GLOSSARY. Terms used in treating of Bullion, Mints, Coinage, and Money.
Reading edition
Assaying.—Chemical analysis of metals or ores. This term is employed in reference to mints and coinage, refers particularly to the process for determining the component parts and relative proportions of a mixed alloy of gold and silver, or the various alloys used for the manufacture of minor coins.
Refining.—Extract of base from precious metals; usually performed by the aid of heat and oxidizing fluxes.
Parting.—The separation of gold and silver when the two metals compose an alloy, either native or artificial, for the purpose of obtaining the metals, respectively, in the form of fine bars. This is accomplished, first, by dissolving the silver with acids and subsequently precipitating; or, second, by converting silver into chloride by heat and chlorine gas, and then reducing the chloride to a metallic state.
Alloying.—Compounding two or more metals together in suitable or legal proportions for coinage. Gold and silver are alloyed with copper for standard coins, and alloys are variously made of nickel and copper, or of copper, tin, and zinc for minor coins.
Fine Bars.—Gold and silver bars resulting from the operations of parting and refining. Bars containing 99 per cent. of pure metal are generally considered as fine bars.
Unparted Bullion.—Gold containing silver or silver containing gold which has not been subjected to the parting operation.
Amalgam.—Gold and silver extracted from ores or other substances by the use of mercury and left in a porous or spongy condition, when the mercury is removed by distillation.
Fineness.—A term indicating the proportion of pure metal contained in a piece of gold or silver. Fineness is expressed in thousandths; that is, pure metal is 1000. United States coin is ⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ fine, or decimally .900 fine. Fineness is estimated by jewelers and workers in the precious metals by “carats,” pure metal being 24 carats. Thus 22 carats, the British standard for gold coins, is ²²⁄₂₄, or decimally, 916⅔ fine.
Deposit—Melting.—The operation of melting a deposit of gold or silver at the Mint to secure a homogeneity of metals, preliminary to taking a sample for assaying.
Remedy of the Mint.—The legal variation allowed from the fineness and weight prescribed by law for the coins.
Trial of the Pyx.—The annual test made by special commissioners of the fineness and weight of coins reserved from each delivery of coin by the coiner to the superintendent. These coins are known as Pyx coins, because kept in a pyx or chest.
Refractory Bullion.—Gold or silver bullion which contains a small percentage of lead, tin, or antimony, and which is therefore too hard or brittle to roll, cut, or stamp with facility.
Wastage.—The amount of gold and silver lost in the processes which these metals undergo preparatory to striking the coins. This “wastage” by law must not exceed a certain percentage of the gross amount of metals worked.
Sweepings.—The ashes, fluxes, crucibles, sweepings, and all other refuse materials from rooms in which the metals are worked, containing a small amount of gold and silver.
Standard.—The weight and fineness fixed by law for the coins; hence the term “standard weight” or “standard fineness.”
Base Bullion.—Gold or silver bullion not fit for coinage purposes, by reason of the presence of base metals, until refined.
Mint Mark.—The letter or mark on the coin, designating the mint at which it was struck; as “S” for San Francisco, “C C” for Carson City, “O” for New Orleans.[30]
Money of Account.—The ideal unit, or money term, in which accounts are stated or transactions made, as the pound sterling of Great Britain, the dollar of the United States, the franc of France, and the reichsmark of the German Empire.
Coins of Standard Value.—In modern times a government first establishes a money of account or ideal unit, and then fixes by law the quantity of gold or silver which shall, in the form of a coin with unlimited legal-tender power, represent that ideal unit. Such coins, with their multiples and divisions, are termed “coins of standard value” or “standard coins.”
Subsidiary Coins.—In the United States silver coins of less denomination than the dollar, which have a nominal value exceeding their intrinsic or bullion value, and limited as legal tender to sums not exceeding five dollars.
Minor Coins.—Coins of small denominations used for change, and struck from other metals than gold or silver.
Mint Prices of Gold and Silver (Coining Value).—The rate per standard ounce at which the mint converts bullion into legal-tender coins. The coining rate of an ounce of standard gold bullion, i. e., bullion ⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ fine in the United States is $18,604+. The coining rate of the silver dollar of 412½ grains, discontinued by law April 1, 1873, was $1.16⁴⁄₁₁ per standard ounce.
The Basis of the Money System of all civilized nations is gold or silver, or both, in a ratio fixed by law. The relative valuation of the two metals in the coins of nations using the double standard, is about one of gold to fifteen and a half of silver.
Partial List of Medals in Copper-Bronzed, also, in Gold and Silver, which may be obtained at the Mint.
Size. Price.
ARMY.
Washington before Boston 42 $2.50
Colonel William Washington, for Cowpens 28 1.50
Major-General Harrison, for the Thames 40 1.50
Major-General Scott, for Chippewa and Niagara 40 1.50
Major-General Gaines, for Fort Erie 40 1.50
Major-General Porter, for Chippewa, Niagara, and Erie 40 1.50
Major-General Macomb, Battle of Plattsburgh 40 1.50
Major-General Jackson, Battle of New Orleans 40 1.50
Major-General Taylor, Palo Alto 40 1.50
Major-General Taylor, for Monterey 40 1.50
Major-General Taylor, for Buena Vista 56 3.00
Major-General Scott, for Battles in Mexico 56 3.00
Major-General Grant 64 8.00
Colonel Lee, “Light-Horse Harry” 29 1.50
Count DeFleury, for Stony Point 15 2.25
NAVY.
