Although most collectors tend to think that gold coinage has little interest compared to silver and copper, this certainly is not true for the 1830s. That decade witnessed fundamental changes to our monetary system and even more interesting, gold coins of that era range from the very rare to the relatively common, enough to suit almost every taste.
The story begins in January 1791, when Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton presented his 15,000-word report to Congress on the establishment of a mint. He recommended that we use a bimetallic system, in which gold and silver would be of equal importance. In 1790 the international ratio of silver to gold was roughly 15 to 1, which meant that one ounce of gold would buy fifteen ounces of silver. In April 1792 Congress agreed to this ratio and the first coinage law was signed by President Washington.
The fineness of the new gold coinage was set at the British standard, .916 2/3; the weight of the pure gold in a theoretical dollar was 24.75 grains. With alloy, the gold dollar then weighed 27 grains (1.75 grams); this meant that the early half eagles (five-dollar gold pieces) weighed 135 grains (8.75 grams).
This first coinage law stipulated high sureties for the chief coiner and assayer of the new mint and it was not until early 1794 that Congress was persuaded to lower the bonds. Precious-metal coinage began with the silver dollar in October 1794 while gold was first coined in July 1795. For
