Chapter LVI. relating to Foreign Coins and to the Coinage of Cents at the Mint of the United States
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Chap. LVI.— An Act relating to Foreign Coins and to the Coinage of Cents at the Mint of the United States. Feb. 21, 1857. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, How much Spanish and Mexican coins are to be received for by United States. That the pieces commonly known as the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth of the Spanish pillar dollar, and of the Mexican dollar, shall be receivable at the treasury 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.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted*, That the said coins, when so received,Said coins to be recoined. shall not again be paid out, or put in circulation, but shall be recoined at the mint. And it shall be the duty of the director of the mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to prescribe such regulations as may be necessary and proper, to secure their transmission to the mint for recoinage, and the return or distribution of the proceeds thereof, when deemed expedient, and to prescribe such forms of account as may be appropriate and applicable to the circumstances: *Provided*, That the expenses incident to such transmission or distribution, and of recoinage, shall be charged against the account of silver profit and loss, and the net profits, if any, shall be paid from time to time into the treasury of the United States.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted*, That all former acts authorizing theFormer acts making foreign coins a currency or legal tender repealed.Assays of foreign coins to be made, and annually reported. currency of foreign gold or silver coins, and declaring the same a legal tender in payment for debts, are hereby repealed; but it shall be the duty of the director of the mint to cause assays to be made, from time to time, of such foreign coins as may be known to our commerce, to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.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted*, That from and after the passage ofWeight and composition of cents. this act, the standard weight of the cent 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. 164 THIRTY-FOURTH CONGRESS.
Sess. III. Ch. 56, 57. 1857. Sec. 5. Purchase of materials therefor.*And be it further enacted*, That the treasurer of the mint, under the instruction of the Secretary of the 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 proper operative officers of the mint to be manufactured and returned in coin. Former laws extended to such cents.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:
Profits.*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. Sec. 6. Such cents may be paid out and transmitted, &c.*And be it further enacted*, That it shall be 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 for certain coins at old rate for two years.Time extended. 1859, ch. 80, § 2. *Post*, p. 422.as aforesaid.
And it shall also be lawful for the space 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 six-and-a-quarter cents, respectively. Sec. 7. Annual report of director of the mint to be made up to June 30.*And be it further enacted*, That hereafter the director of the mint shall make his annual report to the Secretary of the Treasury, up to the thirtieth of June in each year, so that the same may appear in his annual report to Congress on the finances.
Approved, February 21, 1857.