The first copper coins made by the United States Mint were one cent and one-half cent issues, of which there were four designs: 1st, the “chain cent;” 2d, the “wreath cent;” 3d, the “flowing hair;” and 4th, the “liberty cap,” which was used for a number of years. The “chain” device was not acceptable to the sensitive American mind, and of consequence the accidental breaking of the die was not a subject of regret, but “quite the contrary.” The pattern sections of United States coins are very beautiful and varied, especially those in gold. THE TRADE DOLLAR. This coin bears on the obverse a female figure seated on bales of merchandise, holding in her left hand a scroll on which is the word “liberty.” At her back is a sheaf of wheat; this and the bales of goods indicate the commercial character of the coin. Her right hand, extended, offers the olive branch. On a scroll beneath the figure are the words “In God we trust,” and the date below, “1873.” The reverse has a circling inscription, “United States of America, Trade Dollar.” In the centre is an eagle, in his claws three arrows and a sprig of olive. On a label above are the words “E Pluribus Unum.” Below, “420 grains fine,” very beautiful in design. HISTORY OF THE TRADE DOLLAR. The coinage of the Trade Dollar was authorized by act of February 12, 1873, and was not intended for circulation in the United States, but for export to China. It was designed to compete with the Spanish and Mexican dollar. That empire, having no mint for the coinage of gold or silver, depended upon foreign coin for its domestic circulation, and until the institution of the Trade Dollar the principal shipments of coin to China were in the form of Mexican dollars. The Trade Dollar was made a trifle more valuable than the American and Mexican dollar, thus not only affording a market for the surplus silver of the mines of the Pacific Coast, but furnishing merchants and importers from China with silver in a convenient form for payment for commodities, instead of their being obliged to purchase Mexican dollars for that purpose. When its coinage was authorized it was inadvertently made a legal tender to amount of five dollars, but this was repealed by section 2, Act of July 22, 1876. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STANDARD SILVER DOLLAR. Authorized to be coined, Act of April 2, 1792. Weight, 416 grains, standard silver; fineness, 892.4; equivalent to 371¼ grains of fine silver, with 44¾ grains alloy of pure copper. Weight changed, Act of January 18, 1837, to 412½ grains, and fineness changed to 900, preserving the same amount of pure silver = 371¼ grains, with ⅒ alloy. Coinage discontinued, Act of February 12, 1873. Total amount coined, from 1792 to 1873, $8,045,838. Coinage revived, two million dollars per month required to be coined, and issue made legal tender for all debts, public and private, Act of February 28, 1878. Total amount coined, February 28, 1878, to November 1, 1884, $184,730,829. PACIFIC COAST.