The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 32, August 12, 2007, Article 21

ON HOW OBSOLETE-DENOMINATION AMERICAN COINS WERE RETIRED

Ralf W. Böpple of Stuttgart writes: "On the question of how obsolete
-denomination coins were taken out of circulation, I can only make a
guess. I understand that most odd denominations were either never
widely used, or at least no longer so in the years prior to their
termination. So the number of pieces in circulation should have been
very low to begin with.

"The regular way in such a situation would be that people spend them
(even if they are not officially demonetized, there is a strong
incentive for the public to do so, for fear that the government might
change its mind in the future). The shopkeepers turn them over to
their banks, because their clients are reluctant to accept them as
change, and the banks send them off to the Federal Reserve or whoever
might be in charge of the local cash supply.

"If the coins were made of silver, they might have been hoarded (there
is a psychological difference between paying with a silver half dime
and a nickel, even though both are worth 5 cents) and were then melted
down in later years."

 HOW WERE OBSOLETE-DENOMINATION AMERICAN COINS RETIRED?
 esylum_v10n30a13.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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