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The E-Sylum: Volume 10, Number 32, August 12, 2007, Article 21 ON HOW OBSOLETE-DENOMINATION AMERICAN COINS WERE RETIRED Ralf W. Böpple of Stuttgart writes: "On the question of how obsolete -denomination coins were taken out of circulation, I can only make a guess. I understand that most odd denominations were either never widely used, or at least no longer so in the years prior to their termination. So the number of pieces in circulation should have been very low to begin with. "The regular way in such a situation would be that people spend them (even if they are not officially demonetized, there is a strong incentive for the public to do so, for fear that the government might change its mind in the future). The shopkeepers turn them over to their banks, because their clients are reluctant to accept them as change, and the banks send them off to the Federal Reserve or whoever might be in charge of the local cash supply. "If the coins were made of silver, they might have been hoarded (there is a psychological difference between paying with a silver half dime and a nickel, even though both are worth 5 cents) and were then melted down in later years." HOW WERE OBSOLETE-DENOMINATION AMERICAN COINS RETIRED? esylum_v10n30a13.html Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
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