# US gold coins as currency **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657 "2021-01-28T00:45:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/21 "2024-04-23T20:01:18Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Silver dimes and quarters and less commonly half dollars circulated freely, but I don’t ever recall getting a silver dollar in circulation. Maybe they were commoner in the west. Yes, quite a bit. Some slot machines used them. You could get them in change if you asked for them- maybe, and almost certainly at the bank. > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > My mother once lost a $5 gold piece and was mortified. It was worth more than $100 bill today. Over $500 today. > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > That may have been true some of the time, but ISTM that a bigger reason was simply that $2.50 or $5.00 wasn’t “everyday purchase” money. The $5 gold piece or the British gold sovereign, were fairly common. But not, for example- the famous $20 gold piece. That would be a LOT of money back then. It was a months pay for many jobs. So, seeing those in treasure or robberies is out of place. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/22 "2024-04-23T23:20:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > After the gold in the coins became worth more than the face value, quite a few were melted down. Very true. I suspect many more were melted down in the late 1970s than in 1933-34. I would occasionally get silver coinage in change when I was a kid in the 70s, albeit, I once got a Standing Liberty quarter, not a Washington quarter-- that was around 1974. It was so worn, there was no date, so it was worth the silver value, period. Last time I saw a silver quarter, it was given to me when I was taking money at work. I pointed it out to the customer, and said she might want to keep it, if she had another to give me. This was sometime in the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/23 "2024-04-25T20:43:08Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > There was a Twilight Zone episode with THAT plot: No, I recall this was a bunch of cowboys who ended up in modern day (well, 1980’s or something). When the guy asks if a $20 gold piece is any good, the store owner or whoever laughs at him (like “are you stupid?”) and tells him how much it’s worth today. The Twilight Zone reminds me of the joke about the guy who invested his fortune and had himself frozen for 100 years. When he’s defrosted, he immediately goes to the nearest pay phone, phones his brokerage and asks about his account. The broker says he’s worh 3 trillion dollars now. Then the operator interrupts “please deposit one million dollars for the next 3 minutes…” OK, old joke. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2024, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/24 "2024-04-26T09:09:31Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > The Twilight Zone reminds me of the joke about the guy who invested his fortune and had himself frozen for 100 years. When he’s defrosted, he immediately goes to the nearest pay phone, phones his brokerage and asks about his account. The broker says he’s worh 3 trillion dollars now. Then the operator interrupts “please deposit one million dollars for the next 3 minutes…” Well, at this rate he’d still be worth three billion phone calls’ worth of money. AFAIK the usual rate at the time payphones last were a thing (late 1990s/early 2000s) was 25 cents for a call, so he’d be worth $750mn in ~2000 money. So still not so bad. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/25 "2024-04-26T13:45:12Z")
There’s always one… OK, so the numbers need a little work. The concept of inflation was obvious back in the 1970’s. But then, so were pay phones and he operator’s interruption. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/26 "2024-05-05T19:28:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > After the gold in the coins became worth more than the face value, quite a few were melted down. IIRC The Treasury Department itself melted down most of the last-issued gold coins in their inventory, and that gold presumably now resides in some gold bricks at Fort Knox or the NYFRB. This is why 1933 $10 and $20 coins are worth far beyond the value of their metal content. Since the official price per ounce was raised from $20 and change to $35, ISTM it would have been to your advantage to melt down your coins into some form that looked like raw nuggets or gold dust, and wait until the $35 went into force. Then you’d offer it to the government, claiming to have recently mined or prospected it. I’m sure that was entirely illegal, but did anyone ever attempt to pull it off? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/27 "2024-05-06T00:08:59Z")
Wouldn’t the purity of the supposedly recently mined or prospected gold make it obvious that you were lying? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/28 "2024-05-06T17:04:01Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > it would have been to your advantage to melt down your coins into some form that looked like raw nuggets or gold dust, I have seen numerous kinds of placer gold and have melted gold myself. It would be very difficult to imitate placer gold. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/29 "2024-05-06T23:22:22Z")
I can’t speak to the regs on gold specifically, but it is not illegal to melt or otherwise deface US coinage. What’s prohibited is doing that _and_ then trying to pass your handiwork as real US coinage. The point being to prevent “plugging”, AKA adulterating, coinage to extract valuable materials and then passing the damaged coin as legit at face value. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/30 "2024-05-07T20:18:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > but it is not illegal to melt or otherwise deface US coinage. As of [2007](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2007/04/16/E7-7088/prohibition-on-the-exportation-melting-or-treatment-of-5-cent-and-one-cent-coins) it is illegal to melt down 1 and 5 cent US coins. To bar workarounds to that it also became illegal to export in bulk such coins. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/31 "2024-05-07T22:07:56Z")
