ASSAYS OF FOREIGN COINS.

Communicated to the Senate January 17, 1827.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a letter from the Director of the Mint, showing the result of the assay of foreign coins, and the information otherwise relating thereto desired by the resolution.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

Washington, January 17, 1827.

Treasury Department, January 16, 1827.

The Secretary of the Treasury, to whom was referred a resolution of the Senate of May 10, 1826, “requesting the President of the United States to cause an assay to be made of all the gold and silver coins of all foreign nations whose coins are known to circulate or to be in use in any part of the United States; and to cause a report, distinguishing the respective dates of their coinage, to be made to Congress at their next session, of the actual weight of each of those coins; the fineness, alloy, and component parts of each; the current and nominal value of each; the actual value of each according to the standard and denomination of the coins of the United States, and the rate at which each might justly be made a legal tender,” has the honor to lay before the President a report, dated the 27th ultimo, of the Director of the Mint, prepared in obedience to the said resolution.

RICHARD RUSH.

The President, of the United States.

Mint of the United States, Philadelphia, December 27, 1826.

Sir: I have now the honor to report to you on the subject of the foreign gold and silver coins circulating in the United States, according to your instructions, accompanying the resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, by which the President of the United States is requested “to cause an assay to be made of all the gold and silver coins of all foreign nations whose coins are known to circulate or be in use in any part of the United States, and to cause a report, distinguishing the respective dates of their coinage, to be made to Congress at their next session; of the actual weight of each of those coins; the fineness, alloy, and component parts of each; the current and nominal value of each; the actual value of each, according to the standard and denomination of the coins of the United States; and the rate at which each might justly be made a legal tender.”

Conformably to the above resolution, assays have been made of the various coins designated, of which the result will be found in the annexed tables, comprehending, as far as has been practicable, and with no material exception, it is believed, all the foreign gold and silver coins which have either a general or local currency within the United States, and exhibiting, severally, their date, weight, fineness, alloy, component parts, current value, and actual value in coins of the United States.

In selecting from various coins the proper subjects for examination it was considered desirable to present an instructive variety of dates. The range will be found, however, in many instances very limited. Of some the issue is but recent. Others, having a restricted circulation only, occur but rarely. Of these not many specimens were obtained.

Average weights, derived from as many trials as practicable within the dates mentioned, are uniformly taken as the basis of calculation, and referred to throughout the tables. When the specimens obtained have been few, their average has been corrected or confirmed, when this could be done, by recurring to former trials of the weight of such coins here, or to other satisfactory records.

The proportion of fine metal and alloy in the various foreign coins examined, and the actual quantity composing each specific coin, are derived from the average of repeated assays made for this occasion.

The resolution has not been construed to require an analysis of the alloy found in foreign coins; its quantity alone, and not its composition, being of any moment as affecting their value. On this subject, however, it may be satisfactory to observe that copper, of various degrees of purity, but sufficiently pure to secure its ductility, forms the alloy of all the silver coins examined; and that all the gold coins are alloyed, as are those of the United States, with a mixture of silver and copper in variable proportions.

The judicious restriction contained in the act of Congress establishing the Mint, by which the quantity of silver is not to exceed that of copper in the alloy for gold, appears not to prevail universally in the gold coins of foreign nations. An excess of silver in some and of copper in others of the same nation and of the same date frequently occurs to a degree which sensibly impairs their beauty. These varieties are not very remarkable in the gold coins of Great Britain and Portugal, which are of the standard of the United States, nor even in those of France, which are but slightly inferior. They are, however, obvious in the gold coins of Spain, which contain sensibly more alloy, and in those of the Republics of Mexico and South America, which are of the Spanish standard. Specimens of the gold coins of those nations are occasionally seen alloyed almost wholly with copper or almost wholly with silver, which deviate so obviously, in the first instance by too high, and in the second by too pale a color, from that of fine gold as to have created a distrust of their purity. By the assay they are found to be genuine.

