Editing Coinage Act of 1873 (section)

=== Coins and deposit of bullion (§§13–39) ===

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{{Css Image Crop|Image =1873_H10C_Ultra_Cameo.jpg|bSize = 450|cWidth = 220|cHeight = 220|oTop = 4|oLeft = 3|Location = right|Description=The two-cent piece, three-cent silver, and half dime were discontinued by the Coinage Act of 1873.}}
Sections 14 to 16 of the act set forth the coins authorized to be struck by the Mint Bureau. This is the part of the act that would later prove contentious, as it omitted the standard silver dollar, since 1853 the only coin into which depositors of silver bullion could have their metal struck. It did allow for a Trade dollar, of higher weight than the old coin, that depositors could have their silver made into, but the legal tender of this and all silver coins was limited to $5{{sfn|Taxay|pp=258–259}}—the old silver dollar had an unlimited legal tender.{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|p=31}} All gold coins had unlimited legal tender, and the act made provision for the redemption of gold coin [[Abrasion (mechanical)|abraded]] below normal weight at full value, if twenty years or more old and if still containing 99.5 percent or more of the authorized weight. Lightweight gold coin that did not meet these qualifications would have the loss in value fall upon the depositor.{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|p=54}}

Also eliminated by the 1873 act were the two-cent piece, three-cent silver and half dime.{{sfn|Taxay|p=258}} Although the first two coins circulated little, the half dime was still being heavily struck by the San Francisco Mint for use in the Far West, where paper money was disfavored.{{sfn|Breen|pp=255–258}} The coins authorized by the 1873 act were the cent, [[three-cent nickel]], five-cent nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, [[Trade dollar (United States coin)|Trade dollar]], [[gold dollar]], [[quarter eagle]], [[three-dollar piece]], [[half eagle]], [[eagle (United States coin)|eagle]], and [[double eagle]].{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|p=54}}

The act prescribed the specifications of each coin. No change was made to the bronze composition of the cent. The dime, quarter, and half dollar were made slightly heavier so that a dollar in these coins would weigh {{convert|25|g}}, in a nod to the metric system—the five-cent nickel already weighed {{convert|5|g}}. It required that the obverse of each American coin be emblematic of Liberty, and that an eagle must appear on the reverse, except for the small-diameter cent, three-cent nickel, five-cent nickel, dime, gold dollar, and three-dollar piece, on which an eagle could not appear. It required the use of the country's name on the reverse, and of "E Pluribus Unum" somewhere on the coin. It allowed the motto "In God We Trust" to appear on American coinage{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|p=55}}—continuing permission granted in the Act of March 3, 1865, which had authorized the three-cent nickel.{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|pp=47–48}} The 1873 law allowed for the redemption of current or obsolete base-metal coinage by the Treasury when presented in lots of $20 or more,{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|p=57}} continuing a provision enacted in 1871.{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|p=50}}

Further provisions in this part of the act allowed depositors of silver bullion to receive their metal back in the form of bars or in Trade dollars. It forbade deposit of silver for striking into other coins, but allowed the Mint, for two years, to purchase silver bullion with silver coins at Philadelphia and at the New York Assay Office.{{sfn|Bureau of the Mint|pp=56–57}} This practice, although illegal under the 1853 act, had long been permitted by Mint Directors.{{sfn|Taxay|pp=253–254}}