Quote:
Originally Posted by Amail
So, while trying to answer a grandson's question about the weight of a million dollars of pennies, I discovered two interesting, albeit useless, facts...
1) $1,000,000 weighs the same, whether in dimes, quarters, or half dollars
2) $1,000,000 in those denominations weighs almost exactly 25 tons - 50,000.84 lbs. Actually, I think it's a rounding error.
I found those to be intersting coincidences.
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That is no coincidence. 90% silver was used for coinage until we went off the standard. The weight of a dime HAD to be 1/10th that of a dollar coin. A $5 gold coin was 1/10th the weight of $50 gold coin. Weight were set by law.
And that is still codified...a
real US Treasury dollar is still .7736 troy ounces of Silver (Actual weight in Std ounces is 0.9431, 90% silver 10% copper). And the US still mints $50 gold coins which are one ounce.