silver-based coinage is "constitutional" because of <a href="https://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec10.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec10.html" rel="nofollow">article 1, section 10</a> of the US constitution:</p><p><br /></p><p>"No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; <b>make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts</b>; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility."</p><p><br /></p><p>But the US hasn't been on a bimetallic standard since the Civil War. The US switched to a gold standard from bimetallic shortly after, in 1873. All the silver coinage since then wasn't based on a silver standard anyway, and was what economists call a token currency. (The silver aids acceptance by giving it some metallic value, but its value is established by stated face value, not metal content).</p><p><br /></p><p>There is no meaningful difference between silver Roosevelt dimes or Washington quarters and the previous types in metal value or legal tender status. My guess is that because those were the types which were later "debased" to copper-nickel composition, someone has managed to convince people that they are somehow less valid money than earlier types. There's a huge community of cranks, conspiracy theorists and irrational investors when it comes to hard vs fiat money, so it's good to take whatever you hear on the internet (even from me!) with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="The Eidolon, post: 5430114, member: 102103"]Hmmm... I've searched around a little bit, and it seems like "constitutional silver" is just a marketing term. I think they are preying on people's discomfort with fiat money, and suggesting that silver-based coinage is "constitutional" because of [URL='https://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec10.html']article 1, section 10[/URL] of the US constitution: "No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; [B]make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts[/B]; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility." But the US hasn't been on a bimetallic standard since the Civil War. The US switched to a gold standard from bimetallic shortly after, in 1873. All the silver coinage since then wasn't based on a silver standard anyway, and was what economists call a token currency. (The silver aids acceptance by giving it some metallic value, but its value is established by stated face value, not metal content). There is no meaningful difference between silver Roosevelt dimes or Washington quarters and the previous types in metal value or legal tender status. My guess is that because those were the types which were later "debased" to copper-nickel composition, someone has managed to convince people that they are somehow less valid money than earlier types. There's a huge community of cranks, conspiracy theorists and irrational investors when it comes to hard vs fiat money, so it's good to take whatever you hear on the internet (even from me!) with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE]
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