The silver content of common US coins has declined over the years. Once a primary ingredient of the nation's daily commerce, no coin currently minted in the US for widespread circulation contains any silver at all. Until the Coinage Act of 1965, dimes, quarters, and half dollars were composed of 90 percent silver. During the mid-1960s, silver shortages developed, and the US needed silver for industrial use, as well as for coinage. President Lyndon Johnson felt that the availability of silver was unlikely to keep pace with the need for it so long as the nation's coins contained such a high silver content. After passage of the act, silver was eliminated from the dime and the quarter altogether, and the amount of silver in a Kennedy half dollar was reduced to 40 percent. In 1971, silver was removed from the half dollar too. A new dollar coin was introduced (the Eisenhower dollar) that contained no silver, thus breaking with the tradition of the silver dollar. Although commemorative, proof, or bullion coins minted since 1970 may include silver, the metal has been effectively removed from day to day coin use. Ironically, one of the most popular collectible coins on the market today, the Morgan silver dollar, actually came into existence in 1878 as a result of silver surpluses. Mining interests of the time pressed the government into minting silver coins to create a guaranteed market for the vast amount of silver they were producing. Only thirty years earlier, common silver coins were being hoarded for their high relative value. Although its history is full of ups and downs, silver is popular with collectors and investors who believe it will always have inherent value.
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