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The Story of the "Quarter".
Officially, the coin in Canada is a "25-cent piece" while it is just as officially a "quarter-dollar" in the U.S. But of all our circulating denominations, the "quarter" (a term henceforth used as a matter of convenience) has one of the longest - and certainly the most consistent - "family tree". The 1-, 5- and 10-cents are all decimal, dating back no further than the late 1700s, while the ancestor of the 25-cents - the "2 reales" - actually appeared before the 8-reales, the ancestor of the dollar. Only the unpopular 50-cents has an equally long history, but with many breaks throughout.
The story of the quarter begins in Spain during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1497, new currency standards were put in place based on a silver coin called the "real" ("royal"), eight of which would be equal to the crown-sized silver pieces then beginning to circulate throughout Europe . As such, the 2-reales would be the quarter of the big coin that would acquire the nickname "dollaro" even in Spain - and "dollar" throughout much of the rest of the world. During the reign of Carlos and his mother, Juana "the Mad", the first mint in the New World was created at Mexico City , formerly known to the Aztecs as Tenochtitlan (1536). Some of the first coins struck were the popular 2-reales pieces and, although undated, the first bore the assayer's mark "R", assigning them to the period 1536-40. Although the weight, fineness and values of both the Spanish and American 2-reales were the same, those of the New World bore a design of the Pillars of Hercules (an allegory for the Straits of Gibraltar). From then on, Spanish-American silver usually carried this specific design. By 1600, for a period lasting some 125-150 years, the American silver tended to deteriorate into crude pieces called "cobs", a name derived from the Spanish "cabbo da barra" ("piece of the bar"). These were rough, dumpy pieces, cheaply produced in the form of mere stamped pieces of bullion for export as such. Many of them were used as coins, being of a known weight and fineness, but the intended destinations were the melting pots of China and Europe where they would be converted into other coinages. Only rarely does the full design show on a given piece and those displaying date, mintmark and assayer's mark on one coin are hard to come by. Even so, the reverse design continued to be the Pillars. In about 1683, a split developed between the silver coinages of Spanish America and the home country. Nearly bankrupt, Spain attempted to raise some money by the simple expedient of lowering the weight and fineness of the metropolitan coin by some 20%. This she called "New Plate", America remaining on the old, higher standard. But Spain 's move was to little avail, exchanges soon catching on and devaluating the post-1683 silver by 20%. Since this included the Spanish 8-reales "dollar", Spain then returned this coin to the "Old Plate" standard, while leaving the fractional silver light, creating a kind of "token coinage" for Spain 's internal use. But enough seeped away over the years to see extensive use in British America where the light Spanish 2-reales - called a "pistareen" -
Mexico , 2-Reales, 1736. The "Pillar" type. Peru , 2-Reales, 1793. The "Bust" type. was valued at 12d in "Halifax Currency" (therefore a "Halifax Shilling") whereas the heavier Spanish- American 2-reales was valued at 15d, but always a "quarter dollar", the first coin to fulfill this function. The world's first actual "quarter dollar" was struck by the U.S. in 1796. Only 6,146 were struck - just enough to establish itself in the currency system - and then not again until 1804. The first "quarter", in common with most of the world's coins at the time, carried no mark of value; everyone knew what it was by its size. This changed in 1804 when "25 - C" appeared on the lower reverse, the first marked quarter. Since silver coinage was expected to contain its full face value in bullion (or nearly so), such U.S. coin were frequently struck at a small loss. However, since the U.S. quarter was based on - and equal to - the Spanish-American 2-reales, even with the same legal tender value, these latter were the "quarters" for many years. Until 1831, production of U.S. quarters was spotty and of frequently limited mintages, usually done when silver prices were temporarily depressed.
In 1827, the U.S. devalued the old pistareen from 1/5th to 1/6th of a dollar (i.e., 20¢ down to 16 ?¢) due to alleged "heavy wear". Although partially true, the new valuation put them below bullion value and they fled north to Canada where, for three years, they were still valued at a Halifax shilling. As well, the Spanish-American 2-reales had not been struck for several years by then and although they remained interchangeable with the U.S. quarter, the latter saw large constant mintages. Finally, the 2-reales was removed from the U.S. currency system in 1852 by a devaluation-below-bullion of 20% and even the 8-reales "dollar" in 1857 (the last foreign coin to have legal tender value in the U.S. ).
