I have a story to tell that I believe your readers will enjoy. And it serves as a perfect object lesson for any person that doesn’t understand the difference between money and currency and/or an excellent example of how the dollar (and all currencies) lose value. I’m including two pictures that I have taken and you are welcome to share on your blog along with the following short tale about a gift that has been passed down to me.
My mother, recently gave me a gift that was originally given to her for her 25th wedding anniversary. Well, let me back up a bit…
Before I was ever born, in 1962, my Great Aunt and Uncle gave my grandparents a gift for their 25th wedding anniversary. Since the 25th is considered the ‘Silver’ Anniversary, they choose to give 25 silver dollars. They even found a lovely card designed for the occasion. At that time, as you may know, it was a one-to-one exchange of paper dollars for silver dollars. So, if my great Aunt and Uncle didn’t have 25 of these coins laying around the house, then they could’ve just gone to the bank and literally exchanged twenty-five single $1 paper American dollars, for the twenty-five $1 silver dollar coins they placed in the card.
Years later, circa mid-1980s, when my parents had their 25th ‘Silver’ anniversary, my grandparents passed the card and silver dollars to them.
And as I initially mentioned, the coins have since become mine. Most of these coins are from the late 1800s. Since I am not a coin collector all I know is that values can vary greatly. So, I took them to be appraised. Unfortunately, these turned out to be rather ordinary coins. No particular special mint marks or collectables among them. Which means they are basically worth the melt value of the silver they contain. Which I was told, for the 25 coin set is a modest $600.
My husband was at first a bit disappointed. After all, he’s been listening to me tell him for years how important and valuable precious metals are and will be. So, I explained a little further and did a little math to help him understand…
Imagine for a moment that in 1962 my relatives had not chosen to give their gift as coins displayed in a nice card and had instead simply put $25 in cash in an envelope (I’m guessing a respectable gift in 1962)…
And imagine my grandparents had kept that exact envelope with $25 dollars in it and passed it to my parents in the 1980s. And then, imagine I am now in possession of that same envelope. What’s it worth? Well, at first glance, it appears it has maintained it’ value. It’s still worth the face value of exactly $25! Sounds good, right? But, then again, it hasn’t gone up at all… Certainly not all the way up to $600 like the coins. Huh. But can I still buy the same amount with it?
Well, no. Today in 2025, those original $25 American dollars are an amount too small to buy even just one of the coins. And certainly couldn’t buy a set of over two dozen silver coins.
The coins, on the other hand, originally had a value of $25, sixty years ago and today are worth $600. To do the math that’s 2,400% of the original value. Read that again! If you doubt that… Just think. If you had to pay $75 instead of $25, that’s 300% more expensive… and if it was $100, 400% more expensive, etc…
A 2400% change in value in 60 years. Wow. And, the amount of dollars that used to be able to purchase 25 coins, now can’t buy one. Wow.
So, there has either been a massive increase in the value of silver, or more accurately, there has been an astounding decrease in the purchasing power of the dollar. A sobering thought.
Looking forward, it is only fair to ask… Will there be a time when the purchasing power of the dollar is reduced to zero? I’m afraid we won’t have to wait another 60 years to find out.
JWR Adds: For those who might be curious, there were still some well-worn Morgan silver dollars in circulation in the U.S. up to early 1965. In fact, their last general use was in Dollar slot machines, in Nevada. Those machines were retired by nearly all casinos before late 1965, since most casino patrons wisely chose to take home any silver dollars that they won. (Up until 1964, gamblers would trade in the bulky and heavy silver dollars along with their chips at a cashier booth (or “cage”), for folding money, before heading home.)
And, FYI, a U.S. silver dollar contains .7734 Troy ounces of silver. You can still buy very poor condition “cull” (or “junk”) silver dollars for around $31 each, or a bit less, in quantity.
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