Cool. Thank you. I (obviously) did not know that. Yet. TIL. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/32 "2024-05-17T22:18:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > > > My mother once lost a $5 gold piece and was mortified. It was worth more than $100 bill today. > > > [@](#): > > > > Over $500 today. Not necessarily. The high price of gold today doesn’t necessarily fairly reflect the value that a dollar had in the days of the gold standard. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/33 "2024-05-17T23:13:03Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Not necessarily. The high price of gold today doesn’t necessarily fairly reflect the value that a dollar had in the days of the gold standard. That is true, but it is still over $500 _today._ ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/34 "2024-05-17T23:19:18Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > The high price of gold today Gold isn’t high, the dollar is low ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2024, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/35 "2024-05-18T07:51:24Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > No, I think it was some very short-lived series or a TV movie which made hay about the old-timers adjusting to modern ways. “Bonanza meets Encino Man” would be the pitch line. Actually there was a TZ episode with the same premise. A gang of four robbers steal some gold bricks and decide to hibernate in a cave for a century, while the heat dies down. As the episode progresses they start fighting over the loot and in the end only the leader Mr Cruz survives. At the end, Mr Cruz, nearly dead from thirst and having dropped most of the gold while crawling across the desert, reaches the highway just in time to flag down a futuristic car and offer the driver and passenger his last gold brick for water with his dying breath. As the couple drive off, one of them says something to the effect of, “Can you imagine that? He was talking as if gold was worth something!” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2024, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/36 "2024-05-18T08:04:13Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > As of [2007](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2007/04/16/E7-7088/prohibition-on-the-exportation-melting-or-treatment-of-5-cent-and-one-cent-coins) it is illegal to melt down 1 and 5 cent US coins. To bar workarounds to that it also became illegal to export in bulk such coins. Judging by other countries’ experience (e.g., India), at some point people stop smuggling them out of the country because the profit makes it worth the risk to just melt them down domestically and turn them into cheap razor blades. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/37 "2024-05-18T15:06:19Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > As the couple drive off, one of them says something to the effect of, “Can you imagine that? He was talking as if gold was worth something!” > **[Worthless Yellow Rocks - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorthlessYellowRocks)** > > The characters of a story run across something very valuable, at least in our world, but for whatever reason they discard it as worthless junk. Alternatively, while they might find some use for it, that use is a mundane, insultingly boring … ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/38 "2024-05-19T13:24:23Z")
At the end of 1928, the following three items had the same cost ($20.67): - 1 troy ounce of gold - a certain fraction of CPI (consumer basket) - .0689 DJIA (Dow Jones 30 Industrials) units Today the same three items have the following costs: - $2315 - $379 - $2756 (This ignores dividends that the DJIA investment would have earned.) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/39 "2024-05-19T14:05:20Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > (This ignores dividends that the DJIA investment would have earned.) It also ignores the fact that none of the 1928 companies are still on the DJIA. I’m not sure it’s really useful to compare that index over that long a time period. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657/40 "2024-05-19T14:51:27Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > It also ignores the fact that none of the 1928 companies are still on the DJIA. I’m not sure it’s really useful to compare that index over that long a time period. The companies certainly have changed, yet the DJIA still exists. One could have invested in the companies while changing their holdings as the DJIA changed (or later, by simply buying an index fund that tracks the DJIA), so it is useful as an actual alternative to holding gold for the same period. Add back in the dividends which were absolutely real, and it looks even better. I don’t want to get too off topic, but the fact the indexes like the DJIA and S&P 500 get rid of poorly performing companies and replace them with better companies is a feature, not a bug. A long time ago I tried to convince a coworker to invest in the S&P 500 fund in the Thrift Savings Plan. He was convinced that the stock market was rigged. I failed to convince him that yes, but with an index fund, it’s rigged in your favor. I do think that it’s better to use time frames that are more realistic to a person. After all, if I had invested $100 in Standard Oil in 1880, right now I’d be dead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-gold-coins-as-currency/931657.md?page=3)