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coin now authorized by law shall be made of the weight of three fiftieths of the weight of the half dollar, as provided in said act, and of the same standard of fineness. Act of 1853, And the said act, entitled "An act amendatory of existing effect Apr. 1.laws relative to the half dollar, quarter dollar, dime, and half dime," shall take effect and be in full force from and after the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, any thing therein to the contrary notwithstanding.

1853.

189.

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10 Stat. L., CHAP. XCVII.-An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of Government for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-four.

gold in private

*

* and it shall be the duty of the superintendent of the Mint to cause to be paid annually into the Treasury of the United States the profits of the Mint, and to present a quarterly account of the expenditures of the Mint to the Secretary of the Treasury;

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Refining of SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That when private establishments. establishments shall be made to refine gold bullion, the Secretary of the Treasury, if he shall deem them capable of executing such work, is hereby authorized and required to limit the amount thereof, which shall be refined in the Mint at Philadelphia, from quarter to quarter, and to reduce the same progressively as such establishments shall be expended [extended?] or multiplied, so as eventually, and as soon as may be, to exclude refining from the Mint, and to require that every deposit of gold bullion made therein for coinage shall be adapted to said purpose, without need of refining: Provided, That no advances in coin shall be made upon bullion after this regulation shall be carried into effect, except upon bullion refined as herein prescribed.

Proviso.

NOTE TO SECTION 5.-Section 3, act of February 20, 1861 (12 Stat. L., 144), extends the provisions of this section to the branch mints and the assay office at New York, in all cases where deposits of bullion are made for coins or fine bars.

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(Section 10 provides for the establishment of an assay office in the city of New York.)

Receipt to be given for bul

value of de

ceivable for

to be cast.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the owner or owners of any gold or silver bullion, in dust or otherwise, fion. or of any foreign coin, shall be entitled to deposite the same in the said office, and the treasurer thereof shall give a receipt, stating the weight and description thereof, in the manner and under the regulations that are or may be provided in like cases or deposits at the Mint of the United States with the treasurer thereof. And such bullion shall, without delay, be melted, parted, refined, and assayed, and the net value thereof, and of all foreign coins deposited in said office, shall be ascertained; and the treasurer shall thereupon forthwith issue his certifi- Certificate of cate of the net value thereof, payable in coins of the same posit, when remetal as that deposited, either at the office of the assistant public dues. treasurer of the United States, in New York, or at the Mint of the United States, at the option of the depositor, to be expressed in the certificate, which certificates shall be receivable at any time within sixty days from the date thereof in payment of all debts due to the United States at the port of New York for the full sum therein certified. All gold or silver bullion and foreign coin deposited,, In what form melted, parted, refined, or assayed, as aforesaid, shall, at the option of the depositor, be cast in the said office into bars, ingots, or disks, either of pure metal or of standard fineness, (as the owner may prefer,) with a stamp thereon of such form and device as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, accurately designating its weight and fineness: Provided, That no ingot, bar, or disk shall be cast of less weight than five ounces, unless the same be of standard fineness, and of either one, two, or three ounces in weight. And all gold or silver bullion and foreign coin intended by the depositor to be converted into the coins of the United States, shall, as soon as assayed and its net value certified transferred to as above provided, be transferred to the Mint of the coined. United States, under such directions as shall be made. by the Secretary of the Treasury, and at the expense of the contingent fund of the Mint, and shall there be coined. And the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, with the approval of the President of the United States, to make the necessary regulations for the adjustment of the accounts between the respective officers, upon the Accounts.

Proviso.

After assay the metal to be

the mint and

Regulations of operations.

Laws respecting the mint to assay office.

transfer of any bullion or coin between the assay office, the Mint, and assistant treasurer in New York.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the operations of melting, parting, refining, and assaying in the said office shall be under the general directions of the Director of the Mint, in subordination to the Secretary of the Treasury; and it shall be the duty of the said Director to prescribe such regulations and to order such tests as shall be requisite to insure faithfulness, accuracy, and uniformity in the operations of the said office.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That the laws of the apply to said United States for the government of the Mint and its officers in relation to the receipt, payment, custody of deposits, and settlement of accounts, the duties and responsibilities of officers and others employed therein, the oath to be taken and the bond and sureties to be given by them (as far as the same may be applicable) shall extend to the assay office hereby established, and to its officers, assistants, clerks, workmen, and others employed therein. SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the same charges shall be made and demanded at the said assay office for refining, parting, casting into bars, ingots, or disks, and for alloy, as are, or shall be made and demanded at the Mint; and no other charges shall be made to depositors than by law are authorized to be made at the Mint; and the amount received from the charges hereby authorized shall be accounted for and appropriated for defraying the contingent expenses of the said office.

Charges for assaying, etc.

