Mintages of US Silver Dollars ( 1794 – 1803 ) and Survival Rates
Year / Type |
Original Mintage |
Approximate Survivors |
1794 Flowing Hair |
1,758 |
150 |
1795 Flowing Hair |
160,295 |
4,100 |
1795 Draped Bust |
42,738 |
1,400 |
1796 Draped Bust |
79,920 |
1,400 |
1797 Draped Bust |
7,776 |
1,600 |
1798 Draped Bust |
327,536 * |
5,000 |
1799 Draped Bust |
423,515 * |
6,500 |
1800 Draped Bust |
220,920 * |
2,300 |
1801 Draped Bust |
54,454 |
980 |
1802 Draped Bust |
41,650 |
990 |
1803 Draped Bust |
85,634 |
1,600 |
TOTALS |
1,446,196 |
26,020 |
Mint Director David Rittenhouse , who , in concert with Mint Assayer Albion Cox , surreptitiously changed the fineness of silver dollars in 1794 and 1795 , which cost bullion depositors extra money .
* Silver dollars for these years ( 1798 – 1800 ) were worth $ 1.03 when they were minted . They most likely bypassed the West Indies and were sent directly into the China trade .
money supply and make available a variety of denominations for everyday business transactions .
With that in mind , Hamilton pored over myriad documents concerning gold and silver valuations in numerous European nations . After countless hours studying those documents and considering the market value of gold and silver in America , he arrived at a 15:1 silver to gold ratio .
The 15:1 ratio that Hamilton included in his Report was enacted as law in the Coinage Act of 1792 and in essence was set in stone . It remained until the Coinage Act of 1834 , when the ratio was changed to 16:1 . However , there was a problem .
Gold coins were undervalued from 1794 to 1834 and , thus , became de facto bullion , resulting in quite a bit of gold vanishing from US shores . An 1819 House committee report states , “ Gold is estimated below its fair relative value , in comparison with silver and … can scarcely be considered as having formed a material part of our money circulation for the last twenty-six years .” In 1821 , another House committee declared , “ On inquiry , they find that gold coins , both foreign and of the United States , have in great measure disappeared .”
Continuing along the same theme , a Senate select committee in 1830 bluntly reported ,
“ We have no gold coins in circulation .” Mint Director Samuel Moore stated in 1832 , “ Gold at present constitutes no part of our currency ; and not having , within any recent period , performed in the United States the office of coin , it has not been the standard of value assumed in existing contracts .”
But why would an individual have gold bullion ( typically acquired by melting foreign coins ) minted as US coins , followed by exporting those coins or selling them domestically as bullion ? It appears that gold merchants did so in order to certify weight and purity . The US Mint did not charge seigniorage , and the official Mint products carried more authority than would a private assay .
The Senate committee of 1830 was indignant on this subject :
Heritage Auctions , ha . com
Due to the silver / gold ratio being 15:1 from 1792 to 1834 , gold coins were undervalued for 40 years and most of them were sold in Europe for their bullion value . This is an example of the 1827 Capped Bust $ 5 half eagle . Out of its original mintage of 24,913 , only 30 pieces are known to have survived .
We prohibit and punish all private coinage of gold ; we coin this metal at the Mint , upon a principle which does not permit it to circulate as money ; and we pay the expenses of this useless coinage . In practice , this coinage affords a facility to the possessor of gold bullion ; since it enables him to employ the Mint to weigh and assay his bullion , and to divide it into convenient portions , without expense to himself . When the coins are received from the Mint , they are sold for their value as bullion ... the greater part are exported .
30 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Fall 2022 | www . MoAF . org