Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-10-27
y. 8. MINrs MAKE
OTHER NATIONS COINS

OVeu sNNusOvNo SOtNS
The mints Of the United States do a
good deal Of business of which the
public at large knows little or moth
merry director Of the United States
mint, In the Youths Companion. We
not only m~anufacture. metal money for
u own use, but We make coins by
the millions for other countries.
We make thetr coins for them at
net cost. and make not a penny Of
profit on the work. Even a small
thar 100000. Such q plant could
turn out in q few months enough
coins to last q little country for many
years. and then of course would have
to close. It is much cheaper to send
IN order for the work to the treas
ury OF the United States.
The first work we did OF that kind
wa Tor Venezuela. which in 1876 or
dered 100000 worth If 1-cent and
2-cent pieces. Our next contract,
which was made with the government
Of III Hawaiian islands. called for
100000 silver dollars. 10000 half dol
lars, 100000 quarters and $50. 900
dimes. We have made quantities Of
so-called silver coins for Santon Do
niingo, which contain only 81 per
cent Of silver to 65 per cent of copper
and nickel. In 1898 we coined 1896, ia
such ~pieces-half' dollars. quarters and
dimes-and in the following year &c.
oSS more. We have also made money
for Panama. Costa Rica and Mexico.
The government hat orders the
coins always furnishes the master
dies" Tor minting them. These "mas-
ter dies" 8 from 5000 to $3.50 q
pair: from them the ordinary working
dies are q at the mint.
The mint in San Francisco now
makes all of he coins for the Philip
pine islands.
All United States coins are now
made from the ingot. The seigniorage
to the government on 1-cent and g.
Ss.5eo.ooo. A-''0s ~ ao0u'
/. The scent pieces is in reality only
one-fourth nickel; the remaining
three-fourths is copper. The bronze
cent ts 96 per n copper, 3 per cent
tin. and 2 vel cent zinc-an alloy
adopted because 1t is very durable.
and because 1t retains polish better
than pure copper does.
United States minis furnish PROOF
coins at q little more than their face
va1leS'o0r anyone mwho"chooses to ask
Tor them. Proof Dir are stamped
with hand presses from carefully bur-
nished dies. and the blanks used are
0AOO AA0AAOO Illus SL0 CO1Il6 nave
. mirror like polish and are very
beautiful. If kept in little buckskin
bags-as collectors usually keep them
they will retain their beauty in
definitely. But you a get such
proof coins only Of the current year.
TOR all dies used at the minis r de-
stroyed annually.
When the government intends to
mint q coin OF a new design 1t usually
strikes off experimental coins from the
various designs that have been sub
mitted. The experimental coins r
thon put for consideration before the
eomlietees. 9n .Wsiehts and Measures
committees, after advising with the
secretary OF the treasury and the d.
rector OF h mint, choose the they
like best.
Those pattern or trial" pieces are
these experiments the mint has turned
out IS. SO. and $50 gold" Dir in tin.
brass, copper, aluminium, and various
compositions. Such pieces are of course
highly valued by collectors. who are
glad to pay for a double eagle of tin
or copper perhaps 10 times its weight
in gold. The treasury formerly sold
b trial pieces at high figures. but
stopped: the practice in 1887.
In 1852 h treasury had patterns
struck for a socalled ring dollar" Of
gold WSVR. a. dig AnOte.ln Cn0.EA400le. Inc
purpose vas to make the gold dollar
larger and easier to handle, without in
creasing it's weight. Another adj
vantage was that 1t could be strung
together with others, like Chinese cash.
But the ring dollar was finally deemed
unacceptable.
Hardly less remarkable than the ring
dollar were certain patterns proposed
In 1879 for "goloid" coins. which were
meant to serve as q compromise be-
tween silver and gold as monetary
standards. They were Of silver, but
contained. some gold. The "goloid"
trial pieces are not especially rare to-
day. for he treasury presented a set
OF them to every senator and repre-
sentative in congress-.
Such trial pieces have a certain his
torical Significance and value. From
that point Of view. by far the most In
~teresting Of them was the silver half
dime Of the year 1892. Several Of
those half dimes are extant today, and
lressaids Ito be valued b 'collectors at
$50 each. They bear the head Of
Martha Washington, and the silver of
which they are composed was fur
nished by George Washington who sent
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