The current value per pennyweight assumed in the table for gold coins accords with that assigned to them, severally, as a legal tender by the act of Congress of April 29, 1816. Though no longer sanctioned by law, except in payments on account of public lands, it remains the basis on which those coins are usually estimated when received by weight, differing slightly, however, as will be noticed on inspection, from their actual value as now determined.

The current value by tale assigned to the several gold coins conforms, it will be seen, very nearly to their medium actual value, having been practically established according to their ascertained value at a medium weight. Under both forms of expressing their current value, the fluctuating premium on gold coins in our principal seaports, and which affects, in some measure, their currency throughout the United States, has been disregarded. This premium varies in different parts of the Union, according to local facilities and transient demand, from one to ten per cent., and has vibrated through nearly this whole range in the same city within a few years. Facts thus variable cannot be usefully subjected to tabular arrangement.

The actual value of the several gold and silver coins, according to the standard and denomination of the coins of the United States, has been deduced from the fine gold or fine silver contained therein, respectively, at the rate of 247½ grains of fine gold to the eagle of ten dollars, and 371¼ grains of fine silver to the dollar.

These remarks may suffice as to the general structure of the tables. In relation to the various coins specified therein, such illustrations as may seem to be required will be found under their proper head in the order in which they occur.

Of Foreign Gold Coins.

The only species of the ducat examined is that of Holland. This is not of frequent occurrence, and all other coins of that denomination are still more rare in the United States. On the concurring authority, however, of the English and French tables, it may be stated that the ducat of Sweden, Russia, and Prussia, that of Hamburg, and the specie ducat of Denmark, of all which it is occasionally desirable to determine the value, are of the same standard as the Holland ducat, and conform to it in weight with remarkable precision.

The actual value of the sovereign of full weight is found, as will be observed, to be $4 56.6. This coin being the representative of the pound sterling of Great Britain, of which $4 44 has long been estimated as the par value, an explanation of the discordance appears necessary, especially as some confusion in the currency of gold coins results sensibly from it. This topic, which is not new, will be noticed only in reference to the present subject.

When, by the act of Congress of July 31, 1789, the pound sterling was assumed at $4 44, this was doubtless considered the true par. It had but recently ceased to be nearly so; an equivalent proportion under another form had long prevailed. Before the year 1730, when the Spanish dollar of full weight contained 386 grains, nearly, of fine silver, it was a just proportion. The trivial change of the Spanish standard, adopted in 1730, by which this proportion was slightly disturbed, probably passed unnoticed; and the more important reduction of it in 1772 could have attracted little attention during an interval marked by events of peculiar interest. The proportion was, however, conclusively deranged on the establishment of the Mint in 1792, and the institution of a national coinage, of which a dollar, containing 371¼ grains of fine silver, was made the unit.

In 1793 an act was passed for regulating the currency of foreign coins, in which the gold coins of Great Britain are made a legal tender at the rate of 100 cents for 27 grains thereof, equivalent to 888/9 cents per pennyweight. This, which is their actual value in coins of the United States, and has been assigned to them in all subsequent acts extending the currency of foreign gold coins, gives for the value of the guinea of full weight $4 79.4. The value of the pound sterling, deduced from the value of the guinea, is $4 56.6, conformably to that of the sovereign in the table.

In the meantime the par value of the pound sterling, designated in the act of 1789, and subsequent corresponding acts, had been transferred by proportion to the guinea, the par value of which was consequently supposed to be $4 662/3. Thus there are two rules for estimating the gold coins of Great Britain derived from those two series of acts. The one proceeding on the assumed par of $4 44 for the pound sterling and determining by proportion the par value of the guinea, the other founded upon the acts making those coins a legal tender at their intrinsic value. The latter appears to be very generally adopted by public institutions, but among dealers in bullion and foreign coins the supposed par of $4 44 for the pound sterling and $4 662/3 for the guinea appear still to maintain their place. The current price of English gold above those rates is, of course, considered as a premium. English gold coins have never, indeed, been obtainable on those terms in coins of the United States, and hence the maxim has become familiar that this species of gold is always above par whatever may be the current rate of other foreign gold. Above the par in question it must necessarily be under every condition of our foreign exchange, its intrinsic value, if brought to the Mint as bullion, being nearly three per cent. above it.

