John's 54s
25C 1854

Owner Comments:

A nice sharp example of a time when money had value and so much so that periodically the Mint had to change the silver (or gold) weight of the coin to prevent the bullion value from exceeding face value. When, as with 1853, 4,and 5 that occurred the Mint would decrease the amount of silver to prevent melting and exportation of the coins. The arrows were a signal to the masses that the weight of silver had changed (so please don't melt this coin because if you do you will loose money not gain). As the market swings, this time due to the California gold rush, with the large amount of gold coming from California drove the price of silver up relative to gold. in 1874 the reverse happened with the discovery of large amounts of silver in Nevada. The Comstock load of Nevada caused the price of silver relative to gold to drop and with that the arrows returned to signal that the Mint had increased the increased silver content of the coin.