John Paul Jones, for Serapis 36 2.00
Captain Hull, for Capture of Guerriere 40 1.50
Captain Jacob Jones, for Capture of the Frolic 40 1.50
Captain Decatur, for Capture of the Macedonian 40 1.50
Captain Bainbridge, for Capture of the Java 40 1.50
Captain Lawrence, for Capture of the Peacock 40 1.50
Captain Burrows, for Capture of the Boxer 40 1.50
Captain Perry, for Capture of British Fleet on Lake Erie 40 1.50
Captain Elliott, for Capture of British Fleet on Lake Erie 40 1.50
Captain Warrington, for Capture of the Epervier 40 1.50
Captain Blakely, for Capture of the Reindeer 40 1.50
Captain MacDonough, for Capture of the British Fleet on Lake Champlain 40 1.50
Captain Henley, Capture of British Fleet on Lake Champlain 40 1.50
Lieut. Cassin, Capture of British Fleet on Lake Champlain 40 1.50
Captain Biddle, for Capture of the Penguin 40 1.50
Captain Stewart, for Capture of the Cyane and Levant 40 1.50
Captain Edw. Preble before Tripoli 40 1.50
PRESIDENTIAL.
John Adams 32 1.50
Thomas Jefferson 47 2.50
James Madison 40 1.50
James Monroe 40 1.50
John Q. Adams 40 1.50
Andrew Jackson 40 1.50
Martin Van Buren 40 1.50
John Tyler 40 1.50
James K. Polk 40 1.50
Zachary Taylor 40 1.50
Millard Fillmore 40 1.50
Franklin Pierce 40 1.50
James Buchanan 48 2.00
Abraham Lincoln 48 2.00
Andrew Johnson 48 2.00
Ulysses S. Grant 48 2.00
Rutherford B. Hayes 48 2.00
James A. Garfield 48 2.00
Chester A. Arthur 48 2.00
SUB-NATIONAL MEDALS.
Captain Perry (State of Pennsylvania), for Capture of the British Fleet on Lake Erie 40 1.50
Pennsylvania Volunteers, Action on Lake Erie 40 1.50
Major-General Scott (Commonwealth of Virginia) 56 3.00
MISCELLANEOUS AMERICAN.
Professor Agassiz Medal 30 1.50
Colonel Armstrong, for Destruction of the Indian Village of Kittanning 27 1.00
Captains Creighton, Low, and Stouffer, Wreck of Steamer San Francisco 47 2.00
Captains Creighton, Low, and Stouffer, Wreck of Steamer San Francisco, by Congress 50 3.00
Cornelius Vanderbilt, by Congress 48 2.50
First Steam Coinage 16 .25
Commodore M. C. Perry, from Merchants of Boston 40 2.00
Pacific Railroad Medal 29 1.25
Emancipation Proclamation Medal 29 1.00
Cyrus W. Field, Atlantic Cable Medal 64 8.00
Dr. Joseph Pancoast 48 3.00
Grant Indian Peace Medal 40 3.00
Garfield Indian Peace Medal (oblong) 2.00
Arthur Indian Peace Medal ” 2.00
“Let Us Have Peace” 29 1.25
Metis (Shipwreck) Medal 42 1.50
John Horn (Life Saving) Medal 30 1.00
U. S. Diplomatic Medal, July 4, 1776 45 2.00
Valley Forge Centennial 25 .50
Great Seal Medal 39 1.50
DIRECTORS OF THE MINT.
David Rittenhouse 28 1.25
Robert M. Patterson 42 1.50
James Ross Snowden 50 2.50
James Pollock 29 1.25
H. R. Linderman 50 2.00
James P. Kimball
SUPERINTENDENTS.
A. Loudon Snowden 50 2.00
Daniel M. Fox
FINE GOLD MEDALS. (See Rule 3.)
Time Increases His Fame 16 12.00
James A. Garfield 16 9.00
Commencement of Cabinet 12 6.25
Washington and Jackson 10 4.50
Lincoln and Garfield 10 4.50
FINE SILVER MEDALS. (See Rule 3.)
Cabinet Medal 37 6.00
Presidency Relinquished 25 3.00
Allegiance Medal 18 1.00
Time Increases His Fame 16 .75
James A. Garfield 16 .60
Pennsylvania Bi-Centennial 16 .50
Commencement of Cabinet 12 .35
Washington and Jackson 10 .25
Washington and Lincoln 10 .25
Washington and Grant 10 .25
Washington Wreath 10 .25
Lincoln and Grant 10 .25
Lincoln Broken Column 10 .25
Lincoln and Garfield 10 .25
Valley Forge Centennial 25 1.50
The diameter of the medals is expressed by numbers, each of which indicates the sixteenth of an inch.
Medals struck to order in gold, silver, or bronze, from dies of public institutions.