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The coinage metals comprise those metallic chemical elements and alloys which have been used to mint coins. Historically, most coinage metals are from the three nonradioactive members of group 11 of the periodic table: copper, silver and gold. Copper is usually augmented with tin or other metals to form bronze.
Coins were first made of scraps of metal by hitting a hammer positioned over an anvil. The Chinese produced primarily cast coinage , and this spread to South-East Asia and Japan. Although few non-Chinese cast coins were produced by governments, it was a common practice amongst counterfeiters .
Coinage of precious metal was delayed; Congress required the assayer and chief coiner to each post a security bond of $10,000, a huge sum in 1793. In 1794, Congress lowered the chief coiner's bond to $5,000 , and the assayer's to $1,000 ; President Washington's appointees to those positions were thus able to qualify and take office.
Group 11 is also known as the coinage metals, due to their usage in minting coins [2] —while the rise in metal prices mean that silver and gold are no longer used for circulating currency, remaining in use for bullion, copper remains a common metal in coins to date, either in the form of copper clad coinage or as part of the cupronickel alloy.
The Coinage Act of 1792 established the United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States. [3] The act created coins in the denominations of Half Cent (1/200 of a dollar), Cent (1/100 of a dollar, or a cent), Half Dime (also known as a half disme) (five cents), Dime (also known as a disme) (10 cents), Quarter (25 cents), Half Dollar (50 cents), Dollar, Quarter Eagle ($2.50 ...
The first known proposal for a decimal-based coinage system in the United States was made in 1783 by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and David Rittenhouse. Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury, recommended the issuance of six such coins in 1791, in a report to Congress. Among the six was a silver coin ...
The history of ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into four periods: the Archaic, the Classical, the Hellenistic and the Roman. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek world during the 7th century BC until the Persian Wars in about 480 BC.
The coins varied in value throughout history. Some coins were produced in very large numbers – during the Western Han, an average of 220 million coins a year were produced. Other coins were of limited circulation and are today extremely rare – only six examples of Da Quan Wu Qian from the Eastern Wu dynasty (222–280) are known to exist ...