COIN COMPOSITION

COIN COMPOSITION

Silver and Clad Coinage

Dollar Composition

What is a Dollar?

The Dollar of the Republic of the United States of America as established originally by the Constitution of the Republic of the United States of America and first promulgated under the Coinage act of 1792 (Coinage Act) is a weight of silver or gold; simple as that. Exactly, as provided in the Coinage Act, a Dollar is three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenths parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver, exactly the composition of the Spanish milled dollar that circulated at the time and served as the basis on monetary transactions.

The Coinage Act established that a Ten Dollar coin, designated the Eagle, would contain two hundred and forty-seven grains and four eighths of a grain of pure, or two hundred and seventy grains of standard gold. Fractional coins thereof, such as the Half Eagle with a Five Dollar denomination, carried the exact corresponding ratio of gold. That is, the Half Eagle contained one half of 247/270 grains of gold.

The Dollar was last minted between 1792 and 1935; no Dollars have been made since 1935.

Everything else produced with the word Dollar, or dollar, is either a promissory note, scrip, unit of account, obligation, fiat, tender, or method of settlement.

The Republic of the United States of America ceded authority and responsibility for producing the nations coinage to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CORPORATION (US) via the 14th Amendment in 1868. The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CORPORATION continued to produce Dollars via the US Mint as administered by the US Congress until ceding such Authority to the FEDERAL RESERVE CORPORATION on December 23, 1913 via the Federal Reserve Act. The US Mint continued to produce Dollars as administered by the FEDERAL RESERVE CORPORATION until 1935, at which point the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CORPORATION declared de-facto bankruptcy via re-organization and surrendered the power to create both Constitutional money and legal tender.

Beginning in 1971, the US Mint began producing a series of various coins with the word Dollar or dollar appearing on them, although none were legal as established by the Constitution of the Republic of the United States of America.

.900 fine Silver dollar: .77344 oz.

Composition Summary:

Pre-1792

1792-1935

26.96 grains

1935- 1970

1794-1795

Flowing Hair

1795-1804

Draped Bust

1836-1873

Seated Liberty

1873-1885

Trade Dollars

1878-1904, 1921

Morgan Dollar

1921-1935

Peace Dollar

1971 -1974

Eisenhower dollar

1976

1977 - 1978

Weight: 22.68 grams Diameter of 38.1mm

Composition 75% copper and 25% nickel; copper core.

Premium silver

Weight of 24.59 grams Diameter of 38.1mm

Composition: 80% silver and 20% copper; core: 79.1% copper and 20.9% silver

Silver content: 40% (net weight Ag is .3161 oz.)

1979-1981

Susan B. Anthony dollar

1986-2004

Sacagawea dollar

Alloy: 770 copper, .120 zinc, .070 manganese, and .040 nickel.

With the Sacagawea dollar, the alloy layers on each side of the copper core are manganese-bronze, a golden-colored alloy composed of 77 percent copper, 12 percent zinc, 7 percent manganese and 4 percent nickel.

Taking into account the coin's pure copper core, the overall composition of the Sacagawea dollar is 88.5 percent copper, 6 percent zinc, 3.5 percent manganese, and 2 percent nickel.

Half Dollar Composition

Kennedy Half Dollar

1964 - .900 fine Half Dollar
Same composition size and weight as the Franklins with 0.36169 oz Ag per.

1965-1970 - .400 fine Half Dollar

Same diameter as 1964 coin, at 11.5 g., 0.400 silver with 0.14792 oz ag per. few 1970s made, @ 2.7 million.

1971

They swamped the market with clad in 1971, over 350 million made.

1976s also had 0.400 ag.

There was no Ag in the Kennedy Half after 1976 again until 1992s, and on, in the silver proof set.

Quarter Composition

Quarter: .18084 oz.

Dime Composition

Dime: .07234 oz.

Half Dime Composition

Two and Three Cent Composition

Nickel Composition

War nickel: .05626 oz.

CuproNickel Composition

Cent Composition

What is a 'Penny'?

1981-Current

2.5% Copper (Cu); 97.5% Zinc (Zn.)

Half Cent Composition

CANADIAN COINAGE

Canadian Dime Composition: Long live the Bluenose!

Years	Weight	Diameter	Thickness	Edge	Composition
2000–present	1.75 g	18.03 mm	1.22 mm	Plain	92.0% steel, 5.5% copper, 2.5% nickel plate
1979–1999	2.075 g	18.03 mm			99.9% nickel
1968–1978	2.07 g	18.03 mm			99.9% nickel (*The Canadian Govt. actually paid vending machine operators half the cost of replacing coin mechanisms after this allow change).
1967–1968	2.33 g	18.034 mm			50% silver, 50% copper (* The 1967 dime was produced in both compositions; 50/50 and 80/20).
1920–1967	2.33 g	18.034 mm			80% silver, 20% copper
1910–1919	2.33 g	18.034 mm			92.5% silver, 7.5% copper
1858–1910	2.32 g	18.034 mm			92.5% silver, 7.5% copper

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