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(Section 15 authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to procure quarters and machinery for said assay office. (Section 16 changes the salary of the assistant treasurer of the United States at New York.)

Approved, March 3, 1853.

(Other assay offices were established as follows: At Boise City, February 19, 1869 (15 Stat. L., 270), sec. 3495, R. S.; at Charlotte, N. C., February 12, 1873 (17 Stat. L., 435), sec. 3495, R. S.; at Helena, Mont., May 12, 1874 (18 Stat. L., 45); at St. Louis, February 1, 1881 (21 Stat. L., 322); at Deadwood, S. Dak., June 11, 1896 (29 Stat. L., 414), February 19, 1897 (28 Stat. L., 559); at Seattle, Wash., May 21, 1898 (30 Stat. L., 420); at Salt Lake City, May 30, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 474).)

ACT OF FEBRUARY 21, 1857.

163.

CHAP. LVI.—An act relating to foreign coins and to the 11 coinage of cents at the Mint of the United States.

Stat. L.,

are to be re

United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the pieces commonly known as the quarter, How much eighth, and sixteenth of the Spanish pillar dollar, and of Mexican coins the Mexican dollar, shall be receivable at the Treasury ceived for by of the United States, and its several offices, and at the several post-offices and land-offices, at the rates of valuation following,—that is to say, the fourth of a dollar, or piece of two reals, at twenty cents; the eighth of a dollar, or piece of one real, at ten cents; and the sixteenth of a dollar, or half real, at five cents.

(Section 2 provides that the said coins, when so received, shall not be paid out again, but shall be recoined at the Mint, and that the expenses of transmission and recoinage "shall be charged against the account of silver profit and loss.")

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all former acts authorizing the currency of foreign gold or silver coins,

Former acts

making foreign coins curren

Assays of for

made, and an

color legal ten and declaring the same a legal tender in payment for der repealed. debts, are hereby repealed; but it shall be the duty of eign coins to be the Director of the Mint to cause assays to be made, from nually reported. time to time, of such foreign coins as may be known to our commerce, to determine their average weight, fineness, and value, and to embrace in his annual report a statement of the results thereof.

and composition of

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and after Weight the passage of this act, the standard weight of the cent cents. coined at the Mint shall be seventy-two grains, or three twentieths of one ounce troy, with no greater deviation than four grains in each piece; and said cent shall be composed of eighty-eight per centum of copper and twelve per centum of nickel, of such shape and device as may be fixed by the Director of the Mint, with the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury; and the coinage of the half cent shall cease.

Purchase of there.

bullion

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Treasurer of the Mint, under the instruction of the Secretary of the for. Treasury, shall, from time to time, purchase from the bullion fund of the Mint the materials necessary for the coinage of such cent piece, and transfer the same to the

extended to such cents.

Profits.

Former laws proper operative officers of the Mint to be manufactured and returned in coin. And the laws in force relating to the Mint and the coinage of the precious metals, and in regard to the sale and distribution of the copper coins, shall, so far as applicable, be extended to the coinage herein provided for: Provided, That the net profits of said coinage, ascertained in like manner as is prescribed in the second section of this act, shall be transferred to the Treasury of the United States.

Such cents may be paid out

ted, etc.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be and transmit-lawful to pay out the said cent at the Mint in exchange for any of the gold and silver coins of the United States, and also in exchange for the former copper coins issued: and it shall be lawful to transmit parcels of the said cents, from time to time, to the assistant treasurers, depositaries, and other officers of the United States, under general regulations proposed by the Director of the Mint, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, for exchange To be paid out as aforesaid. And it shall also be lawful for the space old of two years from the passage of this act and no longer, to pay out at the Mint the cents aforesaid for the fractional parts of the dollar hereinbefore named, at their nominal value of twenty-five, twelve-and-a-half, and sixand-a-quarter cents, respectively.

for certain
coins at
rate for
years.

two

Annual report

of Director of

NOTE.-Section 2, act of March 3, 1859 (chap. 80, 11 Stat. L. 422), extends the provisions of this section for two years from February 21, 1859. The latter act was repealed by section 3, act of June 25, 1860 (chap. 211, 12 Stat. L., 104).

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That hereafter the the Mint to be Director of the Mint shall make his annual report to the

made up

to

June 30. Secretary of the Treasury, up to the thirtieth of June in cach year, so that the same may appear in his annual report to Congress on the finances.

382.

Approved, February 21, 1857.

NOTE.-Section 3566 of the Revised Statutes of 1874 provides that "all foreign gold and silver coins received in payment for moneys due to the United States shall, before being issued in circulation, be coined anew."

ACT OF APRIL 21, 1862.

12 Stat. L., CHAP. LIX.-An Act to establish a branch mint of the United States at Denver, in the Territory of Colorado.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assem

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