Coin Collecting for Kids: Week Five

Coin of the Week: 1804 Silver Dollar

The silver dollar has always had a shaky past, including such things as gaps between mintages, size and metal changes, patterns of all sorts of designs, and, most notably, rarities. The 1804 Silver “Bust” Dollar is one of the most legendary coins in American history. It’s value is stunning, and the coin itself doesn’t look half bad either. Here are the facts behind this legend:

In the year 1804, official U.S. Mint records state that 19,750 silver dollars were struck. Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but then, why are there only 15 of these beauties known today? The strongest theory behind this is that in 1804, 19,750 silver dollars were struck… dated 1803 or 1805. This process ensured that people still had silver dollars, but they were struck at a different date than what was shown. We don’t really know for sure why.

In 1834, the government had an issue. They wanted to give some important people that were visiting the U.S.A. something special, but had no idea what!

Wait! Do you remember that no 1804-dated silver dollars were made? Well, maybe we could make some, and give them to these people as souvenirs.

And so 1804 silver dollars were struck in 1834, and also sometime between 1858-1860. Many years later, this coin in on the list of the most expensive coins in the world. One recently sold for $3,725,000.

1804 silver dollars were made in three different ways. The first, or Class One, of these were minted in 1834, with 0.867 troy ounces of silver, and had the words “HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT’' on the edge. The second, or Class Two dollars had only 0.794 troy ounces of silver, and no words on the edge. The Class Three dollars had between 0.872 and 0.881 troy ounces of silver, and the same edge lettering as Class One.

1804 Silver Dollar

Wonderful World: Euros

In 2000, a new idea, unlike anything ever done before was almost ready to happen. And it worked. The Euro is a currency meant to replace the many confusing systems of European money. Think of it like this: you have your own country, and you decide to start producing money for use in that country. We’ll say that your currency is called a Ralph. Now, you are happy with your money, but one day you decide to take a trip to some other countries for a change of scenery. While you are getting ready to go, you decide to trade in your Ralphs for the money of these other countries. One problem. The first country you go to uses a currency called a Bid. But the Bid is more valuable than the Ralph. So for every 10 Ralphs you exchange, you only get 1 Bid.

When you are done in this country, you get ready to go to the next, and you need to change your remaining Bids into this country’s currency, called the Dike. But the Dike is less valuable than the Bid, so for every Bid that you exchange, you get 4 Dikes.

Quick! How many Dikes could you get for 17 and 1/2 Ralphs? See the problem? Too many confusing currencies make for a lot of trouble. So the Euro was introduced to keep this problem away. As of this writing, 21 countries have switched from their currencies to the Euro. These countries can produce their own Euros with different designs. But now, if you want to go to Greece, Germany, Spain and Latvia all in one trip, all you need to do is turn your money into Euros! Maybe someday, other countries will pick up the idea, and create other, wider circulating currencies.

Some countries, including the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, have not foregone their own currency systems. But here are the countries that now use the Euro. Next to each one is it’s former currency.

Austria (Schilling)

Belgium (Franc)

Cyprus (Pound)

Germany (Mark)

Estonia (Kroon)

Spain (Peseta)

Finland (Markka)

France (Franc)

Greece (Drachma)

Ireland (Pound)

Italy (Lira)

Luxembourg (Franc)

Latvia (Lats)

Monaco (Franc)

Malta (Lira)

Netherlands (Guilden)

Portuguese escudo

Slovenia (Tolar)

Slovakia (Koruna)

San Marino (Lira)

Vatican City (Lira)

And here are these country’s 1 Euro Coins:

Top left across: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City. Below: Latvia

Cool Commemoratives: Library of Congress Bicentennial

One of the COOLEST commemoratives ever is the 2000-W Library of Congress Bicentennial. It is the only commemorative coin in the U.S.A. that is Bi-metallic, or made of two different metals, with one in a ring around the other, such as the Euros mentioned above. What makes this coin even cooler is what metals are used. This coin has a ring made of Gold, and a center made of Platinum. The coin’s front shows the hand of the ancient goddess Minerva (better known as Athena) holding a torch over the dome of the Jefferson Building in Washington D.C. The reverse side shows the seal of the Library of Congress, encircled by a wreath of laurel.

2000 Library of Congress Bicentennial

Amazing Artists: Charles E. Barber

Charles E. Barber was born on November 16, 1840, in London, England. His family moved to the U.S.A. in 1852, and Barber, 19 years old at the time, became an apprentice engraver at the Mint under none other than… drumroll, please…. his father, chief engraver of the Mint, William Barber!

Several years later, Barber became chief engraver in his own right, but he developed a nasty relationship with another engraver, George T. Morgan. They worked together on many projects, but not happily. Barber was often criticized for not picking nice enough coin designs, but Barber himself was a pretty good artist. He designed a depiction of Lady Liberty that was used on the dime, quarter, and half dollar, as well as a $4 Gold Stella, a really cool half dollar pattern, and several pattern coins, not to mention a circulating nickel. Barber died on February 18, 1917, and was replaced by none other than George T. Morgan, his old rival.

Barber also designed coins for other countries.

Barber Nickel

Barber Dime

Barber Quarter

Barber Half Dollar

Barber Half Dollar Pattern

Barber’s Sketch for a Puerto Rican 1 Peso

For more information on Charles E. Barber, be sure to visit these:

http://www.usacoinbook.com/encyclopedia/coin-designers/charles-e-barber/

http://www.uspatterns.com/charlesebarber.html

Trial and Error: The Nickel

The five cent coin had first come around as the silver half dime. But with prices rising, this was abandoned in the 1870’s, and the nickel was born.

Well, actually, the nickel had been around since 1866, but it really took off after the half dime had disappeared. The trouble was, no one could decide what to put on the nickel. The first design was a union shield, a familiar sight during and after the Civil War. But critics called the design off, and, as seen above, Charles E. Barber’s nickel design was next. But rumors had been swapped that an Indian princess or George Washington was to be placed on it. This was not done, and Barber’s Liberty Head design was replaced by an Indian and Buffalo, which we today call the buffalo nickel.

This design was very popular, and lasted 25 years. Then more rumors started up. The Mint did want to replace the buffalo nickel, the question is, with what?

That was a question even the mint could not answer yet. Tons of designs made their way through. But the Mint finally chose a design by Felix Schlag showing Thomas Jefferson. And there you have it. The troubled history of the nickel. But wait! The trouble continues. Today, it costs more than 5 cents worth of metal to make a nickel, and many are calling for it’s production to be stopped. Oh dear…