Note.—The “standard” of a given country is indicated as follows, namely: Double, where its standard silver coins are unlimited legal tender, the same as its gold coins; S. gold or S. silver, as its standard coins of one or the other metal are unlimited legal tender. The par of exchange of the monetary unit of a country with a single gold, or a double, standard is fixed at the value of the gold unit as compared with the United States gold unit. In the case of a country with a single silver standard, the par of exchange is computed at the mean price of silver in the London market for a period commencing October 1 and ending December 26, 1886, as per daily cable dispatches to the Bureau of the Mint.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
Washington, D. C., January 1, 1887.
Values of Foreign Coins.
In accordance with the provisions of section 3564 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the value of the standard coins of the various nations of the world were estimated by the Mint Bureau and proclaimed by the Department on January 1, 1887.
These estimates, to be followed at the custom-houses of the United States on and after January 1, 1887, in determining the values of invoices expressed in terms of foreign units of account, are shown in the following table (see opposite page):
The average price of silver in London for the period embraced between October 1 and December 26, 1886, was 45.862 pence per ounce, British standard, equivalent at the par of exchange to $1.00535 per ounce fine.
The corresponding value of silver for the three months ending December 24, 1885, was $1.038141 per ounce fine, a decline of $0.03279, a little over three cents a fine ounce.
The depression in the price of silver occasioned a change in the estimated values given the following coins: