6 Forgotten Pieces of U.S. Currency
May 19, 2023 12:25:21 #
May 19, 2023 13:56:32 #
Another unknown coin was the "bit." Remember "Shave and a haircut, two bits?" What was a bit? Well, back in the old days a quarter (25 cents) was to big for cheap stuff so it would be cut in half, each half worth 12.5 cents. Thus two bits was a quarter!
May 19, 2023 14:33:19 #
The 2 dollar bill is still in circulation. The last 2 dollar bill was minted in 2017.
May 19, 2023 15:54:09 #
bcheary wrote:
https://www.interestingfacts.com/forgotten-u-s-currency/YxfAAkKJ8wAItd2p
I have some $2 bills, what I’d like to find is a Franklin 50 cent piece.
May 19, 2023 17:39:47 #
revhen wrote:
Another unknown coin was the "bit." Remember "Shave and a haircut, two bits?" What was a bit? Well, back in the old days a quarter (25 cents) was to big for cheap stuff so it would be cut in half, each half worth 12.5 cents. Thus two bits was a quarter!
May 19, 2023 17:40:10 #
SteveR wrote:
The 2 dollar bill is still in circulation. The last 2 dollar bill was minted in 2017.
May 19, 2023 17:40:42 #
Mac wrote:
I have some $2 bills, what I’d like to find is a Franklin 50 cent piece.
I have some $2 bills too. May 19, 2023 18:01:15 #
revhen wrote:
Another unknown coin was the "bit." Remember "Shave and a haircut, two bits?" What was a bit? Well, back in the old days a quarter (25 cents) was to big for cheap stuff so it would be cut in half, each half worth 12.5 cents. Thus two bits was a quarter!
Sorry, this is not correct with respect to the coin that was actually cut up. In colonial American times the most widely circulated coin for International trade was the Spanish Reales or "piece of eight". It was used for trade throughout the world due to it's uniformity in manufacture. In colonial America it was the equivalent of the dollar. To make small change it was often cut into eight pieces (thus piece of eight) with each piece (or bit) equal to 12-1/2 cents, so two bits would be 25 cents.
8 Reales that circulated in the Orient can still be found today with "chop marks" due to the habit of stamping the coins with a symbol to ensure they were really silver.
From 1873 to 1878 the US made silver dollars called Trade Dollars for use in International trade. They had the silver content stamped on the coin "420 grains .900 fine silver". The coin was basically a failure because the price of silver fluctuated. Below is a picture of a US Trade Dollar with chopmarks (not mine).
May 20, 2023 07:43:33 #
revhen wrote:
Another unknown coin was the "bit." Remember "Shave and a haircut, two bits?" What was a bit? Well, back in the old days a quarter (25 cents) was to big for cheap stuff so it would be cut in half, each half worth 12.5 cents. Thus two bits was a quarter!
Thanks, I've always wondered.
May 20, 2023 11:52:40 #
BushDog
Loc: San Antonio, TX
In the early 1960s, my grandmother gave me this 1865 two-cent coin that her father gave to her.
May 20, 2023 12:26:16 #
BushDog wrote:
In the early 1960s, my grandmother gave me this 1865 two-cent coin that her father gave to her.
Cool.
May 20, 2023 14:33:11 #
frankco
Loc: Colorado
When coins were made with soft metals such as gold people would carry a tin in their pocket to carve a sliver of the coin to put in their tin. Eventually the coin would get smaller and smaller as it passed through different hands. To prevent this minter's put ridges around the edge of coins. This is called reeding.
May 20, 2023 14:39:45 #
frankco wrote:
When coins were made with soft metals such as gold people would carry a tin in their pocket to carve a sliver of the coin to put in their tin. Eventually the coin would get smaller and smaller as it passed through different hands. To prevent this minter's put ridges around the edge of coins. This is called reeding.
Interesting.
May 20, 2023 15:05:46 #
Harry0
Loc: Gardena, Cal
SteveR wrote:
The 2 dollar bill is still in circulation. The last 2 dollar bill was minted in 2017.
I was an "associate" at a purveyor of games of chance regarding the equine segment.At the time (some time ago)
The PTBs didn't want to handle $1 bets. The prevailing wisdom then decreed a $2 Window.
The payouts were also in $2 bills, to help assist clients in showing off their winnings
Rather than the incipient cost at arriving to that conclusion.
Which generated a plethora of various topical trite sayings about the possession of said $2 bills.
At the time ...
May 22, 2023 13:51:43 #
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