Important Milestones for US Silver Legal Tender. The production of the US silver dollar was first authorized by Congress on April 2, 1795. From 1795 to 1803, silver coins did not have imprinted denominations. Instead, the size of the coins identified their value. Lady Liberty’s “draped bust” was the first design produced by the United States Mint. Production of these coins ceased in 1803, but resumed thirty one years later with the seated Liberty coin. Named after their engraver, so-called “Gobrecht dollars” were the US standard for the next forty years.
The gold and silver standard was replaced by the gold standard in 1873 by the “Crime of 73.” Formally known as Fourth Coinage Act, silver prices were depressed as monetary silver was banned.
Resurrected between 1878 and 1904, the Morgan silver dollar was later melted in great numbers by passage of the Pittman Act of 1918 when their face value was worth less than their silver content. The last pure silver coins were minted in 1965.
