Half Dime und Quarter

[ischbierra]

Zu guter Letzt noch ein Half Dime von 1854 O, Gewicht 1,18 gr. leicht lädiert und Kratzer und ein Quarter von 1857 in s+, 6,08 gr.
Gruß ischbierra

[villa66]

A pair of talkative old silver coins, one with the arrows at its date which indicate a reduction in its silver content. The recently-discovered gold in California and Australia was making itself felt. And with that modification in metal content (1853), American silver coin denominated at 5-cents and above began circulating freely again.

Funny thing is, both of these coins were probably sidelined themselves by 1862 or so. The Civil War sent American silver into hiding, and it didn’t really return to matter-of-fact circulation until the mid-1870s.

Once Seated Liberty coins like these (dated 1853 and later) did return, however, they often remained in circulation for several decades. (I have read of kids noticing isolated survivors circulating into the early-1940s.)

Your (nice) 1857 Philadelphia quarter was an early part of the withdrawal (1857-59) and demonetization of the Spanish-American silver that had circulated in the U.S. since its founding. (Which is one reason it was coined in such large numbers.) And if by chance it was still at home in Philly in 1876, it could have been used as part of the 50-cent admission to the Statue of Liberty’s torch, which had been sent over from France for that year’s Exposition celebrating America’s centennial of independence.

The New Orleans half-dime, though, suggests something less sunny. Of course New Orleans sits at the mouth of the “Mighty Mississippi,” so it’s always tempting to think of “O” mint pieces mostly as river-coins. But this 1854o half-dime is a creature of the antebellum South, and can’t help but bear witness to a particularly ugly contradiction in American history. So it isn’t much of a stretch to imagine this little piece of silver has seen or perhaps even been a part of the crime of black slavery.

Coins….

v.