The gold coins of Great Britain may now be quoted at a premium of about seven per cent. on their medium intrinsic value, or about ten per cent. on the par above referred to. They are frequently reckoned by tale, and may thus be estimated at $4 90 for the sovereign. Being available as a legal tender in remittances to England, the premium bears a settled relation to that of exchange on London, from which it differs about two and a half per cent. if computed according to the same par.

The gold coins of Portugal approach very nearly to the standard of those of the United States, which they sometimes reach. The laws regulating the currency of foreign coins estimate them as of the same value. In strictness they are inferior, as reported in this instance, by a very minute difference.

No change is perceived in the standard of the gold coins of France within a period extending back to 1787. The premium on the gold coins of France and Portugal may be stated at about four to five per cent. on their actual or intrinsic value.

The gold standard of Spain has been adhered to generally with less precision than either of those before mentioned. The deviations from it are, however, unimportant; they occur in coins of the same date as well as in those of different years, and the average given in the table, after a careful comparison of the present with many former assays, may be taken as true. The value of the gold coins of Spain, according to the regulations of 1816, it will be noticed, differs obviously from that now determined. By a reference to the law it appears that the rate assigned therein to those coins is 100 cents for 28½ grains thereof, or 84 cents per pennyweight, two expressions which are not equivalent. It is presumed that, in the original act, 8421/100 cents is the rate designated, which is the corresponding value.

The gold coins of Spain may now be quoted at a premium on their medium value by the tables of eight to ten per cent. They are most frequently computed by tale, and may be estimated at from $15 50 to $16 for a doubloon, the parts being in proportion.

The gold coins of the Spanish American States, though exhibiting, under the assay, minute varieties, may be considered as of the full Spanish standard. The current value of their doubloons, however, is from twenty-five to fifty cents less than that of the Spanish, being excluded, it is understood, from those markets where coins of that denomination are in request at the highest value. Of Central America and Peru no gold coins have been obtained for examination.

The gold coins of Colombia are observed to exhibit the most conspicuous examples of that deviation from the color of ordinary gold coins, before referred to, which results from a large excess of silver in the alloy.

Among the gold coins examined was one variety purporting to be the Spanish doubloon of 1821, but conjectured to be spurious, of which considerable numbers, it appears, were lately introduced into the United States. They bear the designation G.A, in the margin. In external appearance they are not very distinguishable from the Spanish doubloon of regular coinage; they are deficient, however, in weight, by 10 to 12 grains, and in fineness are a little below 20 carats. Their actual value is 80 3-10 cents per pennyweight, or $13 55 by tale.

The gold coins of Brazil are of the same standard as those of Portugal, and may be quoted at the same premium of four to five per cent.

In specifying the premium on the several species of foreign gold coins, reference is constantly had to our principal commercial cities, and to a period embracing the last two months.

Foreign Silver Coins.

The silver coins of Great Britain issued since 1816 are, as will be observed, of less intrinsic value than those of earlier coinage; they are, however, still a legal tender, it is understood, at their former nominal value, but only to an amount not exceeding forty shillings sterling; they are, in like manner, a legal tender, probably with the same restriction, in the British Provinces contiguous to the United States, in some sections of which they have thence obtained a local currency at the same nominal value.

The new crusado of 480 reas has been alone specified of the silver coins of Portugal. Its current value is given as received from the only quarter of the United States where it is referred to as known in circulation.

In the silver coinage of France the issue of crowns ceased in 1793. The difference of standard between that denomination and the five-franc piece, as exhibited in the tables, has become familiar in the United States.

