On Tue, Jul 02, 2002 at 11:34:17PM -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote: > At 7:31 PM -0500 on 7/2/02, Harmon Seaver wrote: > > > > Wasn't the dollar backed by silver for quite awhile? There were definitely > > real silver dollars coined for quite awhile, and the dollar said > >something on it > > about silver certificate. Likewise many smaller coins had a high silver > >content > > -- this ended sometime during Vietnam, not sure the year. I've still got > >a bag > > of silver coins laying around somewhere. > > There were silver certificates, yes, and silver coins, until the market > value of the silver exceeded the value stated on the coin. Pennies have a > lot of zinc in them now, for the same reason. > > I'm not sure when the silver certificate notes stopped being issued, though > it seems to me that FDR had something to do with that. I'm pretty sure they > were being honored at least into the 1970's, and it seems to me that they'd > just give you $20 worth of silver at market prices if you gave them a > silver certificate, which wasn't much help unless you thought either the > future price of silver was going up, or the dollar going down against > silver sometime later one.
I did a quick search -- started issuing silver certificates in 1878, quit in 1957, but kept redeeming them for silver dollars until 1964, and for silver bullion until 1968. -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com