Lot 126

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Description:

Congress Allows Foreign Coins as Domestic Currency for 3 Years

Rare printed broadside, "An Act regulating Foreign Coins, and for other purposes", 1p, on watermarked cream laid paper measuring 7.25" x 10". Philadelphia: Childs and Swaine, 1793. Signed in type at bottom by George Washington as President, John Adams as Vice President, and Jonathan Trumbull as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Issued on February 9, 1793. Docketed "Senate File 1797" verso. Trimmed at margins; weak folds repaired verso; losses at bottom margin expertly infilled, only affecting a few words of text; else, in very good condition. 

Suffering from a shortage of legal tender, the new United States allows foreign coins to be used for all transactions. In part, “That from and after the first day of July next, foreign gold and silver coins shall pass current as money within the United States, and be a legal tender for the payment of all debts and demands, at the several and respective rates following, and not otherwise, viz. The gold coins of Great-Britain and Portugal, of their present standard, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty-seven grains of the actual weight thereof, the gold coins of France, Spain and the dominions of Spain, of their present standard, at the rate of one hundred cents for every twenty seven grains and two fifths of a grain, of the actual weight thereof. Spanish milled dollars, at the rate of one hundred cents for each dollar, the actual weight whereof shall not be less than seventeen pennyweights and seven grains; and in proportion for the parts of a dollar. Crowns of France, at the rate of one hundred and ten cents, for each crown, the actual weight whereof, shall not be less than eighteen pennyweights and seventeen grains, and in proportion for the parts of a crown.”

Under the Articles of Confederation, both Congress and the individual states could coin money. The U.S. Constitution gave Congress exclusive power to coin money, but it took some time to establish a national currency. On April 2, 1792, Congress passed “An Act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States,” establishing the silver dollar as the unit of money in the United States, fixed to the value of the widely used Spanish silver milled dollar (aka Piece of Eight). The Coinage Act of 1792 also authorized the construction of a mint in Philadelphia, the first federal building erected under the United States Constitution, and the production of gold, silver, and copper coins from half cents to Eagles ($10), though copper coins did not have legal tender status and could be refused. The production of copper coins began in 1793, silver in 1794, and gold in 1795. In the meantime, the United States continued to have a shortage of coinage.

This scarce broadside publishes a 1793 Act of Congress allowing foreign coinage to be used as legal tender in the United States for three years until domestic coins could be minted. Responding to a continued shortage, Congress in 1806 again passed an act making gold and silver British, Portuguese, French, and Spanish coins legal tender in the United States for three years. Congress renewed the law accepting foreign coins in 1816, 1819, 1823, 1827, and 1834. The Coinage Act of 1857 finally ended the receipt of all foreign coins as legal tender.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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