No change having been made for a long series of years in the regulations of the Spanish mint relative to the weight of the dollar and its divisions, the difference therein observable in the tables is to be attributed to the effect of use alone, and is found to bear a near proportion to the period of their circulation. The pillar dollar seems to offer an exception, arising, it is presumed, from the fact that, on the adoption in 1772 of a new and inferior coinage, the dollars of former emission were soon withheld from ordinary circulation.

There is an appearance presented by repeated assays that the Spanish dollars issued within the first few years after the regulations of 1772 had been adopted were slightly inferior to the subsequent emissions. If, however, there has been within the last thirty years any variation discoverable in those coins, it has tended towards a finer rather than an inferior standard; at least, the standard has been maintained with constancy.

All the divisions of the Spanish dollar are decidedly equal in fineness to the standard of the dollar itself. This point has been investigated with minute attention, and is the more distinctly stated because a doubt appears to have been entertained respecting it tending prematurely to degrade a very useful class of coins.

Spanish dollars, bearing the impression of Joseph Napoleon, are often seen of dates from 1809 to 1813, during which period the Ferdinand dollars continued to be issued from the Mexican mint. The latter only are inserted in the tables; the former are, however, of the full standard and value of the Ferdinand dollar.

The pistareen, though a Spanish coin, is no part of the Spanish dollar, from the standard of which it differs very conspicuously. In 1772 the pistareen as well as the dollar was reduced in fineness; at the same time the head impression was substituted in both for the devices by which they had before been severally distinguished. This denomination existed from an early date, and is still issued. Pistareens have never been made a legal tender by act of Congress; they are current, however, in many parts of the United States at the rates specified in the tables.

The dollar of Mexico, Central America, and Peru is of the silver standard of Spain. That of Mexico usually exceeds, by a minute difference, the weight of the Spanish dollar of the same year. The dollar of Colombia, in all the specimens of it which have been examined, is found, as the table represents, singularly deficient both in standard and weight. Its actual value being, as will be noticed, only 75 cents.

The dollars of Chili and La Plata are of the Spanish standard, but are found inferior in weight to the Spanish dollar.

The Brazilian piece of 640 reas, of the year 1824, bearing the name of the Emperor, may be taken, it is presumed, as a specimen of the national coins. The currency of Brazil is understood, however, to be chiefly supplied by pieces of 960 reas, which are of the value of the Spanish dollar, and, on examination, are perceived to consist of dollars restamped. No coin representing the millrea has been found for assay either in gold or silver. Its value, deduced from either of the above pieces, is 105 cents. Its value, deduced from the new crusado of Portugal, of full weight, is 111 cents. Its value, estimated on the gold coin of Portugal and Brazil of 400 reas, may be stated at 115 cents.

The value, by tale, of the several denominations of foreign coins circulating in the United States, taken in that proportion of their various dates which actually obtains, is not precisely the mean of the several values given in the tables, but approximates nearly to it. The earliest dates, it will be found, occur most rarely, and affect, therefore, in a less degree the general result. The average value of the emissions of any series of years may be considered as exhibited in coins of the year anterior to the latest date of that series by one-third of the whole period. This principle has been investigated more perfectly in relation to the Spanish dollar and its parts, but appears to be applicable, with all desirable strictness, to other foreign coins.

It is to be observed that the actual value, by tale, of the several coins specified in the tables pertains to them only when they are of their genuine standard and of the weight mentioned, when divested of all earthy or other extraneous matter. Large masses of those coins generally fail, therefore, to give precisely corresponding results; their weight consisting, in part, of impurities which water will discharge equal to about one-fourth of a grain on each dollar long in circulation, and some of their number being partially base or wholly base. The effect of this may be estimated at one base dollar in two thousand of all those hitherto deposited at the Mint.

The question remains to be considered at what rate the several coins examined may justly be made a legal tender.

In general it may be considered just to make foreign coins a legal tender at the rate of the fine metal they contain, estimated according to the standard and denominations of the national currency; and accordingly certain foreign coins have been made a legal tender in the United States at their supposed actual value, which has been occasionally modified, conformably to the result of assays instituted for the purpose of effecting such corrections.

