Is American (and other) coin silver made from coins?

[Jag]

I admit to not knowing this fundamental fact about early American silver. Was it made from melted down coins or did the silversmiths buy it in bulk? Was that legal in the US (apparently it is not legal now, since old copper pennies cannot legally be melted)? And what about other countries?

[JLDoggett]

In colonial times coins would have been the only reliable source for metal. It was much easier to melt coins then find and alloy your own silver, moreover a client might actually bring in their own coin to be used ( refrences to this I have in several ancestors' diaries). While there were several locations where silver was mined, they were not the richest veins of ore and production was scant. As material became more available many silversmiths did alloy their own metal.

As for melting Americian coins, the law states it is illegal to alter then to defraud however melting them down is not fraud. The ridged edges of silver couins was to prevent people filing them down and keeping a part of the metal.

[Jag]

Thank you, that makes sense. I assume the same must have been true in other countries too - probably coins were used unless there was a cheaper source available - or sometimes old silver or scrap. I also assume the market price of silver was always less than the face value of the country's coinage.

When sterling silver began to be used in the US in the mid-1800's, there must have been adequate suppliers and distribution of the higher purity silver so that the silversmiths could buy it in bulk; at which point coinage was no longer used.

As for the current law on melting coins, apparently that is a new law that was passed in 2006: http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-12-14-melting-ban-usat_x.htm. That's what happens when the market price of the raw material becomes more than the face value of the coinage.

[Hose_dk]

depends on when in time
the coin = silver.
The currency was based upon silver. Therefor the state bothered to set silver standards.
One day silver coin - the next day transferred to silver object - the next day silver objects was melted down to make coins. That is basic knowledge for anyone interested in silver objects.
I recommend a book - any book of basic silver knowledge. Otherize someone has to write a lot here.

[Jag]

I actually think this is kind of an interesting question. For one thing, the US didn't mint any coins until 1794, so any silver made from coins before that date must have used coins from Spain/Spanish colonies or another country. And each country used different silver percentages that changed over time. So silver made from Spanish coins prior to 1772 would have a higher percentage than those made from coins after that date, etc.

And the US and England have both at various times in their histories attempted to stop their silver coinage from being melted down.

The two books I've read are both old (1950's and before) and don't discuss where the silver came from (or if they did I don't remember). Do you have any books to recommend?

[agphile]

I don’t know of a single book that will answer all the implied questions. Regulations about the fineness and marking of silver have varied from country to country and over time. In England, for example, the sterling standard originally aligned the fineness of manufactured silver with that of the coinage to guarantee the value of a given weight of silver. The household silver was one way of storing wealth in the days before a developed banking system. Then, when circumstances changed, the higher Britannia standard was made a requirement when a shortage of coins created the need to discourage silversmiths from melting them down.

The term “coin silver” is one I generally only see used for American silver to cover two distinct categories:

a) From the mid 19th century on, silver that is marked “COIN”, where the maker is certifying that it is of the same fineness as the American coinage, i.e. 900 standard.

b) Earlier American silver, before any regulation, that does not carry a fineness mark. Here the fineness will depend on the source of the silver used and whether it was further alloyed. The fineness may be higher (or lower) than the “COIN” 900 standard.