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Today I was reading a thread on Consider the copper-to-silver ratio so I started to read up on Coinage Acts and found this.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1834#cite_ref-7

The Coinage Act of 1834 was passed by the United States Congress on June 27, 1834. It raised the silver-to-gold weight ratio from its 1792 level of 15:1 (established by the Coinage Act of 1792) to 16:1 thus setting the mint price for silver at a level below its international market price.[1][2] After its passage, one ounce of gold was the equivalent of $20.67.

and

After the Coinage Act of 1834, silver (which was previously overvalued with respect to gold) became significantly undervalued and was exported to European markets where it was traded at a higher price.[7][8] This led to its near disappearance from par-circulation after 1834.

So my thoughts are would this mean that there would be a greater chance of finding pre 1834 silver coins in Europe than the US are did they all get melted down in Europe ? Also it looks to me also making money from coins go backing a long time in the USA.

I found a great read on this. http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cm/m04/m04-03.pdf

henrysmedford wrote:Today I was reading a thread on Consider the copper-to-silver ratio so I started to read up on Coinage Acts and found this.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1834#cite_ref-7

The Coinage Act of 1834 was passed by the United States Congress on June 27, 1834. It raised the silver-to-gold weight ratio from its 1792 level of 15:1 (established by the Coinage Act of 1792) to 16:1 thus setting the mint price for silver at a level below its international market price.[1][2] After its passage, one ounce of gold was the equivalent of $20.67.

and

After the Coinage Act of 1834, silver (which was previously overvalued with respect to gold) became significantly undervalued and was exported to European markets where it was traded at a higher price.[7][8] This led to its near disappearance from par-circulation after 1834.

So my thoughts are would this mean that there would be a greater chance of finding pre 1834 silver coins in Europe than the US are did they all get melted down in Europe ? Also it looks to me also making money from coins go backing a long time in the USA.

Gresham's Law was penned by a man that lived in Tudor England and died in 1579, but the concept has been appreciated for as long as any person could see a way to make a profit on a transaction.

The lesson for us is: Behold the power of government! For whatever reason, and by whatever influence, they changed the exchange ratio which caused a boatload of wealth to pick itself up and decamp to Europe.

Let's keep the learning going.

It seems the obvious solution would be to have both a gold and a silver currency, without a set ratio between them. What are the arguments against this approach?

scyther wrote:It seems the obvious solution would be to have both a gold and a silver currency, without a set ratio between them. What are the arguments against this approach?

There are none that are logical, but then I don't know everything.

Still diggin' your avatar, dude.

shinnosuke wrote:

scyther wrote:It seems the obvious solution would be to have both a gold and a silver currency, without a set ratio between them. What are the arguments against this approach?

There are none that are logical, but then I don't know everything.

Still diggin' your avatar, dude.

But the old Folks need to know the value of the coin on it.
Now with very little Silver Circulating an FRN an assignment of value to the Coin as reported on Coinflation is fine, this value of a fixed amt of Silver in US coin provides stability. When you need to account for varying Number of Grains dependent on mint year poor people get shafted as always.
I have purchased some Sterling as .999 not realizing the difference, it was Commonwealth coin not marked Sterling. all melted now an at $19.50 or less I'm good now.