The World's Encyclopedia of Wonders and Curiosities

Everything a Victorian found astonishing, gathered into one enormous volume — burning springs and buried cities, freaks of storm and flood, the habits of bees and the manners of nations, filed under headings like “Curiosities Respecting Man.”

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The Five Human Races

and lays it upon the face of the lower die. Both faces of the coin and the fluted edges which are given to all coin (as a guard against filling) are struck at one blow. Then the automaton hand displaces the coin and puts another blank in its place. The pressure for a double eagle is equal to 75 tons. 20,000 pieces can be struck in an hour by the 20 presses at work in one room at the Philadelphia Mint, only one girl and one boy being necessary to each press. From the press-rooms the coins are transferred to the chief coiner's rooms, where they are weighed, examined, and, if found perfect, put into suitable packages for transmission to points of circulation. The double eagles ($20) weigh 516 grains, and lesser coins in proportion: they are eagles, ($10), $5, $3, $2.50, and $1.

A silver dollar weighs 384 grains. Halves, quarters, dimes, and half-dimes in proportion.

The nickel cent-88 parts copper and 12 parts nickel-weighs 72 grains.

The United States Mint was established in 1793.

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