2261. DOLLAR, Proportion of Alloy.—
Some alloy is necessary to prevent the coin
from wearing too fast; too much, fills our
pockets with copper, instead of silver. The
silver coin assayed by Sir Isaac Newton,
varied from 1 1-2 to 76 pennyweights alloy, in
the pound Troy of mixed metal. The British
standard has 18 dwt.; the Spanish coins assayed
by Sir Isaac Newton, have from 18
to 19 1-2 dwt.; the new French crown has in
fact 19 1-2, though by edict, it should have
20 dwt., that is 1-12. The taste of our countrymen
will require that their furniture plate
should be as good as the British standard.
Taste cannot be controlled by law. Let it
then give the law, in a point which is indifferent
to a certain degree. Let the Legislature
fix the alloy of furniture plate at 18 dwt.,
the British standard, and Congress that of
their coin at one ounce in the pound, the
French standard. This proportion has been
found convenient for the alloy of gold coin,
and it will simplify the system of our mint
to alloy both metals in the same degree. The
coin, too, being the least pure, will be the less
easily melted into plate. These reasons are
light, indeed, and, of course, will only weigh
if no heavier ones can be opposed to them.—
Notes on a Money Unit. Washington ed. i, 167.
Ford ed., iii, 451.
(1784)
