History of the Old Silver Dollar

Most people are familiar with the term silver dollar and know that the term is used to identify any large white metal coin that is minted in the United States whose face value is equivalent to one dollar. Although the coin may not necessarily contain silver some people are of the belief it is not truly a silver dollar unless it contains at least some of the silver metal rather than its only resemblance to silver being that of its color. You will also find some gold and multi-colored dollar coins made in the United States though some are referred to as golden because they do not contain gold but are simply gold in color.

Dollar coins lost popularity after the beginning of the 20th century in spite of the widespread use of coins in similar denominations in other developed countries. Since 1971 there have been several efforts to replace or at least subsidize the paper dollar with a metal coin. This is contradictory to other countries where coins are very common such as in Great Britain where the one pound coin is more common than the one pound note. The coins are still in circulation in other countries because their perspective governments have removed the paper equivalents from circulation while the United States government has made no such effort.

It was common before the Revolutionary War for to use old silver dollar coins from many different European nations to circulate throughout all of the American colonies alongside coins issued by the colonies themselves. One of the most common European coins in circulation were the Spanish old silver dollar coins that were minted in not only Mexico but other colonies using silver that had been mined in Central and South America. These coins and others that were approximately the same size and denominations were used as legal tender in the colonies and the United States until 1857.

The Colnage Act of 1792 allowed the United States Mint to begin producing old silver dollar coins. They continued the production from 1794 to 1803 when production ceased until 1836. The first minting of the old silver dollar was on October 15, 1794 was not for widespread distribution but to provide a silver dollar to a dignitary to take home as a souvenir. Two of the most common designs from the period are those of the Flowing Hair (1794-7195) and Draped Bus (1795-1804). The Draped bus has two designs that were used on the reverse side: small eagle (1795-1798) and the heraldic eagle (1798-1804). Silver dollars minted during this period are in great demand by collectors and thus are quite valuable. These silver dollars may be quite rare or they may be more common. As with anything, however, the value is in the eyes of the collector whether the silver dollar is rare or more common. The more interested collectors are in a particular old silver dollar the more valuable it will be on the market. Just like supply and demand in any market the desire pushes the price higher.

Rachel Barr