The three-cent silver was struck by the Mint of the United States for
circulation from 1851 to 1872, and as a proof coin for collectors in
1873. A reduction of postage rates to three cents prompted Congress in
1851 to authorize the coin. At the time, profiteers were exporting and
melting U.S. silver coins for their metal to trade for increasing
amounts of gold in the wake of the California Gold Rush. The three-cent
silver thwarted this scheme, as the first American coin with metal
valued significantly less than its face value, and the first silver coin
not usable as legal tender in unlimited amounts. Designed by the Mint's
Chief Engraver, James B. Longacre, the coin saw heavy use until Congress
protected other silver coins from profiteers in 1853 by reducing their
silver content. The coin's place in commerce was lost with the economic
chaos of the Civil War, which led to hoarding of all gold and silver
coins. After the three-cent piece in copper-nickel emerged in 1865, the
three-cent silver had a string of low mintages until its abolition by
the Coinage Act of 1873. The series is not widely collected, and the
pieces remain inexpensive relative to U.S. coins of similar scarcity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-cent_silver>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1147:
Reconquista: Forces under Afonso I of Portugal captured Lisbon
from the Moors after a four-month siege in one of the few Christian
victories during the Second Crusade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Lisbon>
1415:
Hundred Years' War: Henry V of England and his lightly armoured
infantry and archers defeated the heavily armoured French cavalry in the
Battle of Agincourt on Saint Crispin's Day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt>
1861:
The Toronto Stock Exchange, the stock exchange with the most
mining and petrochemical companies listed in the world, was established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Stock_Exchange>
1980:
Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction, a multilateral treaty providing an
expeditious method to return a child taken from one member nation to
another, concluded at The Hague.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Convention_on_the_Civil_Aspects_of_International_Child_Abduction>
2010:
Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia began an increasingly
violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_eruptions_of_Mount_Merapi>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
nacre:
1. (obsolete) A shellfish which contains mother-of-pearl.
2. A pearly substance which lines the interior of many shells; mother-of-
pearl.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nacre>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy
gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be
responsible for one's self.
--Max Stirner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Stirner>