Gold coins are always considered a valuable treasure because aside from the value of the gold itself, these coins are part of a country’s history. There were several reasons why gold coins were produced, used and circulated in the nation for many years. Also, these coins have features that were equivalent to important personalities, or cultural heritage. However, to properly understand how these gold coins came into existence and gradually stopped after years of circulation, refer to this infographic for America’s gold coins.
1. There were shortages in the coins used by English colonies in the United States and because of that different types of commodity money were used when they deal with the natives. There were two basic reasons why all forms of foreign currency were demonetized in the Coinage Act of 1857. The first reason was the US Treasury Department took a long time to feel confident about its own production and circulation of coins. The second reason is the depreciation of the silver of Spain and Mexico.
2. The First US Gold coins were produced in 1792 through the Coinage Act of 1792. In this Act, there were three denominations: (1) $10 or the eagle, (2) $5 or the half eagle and (3) $2.5 or the quarter eagle. The weight and purity of the gold coins are different depending on the value of the coin.
3. The $10 value coin was too big to be used for simple transactions and so the $1 gold coins were produced in 1849. It was the smallest gold coin ever made and it had the Lady Liberty features. However, in 1854, it was changed to the Indian headdress and it continued to have such features until 1889. Aside from the $1 gold coin, the country also produced $3 gold coin. However, because it was considered unpopular by the commission, the production and circulation of such coins were stopped.
4. Do you have commemorative coins? These were produced but not intended for circulation. It was in 1892 when the United States created commemorative coins along with the silver Columbian Expo half a dollar. The first in the series was the 1903 Louisiana Purchase expo gold collar which had the Jefferson and McKinley. In 1916, a McKinley Memorial gold dollar came around followed by Grant Memorial gold dollar in 1922.
5. Introducing the family of coins since 1901, it was President Theodore Roosevelt who made plans on the designs of the coins of a powerful nation which was the US. The gold coins with Indian Head and Liberty were designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens while the $2.50 quarter eagles were designed by Bela Lyon Pratt.
6. Because of the collectors’ eagerness to get gold coins, the country produced commemorative gold coins which had a successful release for the last 30-40 years. In the next decades, the investment and production of gold will continue since the country is recovering from the Great Recession. Having gold seemed to give peace of mind and it could mean that production of it will keep the economy flourish.
source: https://www.goldplating.com/blogs/news/fourth-of-july-gold-coins-in-american-history
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