Conformably to this principle, taken without limitation, the actual value of the several foreign coins specified in the tables would determine their just rate as a legal tender, and a reference thereto would satisfy the inquiry. It is, however, apparent that a system thus various and involved would, by reason of its inexpediency, have the effect of being unjust. Some discrimination is therefore to be adopted on considerations applicable in the case, and tending to control the general principle by salutary restrictions. Among these restrictions are conceived to be the following:

That foreign gold coins, as heretofore, be made a legal tender only by weight; that no foreign gold coins be now made a legal tender, unless of standards which have become familiar to the community; that no foreign silver coins be made a legal tender which may be expected to occur but rarely in circulation; that no foreign silver coins be made a legal tender but such as, in computation by tale, associate readily with the denominations of the coins of the United States; that no foreign coins be made a legal tender at a value which may induce the exportation or destruction of our own in preference to foreign coins.

Within the above limitations, and in obedience to the resolution of the Senate, I respectfully submit a selection from the gold and silver coins specified in the tables, which may, it is believed, justly be made a legal tender, and at the following rates, severally, viz : The gold coins of Great Britain, Portugal, and Brazil, of their present standard, at the rate of 8889/100 cents per pennyweight; the gold coins of France, of their present standard, at the rate of 8725/100 cents per pennyweight; the gold coins of Spain, Mexico, and Colombia, of their present standard, at the rate of 8425/100 cents per pennyweight; the milled dollars of Spain, Mexico, Central America, and Peru, of their present standard, at the rate of 100 cents for a dollar, of which the weight shall not be less than seventeen pennyweights and seven grains; and the parts of the Spanish dollar at the rate of 50 cents for each half dollar, the weight of which shall not be less than eight pennyweights and thirteen and five-seventh grains, and in proportion for the subordinate divisions thereof: Provided, That the said parts and divisions of the Spanish dollar shall not be a legal tender at the above rate for a greater amount than ten dollars in any one payment.

On the principles adopted in this selection the ducat is excluded — a coin of rare occurrence in the United States, and of a standard unknown in our currency. The silver coins of Central America are admitted, but not the gold, of which no specimens have been found for an assay. The gold coins of Colombia are admitted, but not the silver, of which the specimens thus far exhibited are of anomalous standard and weight. The gold and silver coins of Chili and La Plata are omitted; the gold coins of neither having been tested in any specimens of very recent date, and the dollars of both hitherto tried being inferior in weight to the minimum assumed for the dollars embraced in the selection. The pistareens and the silver coins of Great Britain, Portugal, and Brazil are excluded, presenting standards diverse from any hitherto recognized in our currency, or values not well adapted to the denominations of the coins of the United States. The crowns and five-franc pieces of France are also excluded; the first ceased in 1793 to be issued, are now of rare occurrence, and their average weight, no longer sustained by new emissions, has very sensibly diminished, those of the latest dates being below the weight assumed in the acts making them a legal tender. Both the crown and the five franc piece are assimilated with difficulty to our national coinage. If, however, it be deemed expedient further to extend their currency, the French crown may justly be assumed at 109 cents, provided the weight thereof be not less than eighteen pennyweights and fourteen grains; and the five-franc piece at 93 cents, provided the weight thereof be not less than sixteen pennyweights.

Of the silver coins thus proposed to be made a legal tender the following may be taken as the medium intrinsic value, founded on an estimate of the proportion of the several dates of each denomination now circulating in the United States, with a correction' of one base coin in two thousand of the whole circulation, viz:

It will be observed that all the above mentioned coins, except the divisions of the dollar, are of a higher medium value than the rate proposed to be assigned to them as a legal tender. This reserve has been generally evinced in the acts of Congress making foreign coins a legal tender by tale. An inspection of the tables proves that it has not been too rigid. The value of the Spanish dollar, which constituted the mass of the currency in 1793, was at that period about 100 cents five mills. It is now less than 100 cents; and, within the circle of its influence, operates to repel the national coins of recent emission or consign them to the crucible. The highest in value of the dollars now suggested as a legal tender will, in thirty years, be reduced to 100 cents by the ordinary effect of circulation.

