SILVER
Currency
Silver coins are possibly the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Why is silver used for coinage? Silver is easily transportable and can be divisible into small units without destroying its value. Because silver is not nearlyas valuable as gold, it is much more practical for small everyday transactions. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks. The power to coin money was given to Congress in 1789 in the Constitution stating that “no state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts”. The Coinage Act of 1792 established the First Mint in Philadelphia, PA and the silver dollar was the unit of money in the U.S. From this Act would eventually come: the Silver Dollar, half dollar, quarter dollar, dime and half dime. Back then, the ratio of 1 gold unit would equal 15 silver units of given proportion. Anyone who was caught replacing silver with other metals or making fake silver coins was sentenced to death.
1902 VS 1963
