From time immemorial, the great civilizations based their economies around the “Gold Standard,” or the value of gold. Later on, European countries came to prefer silver, which created the “Silver Standard.” Both precious metals were then concurrently used for the valuation of currencies of various countries. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, America used this dual system as well, with its silver standard using the Spanish silver dollar, the real, as well as the gold standard using its own gold dollar, the Eagle, that the countries recovering from internal wars would soon covet.
The crisis of free banking that resulted in the American Civil War brought the conclusion of that silver standard. Silver coins were no longer minted by then when the succeeding financial crises of the World War plus the Depression required paper currency with gold reserves to back them up as a solid foundation.
However, by 1933, the floundering economy required Congress to change the gold standard to silver for the first time in American history. This was kept set until 1968, when it was common practice in the U.S. Treasury, not the Federal Reserve, to allow people to redeem silver dollars and silver bullion for silver certificates.
Silver wasn’t part of normal circulation again until the 1980s, when the Defense National Stockpile found it had an more than enough silver and asked for Congressional approval to sell it. So during the term of President Ronald Reagan, the very first silver coins in decades – the American Silver Eagles – were minted in 1986. They were first minted in San Francisco from 1986 – 1992, thus earning them the mintmark “S.” Afterward, they were minted inside the Philadelphia press for the following 7 years and given the “P” mark.
From 2001 to today, they were minted at West Point and have the “W” mintmark. The most awaited coin of this decade, the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle, has made a record in sales of silver bullion coins. After rocky starts from January 2010, the expected shortage of coins pushed the minting and subsequent sales to November 19, 2010. Impressively priced at $ 45.95 each, one household was given a maximum allowance of 1 hundred coins from the United States Mint.
2010 Proof Silver Eagle – The United States Mint has offered Silver Eagles for precious metals investors and coin collectors since 1986.
