VOCABULARY TERM: COIN SILVER

Coin Silver. A fineness of 900 fine; 9 parts silver to one of alloy, usually copper; silver United States coins have been struck in this fineness from 1837 to 1964. This formula provides a metal that is easy to strike yet has excellent wearing qualities. In America when silver bullion was otherwise unavailable, some manufacturers, including those producing tableware, would melt silver coins, hence would use this term for their product. Also called coin, pure coin, dollar standard, premium or C. The practice of melting coins for the silver metal declined by 1870 when silver became more readily available from western mines. By law coin silver has been marked (on all items except those produced by national mints) in Great Britain (since 1904) and in the United States (since 1906) with a variety of figures or words: coin, .900, or 900/1000. Coin silver has a specific gravity of 10.31 and a melting point of 869° centigrade (1614° Fahrenheit). See SILVER.

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