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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 1887309, member: 66&quot;]This is not an easy question.</p><p><br /></p><p>Frankly I don&#039;t think it has ever been illegal to spend foreign coins.&nbsp; If you spend a Canadian quarter with me and I accept it I don&#039;t believe either one of us has committed a crime.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you are asking when did foreign coins stop being legal tender the answer is still complicated.&nbsp; While the Act of Feb 1857 ended the legal tender status of foreign coins as of 1859, a later legislation extended it for another year but then was quickly rescinded.&nbsp; Even after 1859 the post office continued accepting Mexican silver coins for postage for many years after that period (until at least the 1870&#039;s).</p><p><br /></p><p>In addition there were several periods before 1857 when foreign coins were not legal tender (No foreign coins were legal tender from 1802 to 05, 1810 to 15, and 1827 to 33.).&nbsp; Also contrary to common belief, not all coins were legal tender.&nbsp; Only specific coins were legal tender, and those were listed by legislation.&nbsp; And with the exception of some Spanish and French fractional coins, no coins smaller than silver dollar size were ever legal tender.&nbsp; Spanish fractional coins stopped being legal tender in 1809 and the French fractionals in 1857.&nbsp; Mexican fractional coins were never legal tender even though for many years they made up the bulk of our circulating coinage.</p><p><br /></p><p>Oddly while British gold was legal tender, British silver coins were not.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Trade dollars lost their legal tender status in 1876 and didn&#039;t get it back until 1933.&nbsp; One cent pieces were not legal tender until 1864, and the half cent was not legal tender until 1933.&nbsp; In 1933 all US coins were made legal tender by Congressional resolution, and it was again restated in the coinage act of 1965.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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