# $10.00 gold piece **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055 "2000-06-21T01:01:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![katcarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@katcarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katcarl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/1 "2000-06-21T01:01:34Z")
When were 10 dollar gold pieces made and when did they end? Is that the only gold coin U.S. had? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Sheepshead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Mr.Sheepshead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Sheepshead)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/2 "2000-06-21T02:45:25Z")
$10 gold eagles were minted from: 1795-1933 (when private ownership of gold was placed under certain restrictions) We’ve had $1 (gold dollars) [1849-1889], $2.50 (quarter eagles) [1796-1929], $3 gold pieces [1854-1889], $5 (half eagles) [1795-1929], $10 (eagles) [1795-1933], and $20 (double eagles) [1850-1933]. There was also a $4 pattern gold coin known as the “Stella” which was minted in 1879 & 1880. Plus there have been various commemorative gold coins throughout the years. ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/3 "2000-06-21T05:15:49Z")
I believe the US makes a $300 gold coin, too. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/4 "2000-06-21T06:23:10Z")
It was illegal to posess any gold coins, gold notes, or make contracts payable in gold after 1933. Punishable by a $10,000 fine and a year in jail. All coins had to be turned in to the government, and access to safe deposit boxes was of course restricted and monitored by federal agents. Millions of beautiful coins were melted into featureless bars and sent to the Bullion Depository at Ft. Knox There was a clause which allowed “coins with recognized collector value” to be spared, meaning, not very many. Most of the common date gold coins on the market today with no collector interest other than their intrinsic value come from europe, where they were stored for all these years. My Grandmother kept a few stashed. (Shh!) and that’s how my interest was started in coin collecting. The U.S. mint now offers bullion coins in various weights, the one ounce costing around $300, but to my knowledge has never issued a coin with this face amount. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Sheepshead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Mr.Sheepshead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Sheepshead)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/5 "2000-06-21T19:58:51Z")
To clarify **Tedster** , all coins of sufficient numismatic merit did not have to be turned in. And since a case could be argued for practically any gold coin’s “merit”, they weren’t actively hunted down and very few were turned in. The only figures I have are $40 million in bullion, gold coins, and gold coins were returned to the treasury, with approx. $311 million in coins and $217.4 million in gold certificates “in the wild”. Which makes for about 7% of all the gold in the United States being turned in. (Figures from **Coin Clinic** , _Herbert, 1995_) For that matter, items of personal significance weren’t sought after. I have a $10 gold eagle from the 1880’s that was the entire divorce settlement of my great-grandmother’s that may not have significant numismatic merits, but is incredibly important to the history of my family. So long as the general populace didn’t go out and try to spend their gold, it was never taken away. My great-grandma used to tell me she secretly stashed hers too. Turns out she kept it in a _bank safety deposit box_! What a wild woman :)! My suspicion is that the Emergency Banking Act (_March 9, 1993_) was enacted more to stop the people who owned large amounts of gold (such as bars, bullion, etc) from making a tremendous profit when the gov’t raised the price of gold. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/6 "2000-06-21T21:09:22Z")
- - - What’s with these comapnies that make “commemorative money”? I saw an ad for one that was a, uh, ten dollar silver cetificate? (I don’t have the ad anywhere handy) It claimed that the note was legal tender, even thugh the note looked real cheesy - it was completely silver-leaf covered. I looked at the ad long enough to check for anything identifying the source as the US mint, and didn’t see anything but some company’s name. Can I actually spend one of these things, or does the ad basically just say that if you buy one from them for $30, they’ll buy it back for ten dollars? - MC ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/7 "2000-06-23T03:06:23Z")
**Tedster** said > [@](#): > > All coins had to be turned in to the government, and access to safe deposit boxes was of course restricted and monitored by federal agents. Millions of beautiful coins were melted into featureless bars and sent to the Bullion Depository at Ft. Knox Sources for the “access to safe deposit boxes was of course restricted and monitored by federal agents?” I think this never happened. And while millions of beautiful coins were melted, **most** were simply bagged up and kept in coin form, later to be sent to Europe as balance of payments. Most of the gold coins in existance at the time(1933) were not in the public’s hands but rather in bank vaults. The government simply kept them. Most people didn’t actively use gold coins at the time, but rather paper money. **Mr. sheepshead** is right. The law was inacted to keep people from making a big profit when the government revalued gold upward. **MC** I bet if you read the ad again for the “paper $10 bill” you’ll find that it doesn’t say it is “legal tender.” You have to read these ads carefully. And it definitely won’t say it comes from any government source. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-00-gold-piece/23055/8 "2000-06-23T15:59:39Z")
Yes, unfortunately it did happen. As the United States economy imploded in the early 1930’s, Americans decided that they wanted to convert their paper gold into the real stuff. They were scared, and wanted the safety and confidence it provided. What was going to happen down the road. Guess what? Oops. The Fed, and indirectly the banks, had extended credit far beyond what was prudent during the roaring twenties, creating a flood of paper that couldn’t be redeemed. Since the banks had nowhere near enough gold to cover their deposits on even a small scale, they failed. Many never reopened. Ameircans saw their life savings evaporate, or recieved pennies on the dollar. Yes, during the bank “holiday” you couldn’t even get access to your own safe deposit box. The astute and prescient had moved their physical assets overseas some time earlier, before federal restrictions were enacted on trying to save your own hide. Your wonderful Roosevelt administration at work, here. First, tell me over the Radio I’m a baaaad american for trying to “hoard” gold, (Well, it _is_ mine, isn’t it?) Nope. Confiscate it from me, or the banks, it makes no difference, under a silly interpretation of an obscure passage in the “Trading with the Enemy”! Act of 1918 rendering the posession of the most secure, portable, and valuable substances known to mankind, recognized universally as a store of value par excellance. I think the whole thing was an insult to hard working, honest americans.