The average loss on a silver currency, it appears, is nearly four grains of silver from the dollar, or about one cent in value in a period of fifty years. The loss on gold coin, it maybe incidentally remarked, appears, by the most instructive ranges in the tables, those of the guinea and Johannes, to be not less than two per cent. within the same period. The divisions of the dollar, being auxiliaries to the general currency by performing the lighter offices of coin, are in more constant action and lose proportionally more. The loss on the Spanish half dollar on this account, it will be perceived, equals that on the dollar; the quarter loses in the same time about eight mills; the eighth, five mills; and the sixteenth, four mills.

The difficulty of sustaining the smaller denominations of a metallic currency at their nominal value suggests the expediency of protecting them, under judicious limitations, by legislative favor. The principle now proposed in relation to those coins is the most satisfactory that has occurred after much reflection. It estimates them, by a facile proportion of seven dollars for six ounces, at a minute excess above their intrinsic value as bullion, according to the rigorous determination of that value now presented in the tables, of 1161/10 cents per ounce. This gives for the value of 8 pennyweights and 135/7 grains 49757/1000 cents. The difference between this and their nominal value is scarcely appreciable in a single coin of the subordinate denominations, and is less than 2½ cents on the amount proposed as the maximum of their legal tender.

The divisions of the Spanish dollar are performing a very useful service in our currency, and cannot conveniently be dispensed with until more copious emissions of the smaller denominations of our national coins have been diffused through the United States.

In presenting the above modifications of the foreign currency of the United States, the suggestion is with deference submitted that all the varieties of the dollar now proposed to be admitted as a legal tender, appear to be at present an acceptable tender wherever they are known in the United States. They are received universally, it is believed, by the banks at the rate of the Spanish dollar, as are the gold coins of the Spanish American States generally at the rate per pennyweight of the gold coins of Spain. It may also be deserving of remark that, while all those varieties of the dollar, from their ready association with the denominations of the national coinage, without the sanction of a legal tender, circulate freely by popular consent, the French crown and five franc piece, though sustained by legal provisions, have been received but partially and reluctantly into our currency.

It appears necessary to recur for a moment to the subject of foreign gold coins generally. The premium on those coins so frequently referred to renders it manifest that gold cannot now be retained in circulation. It is apparent to casual observation that it forms no part of our ordinary currency.

By an act of Congress of March 3, 1823, the legal tender of certain foreign gold coins, which had before been general, was restricted to payments on account of public lands. It appears from authentic sources that the amount received in those coins, under this special designation of their use, has borne no sensible proportion to the payments of the whole interval, and presents few evidences of their existence in the payments of the last year. The general proportion for the whole period, according to the communications received, does not exceed one dollar in gold to one hundred dollars. The proportion within the last year, it is believed, does not exceed one dollar in gold to one thousand dollars received in payments on account of public lands.

An inquiry, it is perceived, arises on the preceding facts whether foreign gold coins may not justly be made a legal tender at a higher value than that heretofore and now assigned to them.

The value assigned to them is that of the gold coins of the United States when the foreign coin is of the same standard, and in proportion for inferior coins. This inquiry is therefore arrested by the higher question of the expediency of changing the relation which gold bears to silver in the coins of the United States — a question of no trivial moment, and, in some of its aspects, delicate — one which, it is conceived, was not intended by the resolution of the Senate to be presented on this occasion, and on which, therefore, I am restrained, by respectful considerations, from indulging in any discussion or obtruding an opinion.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

SAM. MOORE.

Hon. Richard Rush, Secretary of the Treasury.

Table of foreign gold coins.

Table of foreign silver coins.