A Solution in Search of a Problem When Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1875, authorizing a new twenty-cent denomination for the United States, it did so with a specific and seemingly practical purpose in mind. The American West — particularly Nevada and California — operated heavily on a system of Spanish colonial coinage and […]
Gold in the Hills, Chaos in the Markets When James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill in January 1848, the immediate consequences extended far beyond the tens of thousands of fortune-seekers who flooded California’s Sierra Nevada foothills. The discovery exposed a critical vulnerability in the young American republic’s monetary infrastructure. The nearest federal mint sat […]
Why This 24-Year-Old Coin Dealer Blew My Mind Today, I found myself diving into a YouTube video that had a title straight out of a treasure-hunting fantasy: “This 24-Year-Old Dealer Has a $200K Morgan Dollar in His Booth.” Honestly, I was intrigued enough to hit play immediately. Coin collecting isn’t something I know a lot […]
