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From Silver to Susan

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From Silver to Susan June 1, 1979 From Silver to Susan The nation's payments system can denomination, and hence designed be a very prosaic business, involv­ the attractive Anthony dollar, with ing as it does billions of paper its unique historical associations. checks, plastic cards and electron­ ic blips. But there's still something From silver ... glamorous about the coin of the People can still obtain silver coins, realm, as any coin dealer who has at a price, from their nearest coin tried to track down a scarce dealer. The Bureau of the Mint "Morgan" dollar can tell you. The coined 485 million silver dollars Treasury expects equal popularity prior to 1937, and the Treasury still - and much greater circulation - had about 3 million turn-of-the for the new Susan B. Anthony dol­ century Morgan dollars in its lar coin, which will be released to vaults when it stopped redeeming the public on July 2. silver certificates for coins in 1964. The General Services Adminis­ For almost two centuries, the lure tration sold most of those 90- of silver and the mystique of the percent-si Iver pieces at a series of Old West helped along the popu­ auctions during the 1972-75 period, larity of large coins. In a debate receiving roughly $30 per coin at on silver legislation about a those sales. decade ago, Senator (now Am-' bassador) Mike Mansfield said, "Decent hardworking and honest Kennedy halves also have mostly - folk like the feel of heft in their dropped out of circulation. In pockets. To them, the jingle of 1964, the Mint produced about silver dollars is the sound that 433 million 90-percent-silver signifies liquidity. It is the echo of Kennedy halves, but these be­ cash on the barrelhead." came collectors' items and rapidly disappeared. It minted even larger But time ran out on silver as a cir­ quantities of 40-percent-silver culating medium during the infla­ coins iw later years, but these also tion of the 1960's, as the market dropped out of circulation. Finally, price of silver first approached and following the passage of new then exceeded the old monetary legislation in 1970, the Mint began value of $1.2929 per ounce. (Last using a cupronickel alloy for those week, silver was quoted at $8.65 Kennedy halves which remain in an ounce.) Silver coins disappeared circulation. into coin vauhs and people de­ cided that they didn't really like During the 1970's, the Mint's activ­ the heft of large non-silver substi­ ity in large-coin production has tutes, such as the Eisenhower dol­ centered around Eisenhower dol­ lar. Still, the Treasury believed that lars - either cupronickel coins for there was room in the coinage for general circulation or 40-percent­ a smaller and lighter coin of large silver coins for non-circulating (continued on page 2) Federal Reserve Bank 01 San Francisco, nor of [he tJI' tI"!t::F Th;,. ....... •• , .. .. .. purposes. Congress in 1971 set I III.:! IllalC I lal, IIVVV u::>cu I VI CVCI Y aside 1 50 million ounces of silver denomination except the penny for 40-percent-silver commemora­ and nickel, has several desirable tive coins, at prices of $1 0 for characteristics as a circulating "proof" and $3 for "uncirculated" medium. These include its ability pieces. Despite strong initial inter­ to provide long-lasting service as a est, only about 1 8 million of these means of exchange;' acceptability coins were sold during the 1 972-73 to the public in terms of weight, period, and Congress thus decided color, wearing qualities, and oper­ to use much of the si Iver set aside ation in vending machines; and for this purpose for Bicentennial low cost and adaptability to coin­ commemorative coins instead. The production processes. cupronickel Eisenhower dollars for general circulation were also A second consideration was the unsuccessful, apparently because need to avoid the characteristics of their size and weight. which had worked against public acceptability of the Eisenhower . to cupronickel dollar. (In recent years, that coin The Treasury strongly believed, has represented less than one however, that the public would percent of the Mint's annual pro­ accept a new and better-designed duction.) The Mint thus designed coin for general circulation. The a coin which is one inch in diam­ choice of material was straight­ eter, eight grams in weight, and is forward. It could not be silver, characterized by a distinctive 1 1 - because of the soaring price of sided inner border. The coin is that metal, but a useful substitute only two-thirds the diameter and was cupronickel, the versatile one-third the weight of the Eisen­ alloy chosen by the Treasury hower dollar; in fact, each during its switch-over from silver new dollar coin weighs only coinage during the 1 