The trade dollar was a
United States dollar coin minted to compete with other large silver coins that were already popular in the
Orient. The idea first came about in the 1860s, when the price of silver began to decline due to increased
mining efforts in the
western United States. The
Coinage Act of 1873 made trade dollars
legal tender up to five dollars. The coins were first struck in 1873, and most of the production was sent to China. Eventually, bullion producers began converting large amounts of silver into trade dollars, causing the coins to make their way into American commercial channels. This caused frustration among those who were given them in payment, as the coins were largely maligned and traded for less than one dollar each. In response to their wide distribution in American commerce, the coins were officially demonetized in 1876, but continued to circulate. Production of
business strikes ended in 1878, though the mintage of
proof coins continued until 1883. The trade dollar was remonetized when the
Coinage Act of 1965 was signed into law. (more...)
Twelve people, including the head of the
Cyprus Navy, are killed in an explosion at a naval base, the worst peacetime military accident in the history of
Cyprus.
A
self-portrait of Louis-Marie Autissier (1772–1830), a French-born Belgian
portrait miniature painter. He is considered the founder of the Belgian school of miniature painting in the nineteenth century. Born at
Vannes, in
Brittany, he joined the
French Revolutionary Army at
Rennes in 1791. On leaving the army in 1795, Autissier went to Paris and trained his art by studying paintings at the
Louvre. In 1796 he settled in
Brussels, but continued to divide his time between Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Although he enjoyed great success in his career, serving as
court painter to
Louis Napoleon, French King of the Netherlands, and later to
Willem I, Autissier died penniless.
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