The metallic circulation of a country usually consists of standard coins and token coins, with respeet to whose issue different rules prevail. The first are those of the standard monetary metal, and their coinage is usually free. This means that such coins are freely issued to in dividuals who bring bullion to the mint for coinage. There may be a coinage charge or this transformation may be made gratuitously by the State. Gratuitous coinage, which prevails in England and the United States, is favored because it promotes the transformation of bul lion into coin to meet the demands of trade. A coinage charge, as in France (7 hones 44 cen times per kilogram of gold, or 3437 francs), is justified on the ground that the value of the coin is greater than that of the bullion by the cost of production; and, further, that the policy of the Government should be to give reasonable ease to the transformation, but not to favor a constant oscillation between coin and bullion. The English language knows hut one name, seigniorage, for such coinage charges, whether they merely cover the cost of coinage (Fr. brassagc ) or are high enough to involve• a profit. High seignio•age charges upon the stand ard money metal defeat the purposes of free coinage and are no longer customary. See SEIGNIORAGE.
Token coins are those whose metallic value is less than their nominal value. As such coin age involves a profit to the State, the State re serves the right of issue to itself. (See MONEY for an exposition of the principles of such is sues.) In the United States this applies to the silver, nickel, and bronze coins. The metallic value of the coin is no protection against its unauthorized issue by individuals, but this pro tection is secured by the laws punishing counter feiting. The processes of manufacturing a good counterfeit are so complex and require such heavy machinery that the secret manufacture can hardly escape detection.
Important considerations in coinage legisla tion, apart from the larger monetary aspects, are to secure uniformity in the coin at, its manufac ture and to maintain the integrity of the coin in circulation. Absolute accuracy in weight and fineness for every coin issued is out of the ques tion. The law therefore allows, in the manu facture of coin, a certain tolerance both of weight and fineness. Variations within these limits. over or under the standard fixed by the law, do not disqualify the piece from issue. In former days these limits were often set quite wide, and by systematically getting under rather than over the average, considerable profits were stolen from the coinage. This was one of the abuses of the old rilgime in France which awak ened the ire of the legislators of the Revolution when they took the reform of the coinage in hand. It should of course be the object to make these limits as narrow as possible, with the idea that the deviations, one side or the other, should balance, so that for the mass of the coinage the legally established standard should prevail. In the United States the standard fineness for both gold and silver is 900, and no gold ingot showing a greater deviation than one-thousandth. or silver ingot with a greater deviation than three-thou sandths can be used in coinage. As to ,weight, the rule for single pieces prohibits deviations of more than one-half a grain for double o eagle (516 grains legal weight) or eagle, or more than a quarter of a grain for the half-eagle. The law also provides that in "weighing a mini her of pieces together, when delivered by the coiner to the superintendent, and by the super intendent to the depositor. the deviation from the standard weight shall not exceed one-hundredth of an ounce in $5000 in double eagles, eagles, and half-eagles."
Every effort is made by watching the process of manufacture to insure the observance of these • rules. Trial pieces of every lot of coin which passes through the mints must be reserved. Once a year an Assay Commission is appointed for the examination of these sample pieces, which are both weighed and assayed. The accuracy of tne work of the United States mints is shown by the report of the Assay Commission for 1901 that the fineness of gold coins varied from 899.5 to 900.2, the legal limits being 899 to 901, while that of silver coins varied from 898.2 to 900.9, the legal limits being 897 to 903.
In the circulation of coins from hand to hand, the friction gradually wears the impressions off and reduces the weight of the coin. It is, there fore, customary for coinage legislation to deter mine the point at which the coin loses its legal validity. In the United States gold coins which have lost more than one-half of one per cent. of their weight in twenty years from date of issue, or proportional amounts for less periods, are legal tender only by weight. All such coins re ceived by the Government must be reeoined. The depreciation of coins by abrasion has, in earlier times, been a serious problem. By a familiar monetary law (Gresham's Law), full-weight money is always preferred for export, while the worn coin remains at home. if the home circu lation is much worn, there is a great temptation to 'sweat' all the new coins which come from the mint for the profit of the transaction. Hence the necessity from time to time of general re coinage of the money in circulation. The Govern ment calls in all outstanding coins of certain dates and replaces them with new coins, declar ing, moreover. that after a certain date the coins not presented shall lose their legal-tender quality.
In England, coining, although a prerogative of the Crown, is regulated by Parliament. By the Constitution of the United States the power of money, regulating the value thereof, and of foreign coin is granted to Congress, and the several States are prohibited from coining money as well as from making anything hut gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. The uttering of spurious coin, therefore, is a crime against the United States. It is also pun ishable by a State government as a cheat. Coin has been judicially defined as "a piece of metal stamped and made legally current as money." A counterfeit coin is one made falsely in imita tion of the genuine, and intended to resemble or to pass for it. The mutilation or debasement of United States coin, as well as the fraudulent importation or use of spurious foreign coin, is a crime under Federal statutes. See COUNTER FEITI NG.
The works cited under MONEY contain much information in relation to coinage. Consult also Reports of the Director of the Mint, and Coinage Laws of the United states. See 1\11N-r; MONEY; NUMISMATICS; LEGAL TENDER.
COIR (Tamil kayiru, cord). or COCOANUT FIBRE. The fibre of the husk of the cocoanut palm. Coir is a corruption of a word meaning rope. Its manufacture has become an important industry, both in England and America. The fibre of the husk is divided into two classes—the ordinary fibre converted directly into mats, and the so-called brush fibre, which lies just under the skin. The latter is packed under great pressure, and then shipped to the manufacturer. It is spun by special machinery, and produces a perfectly cabled yarn, which is woven into door mats or ordinary yard-matting. In 1901 the coir imported into the United States amounted to 3,901,384 pounds, valued at -$141,830. The refuse from coir is used for stuffing mattresses, and also in horticulture as a protection against insects for vines and young trees.