960's. Specifi­ one-third as much as the like cally, the Mint decided in favor of value in quarters. a 75-percent copper/25-percent nickel alloy clad on a 1 00-percent In addition, public acceptability copper core. seemed assured by the choice, for 2 the; first time, of a woman to be tain the same-siZed pool of dollar pictured on the nation's coinage. -coins, since each coin lasts about Congress selected the design in 15 years. Thus, the Government recognition of Susan B. Anthony's could achieve a net saving of $23 life-long struggle to achieve million annually from switching to women's right to vote, and per­ coins from bills. In fact, without haps also (to quote her biography) some such move, the Bureau of in recognition of her many writ­ Engraving and Printing would have ings on "the plight of working to invest about $100 million in women." The reverse side of the new facilities for making dollar coin shows an American eagle bills, because of the capacity landing on the moon - the limitations on its present same design used for the production facilities. Eisenhower dollar. Anthony dollars are now being shipped to commercial banks by Cost-savingcoin The Treasury expects production­ the Federal Reserve System, so cost savings of more than $4 mil­ that about 500 million of the coins will be available for distribution to lion a year from minting the Anthony dollar rather than the the public on the July 2 release bulkier Eisenhower dollar. Much date. The "5" mint mark is being larger savings could be obtained, used to designate the coins struck however, if dollar coins replaced at the San Francisco Mint, and the dollar bills in circulation. Treasury "0" and " P" marks are being officials claim that it costs $28 mil­ used for the coins struck at the lion annually to maintain a circula­ Denver and Philadelphia Mints, tion pool of 2.4 billion one-dollar respectively. Through the circula­ notes, with each note wearing out tion of this new coin, the public and being replaced every 1 8 for decades to come wi II have months. In contrast, it would cost tangible evidence of the life and deeds only $5 million annually to main- of a remarkable woman. William Burke The Dollar of the Future To help publicize the Anthony dollar coin, the Federal Reserve is making available to the public a Treasury pamphlet entitled, "The Dollar of the Future." Free copies of the pamphlet are available, individually or in bulk, to financial institutions, retailers, schools and community groups. For copies, write or call the Public Information Section, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, P.O. Box 7702, San Francisco, Phone (41 5) 544-21 84 - or call the Bank and Public Services Department at any Federal Reserve office. 3 • • epei\<3N• o4ePI !!eMeH • e!uJOj!le:::>.. euozpv • e>jselV 'l1l2:)'O: JSPU2J:i U2S (;S"::'ON IlWH3d OI Vd @& Jr@<§@( QI IS Od 'S'(1 llVW SSV1:JISHI:!· :v. BANKINGDATA-TWELfTH fEDERALRESERVE DISTRICT (Dollar amountsin millions) Amount Change Changefrom SelectedAssets and liabilities Outsti:mding from year ago @ large CommercialBanks 5/16/79 5/9/79 Dollar Percent Loans(gross, adjusted) and investments* 125,849 163 + 17,637 16.30 Loans(gross, adjusted) - total# 102,956 219 + 16,325 18.84 Commercial and industrial 30,008 - 171 + 3,548 13.37 Realestate 37,182 201 + 8,193 28.26 Loansto individuals 21,433 103 NA NA Securitiesloans 1,798 62 NA NA U.s. Treasurysecurities* 7,761 - 29 82 - 1.05 Other securities* 15,132 - 27 + 1,394 + 10.15 Demand deposits- total# 42,203 1,553 + 3,485 + 9.00 Demand deposits- adjusted 30,057 - 125 + 2,004 + 7.14 Savingsdeposits - total 29,651 55 753 - 2.48 Time deposits- total# 50,024 106 + 6,002 + 13.63 Individuals, part. & corp. 40,736 112 + 6,602 + 19.34 (Largenegotiable CD's) 17,127 1 - 30 + 638 + 3.87 Averages Weekended Weekended Comparable of Daily Figures 5/16/79 5/9/79 year-agoperiod MemberBank Reserve Position ExcessReserves (+ )/Deficiency ( - ) 18 17 6 Borrowings 129 90 50 Net free reserves(+ )/Net borrowed( - ) 111 73 50 FederalFunds - SevenLarge Banks Net interbank transactions + 1,428 + 2,304 + 367 [Purchases(+)/Sales (-)) Net, U.s. Securitiesdealer transactions + 123 + 365 + 120 [Loans(+ )/Borrowings (-)] * Excludestrading account securities. # Includesitems not shownseparately. @ Historicaldata are not strictlycomparable due to changesin the reportingpanel; however, adjustments havebeen applied to 1978data to removeas much as possible the effects of the changesin coverage.In addition,for someitems, historical data are not availabledue to definitionalchanges, Editorialcomments may be addressed to the editor(William Burke) or to theauthor .... Freecopies of this andother Federal Reserve publications can be obtained by callingor writingthe PublicInformation Section, FederalReserve Bank of SanFrancisco, P.O.
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