Specie
noun [uncountable]: finance, money;
coins, especially those made of valuable metals
This site is a passion project for a numismatic collection of (primarily US) coins. Type and issue lists will occasionally have markers ( √,
Federal Coinage
Our currency today is a form of fiat money: its value is what we agree to say it's worth, regardless of its actual composition. You can go to a bank and exchange any combination of coins and bills for any other combination of equal value. You cannot, however, exchange it for precious metals like gold or silver; though you could at one time. Originally, federal coinage was commodity money composed of its intrinsic value in precious metal: one silver dollar contained one dollar's worth of silver.
Bimetalic Standard
Federal coinage was defined by The Coinage Act of 1792, which officially regulated the purity and weight (standard) of each specie to be minted by the United States:
- 270 grains (17.50 grams) of 22 carat gold for the eagle
- 416 grains (26.96 grams) of .8924 silver for the dollar
- 264 grains (17.11 grams) of pure copper for the cent
Fractional coins were set to be the equivalent fraction of weight with the same composition: the gold half eagle weighed 135 grains (8.75 grams), and the silver quarter dollar weighed 104 grains (6.74 grams). This was all based on a fixed ratio of 15 units of pure silver to 1 unit of pure gold: thirty silver dollars containing 11,137.5 grains of pure silver was equivalent to three gold eagles containing 742.5 grains of pure gold.
Trade and speculation often took the standard-weight dollars and eagles to foreign shores, where they were quickly melted down for their bullion value. The Coinage Act of 1834 redefined the fixed ratio of silver-to-gold as 16:1, and reduced the standard gold purity from .9167 (22 carat) to .8992.
The Act of January 18, 1837 further regulated the purity and weight of federal specie as such:
- 258 grains (16.72 grams) of .900 gold for the eagle
- 412.5 grains (26.73 grams) of .900 silver for the dollar
- 168 grains (10.89 grams) of pure copper for the cent 1
These adjustments to silver and gold coinage were a boon for trade and business, and specie began to truly circulate for the first time in US history. At least, until the California gold discovery in 1848 disrupted world markets.
Debased Silver
A deluge of gold ore from California and Australia had the effect of drastically raising the comparitive value of silver, resulting in silver specie being hoarded for their bullion worth. With the demand for a three-cent piece in 1851, Congress authorized the first subsidiary silver coin in circulation: at 12-3/8 grains (.80 grams) of .750 silver, the coin was worth more in face value than its silver content. This was followed by The Coinage Act of 1853 which reduced the weight of the half dollar to 192 grains (12.44 grams), with other fractional silver coins being reduced by their equivalent fraction of weight. Copper cents were made subsidiary with The Coinage Act of 1857, reducing the standard of one cent to 72 grains (4.67 grams) of .880 copper.
The debased silver weight effectively removed the United States from a bimetalic standard, while keeping alive the idea of commodity money as gold specie and silver dollars remained free coinage at standard weight. No longer was free coinage an option to silver bullion depositors, with the exception of the silver dollar. Even this provision was prohibited with The Coinage Act of 1873,2 which eliminated coinage of the lightweight (412.5 grains) silver dollar in favor of a heavier (420 grains) trade dollar to compete with other countries in the East Asia market.
Gold Standard
By the end of the century, silver prices had plummetted compared to mid-century values. Though silver dollar production was reinstated by The Bland-Allison Act of 1878, free coinage of depositor bullion was not. Silver coinage had for some time been produced with content well-below the coin's face value, rendering it to fiat status. This was formalized by The Gold Standard Act of 1900 in which the United States dollar was officially fixed at the 1837 standard of 25.8 grains (1.672 grams) of .900 gold.
Gold specie production continued well into the first quarter of the 20th century, though by this time the general public had become acustomed to the representational money afforded by Gold and Silver Certificates issued by the United States Treasury. Backed by physical bullion bars stored in Mint valuts, these certificates could be redeemed at face value for their equivalent worth in specie. This ended in 1933 with President Roosevelt's Executive Order 6102, which required citizens to surrender all gold specie, bullion, and Gold Certificates in exchange for fiat currency at the gold standard rate of $20.67 per troy ounce. All gold was removed from circulation and instead held by the Federal Reserve for backing of Federal Reserve Notes.
Junk Silver
With gold coins removed from circulation, and silver and copper coins made subsidiary by their lower standard weights, the federal coinage was effectively a fiat system-- despite the dollar still being officially pegged to a commodity gold standard. Silver prices began to rise in the early 1960s, and fractional coins were predicted to once again be worth more in bullion than face value. The Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated all silver content from dimes and quarters, replacing them with a cupronickel outer layer clad to an inner core of pure copper. The half dollar content was replaced with an outer layer of .800 silver clad to an inner core of .210 silver (a composite .400 silver composition); before being changed to that of the dime and quarter in 1971.