The California Gold Rush of 1849 had consequences for the U.S. quarter. Gold became so plentiful that its price was actually reduced - but since this could not happen in a world on the Gold Standard, the difference was manifested in a rise in the price of silver. This put the bullion of the quarter slightly above face and forced a lightening of weight by some 7% in 1853. These new light coins were marked by arrows at the date but by 1856 few of the old heavier pieces remained in circulation and the arrows removed. In 1858, the Province of Canada went decimal, the Canadian dollar being made the equivalent of the U.S. gold dollar. But for coinage, no quarter-dollars were struck. Instead there appeared 1-, 5-, 10- and 20-cent pieces, the last three equivalents of 3d, 6d and 1-shilling of the old Halifax Currency. During the Civil War, Canada was a major supplier to the North where prices were high and demand practically unlimited. However, payment soon became a problem when the North began to run short of gold and their paper frequently discounted by as much as 50% even by themselves. That left the silver coins but even they were legal tender only to an amount of $10 and bullion thereafter. But it became the practice for Canadians to accept the U.S. quarters and halves at 90% face in payment and by war's end, the country was flooded with them. They were a nuisance. Whoever had the power to do so passed them at face while receiving them back at rates as low as 22¢ per quarter. But the new Dominion of Canada was in a quandary. Wishing to issue her indigenous coin, she could not do so for the time being. Even as Confederation Day dawned in 1867, the world's major (and not so major) powers were meeting in Paris with the object of hammering out an international currency, with the most likely candidate being based on the French franc, already being used in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Greece as interchangeable currency. From Canada's point of view, the U.S. was showing a disconcerting interest in adopting such a standard - and could do so by slightly lowering the weights of her gold coins so that $1 U.S. equaled 5 Francs, at present valued at 19.3¢ each. By law, the Canadian dollar was based on the U.S. gold dollar and any change would render Canadian coin obsolete, necessitating expensive withdrawal and recoinage, so for the time being nothing was done. But by 1868/9, Canada had concluded (correctly, as it turned out) that the U.S. was not going to change and went ahead with her own coinage. First of all, the American silver was withdrawn on reasonable terms over the period 1868 - 1870 and it was a surprise to everyone that the estimated "couple of million dollars' worth" actually turned out to be $8¼-million! To facilitate redemption. but with the proposed coinage not yet to hand, the government had an issue of two million 25¢ notes prepared, backed by gold. These were all of "Series A", similar to that shown.
In the same year of 1870, the first Dominion of Canada coinage was released, consisting of 5-, 10-, 25- and 50-cent pieces. Of the quarters, 900,000 were struck in sterling silver, each of them weighing 5.81 grams, the weights dictated by law as the equivalent of the silver contained in British coins according to their exact value.
From that time forward, the Canadian quarter experienced no profound changes for many years, save the change of portraiture for the succeeding monarchs. The weight was raised to 5.83 grams in 1910, just to even it out when expressed in grains (as the Mint did). Initially struck with upset reverses, this became upright when they began to be struck at the Ottawa Mint in 1908 - and remained as such ever since.
The reverses remained essentially the same until the first coinage of George VI in 1937, at which time there was a major revamping of designs. That of the quarter reverse became the work of Emanuel Hahn, a Toronto sculptor. Released as our familiar "Caribou", it was not initially meant to be such. Apparently, Hahn's first effort for the 25 Cent was the (Bluenose) Schooner reverse as it appeared on the 10 Cent - that even went so far as the model stage. The Caribou was then adapted from his drawing for a 5 Cent, less the stars of the Big Dipper in the background which might be confused with flies. Since that time, the Caribou reverse has been the norm. In 1968, the high cost of silver caused the quarter to become a nickel piece, in turn giving way to nickel-plated steel in 2001. The quarter has also become the denomination of choice for circulating commemoratives, big series appearing in 1999 and 2000 ("Millennium") and our present Olympic pieces for the year 2010 - even though the Caribou frequently appears concurrently as well. But the quarter's ancestor is from more than 500 years ago.
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JanuaryThe 'Lion Money' of Sierra Leone
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