The Arrows Silver Coinage of 1853-1855

This year we mark the 168th anniversary of a key event in numismatics as well as for the American economy itself. On the surface all that was done was add arrows to the obverses of several silver coins, from the half dime to the half dollar although, in addition, the quarter and half dollar also got rays on the reverse in 1853. This was done because the amount of pure silver in each coin had fallen by about 6 percent from the preceding year, which hardly seems earthshaking for either numismatics or the economy. Yet it was, and the background to this story begins in the 1790s.

During the 1780s there was no strong central government for the United States, and the currency situation was chaotic with no organized system of coinage. Finally, in April 1792, three years after the new federal government began operations, Congress enacted a basic Mint law that stipulated that gold and silver were equally important and that 15 ounces of silver were equal to one ounce of gold for purposes of coinage. This was a bimetallic system as compared to a system where either gold or silver was the single standard.

The ratio of 15-to-1 was well suited to 1792 but by 1800