Bryan Money information

Bryan Money is a term used by numismatists to refer to tokens and medals associated with William Jennings Bryan's platform during the United States presidential elections of 1896 and 1900.^[1] Bryan's platform advocated for the reinstatement of silver currency in the United States economy as part of the short-lived Silver Republican Party.

In the wake of the panic of 1893 came the dawn of the upcoming presidential campaign. Farm prices collapsed, banks failed, unemployment was at 20%, and the economy was stalled. The money supply was backed by gold. The government could not print more greenbacks without gold backing. The protectionists wanted high tariffs to keep out foreign goods and create jobs in the United States.

The Populist Party's remedy was to substantially increase the money supply by adopting a dual monetary standard. With the acceptance of silver as an additional backer, more money could be printed. The United States had vast silver deposits in reserve as well as in the ground, waiting to be mined. The working man supported this addition of silver. These issues polarized the people of the west and south on one side and the northeast on the other, farmer against the industrialist, the well-to-do against the lower economic classes.

Candidates need an issue or platform upon which to sell themselves. For the elections of 1896 and 1900, Bryan chose the issue of the standard by which the government backed its currency - either with just gold or his choice of both silver and gold. Supported by both the National Silver Party and the Populist Party, Bryan, a Democrat from Nebraska, ran unsuccessfully against William McKinley of Ohio in both those races.

The Silverites referred to the inscription used on the edge of the first silver dollars, 1794-1804, "HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT" as evidence that the intentions were to have the silver dollar a unit of measure. Bryan expounded the free coinage of silver using the ratio, 16 oz. of silver = 1 oz. of gold. Free coinage of silver means a person could bring silver ingots to the United States Mint and have them coined. For example, $0.53 of silver would produce a silver dollar, which is what the Morgan dollar (1878-1921) contained. If the government issued dollars containing 100 cents worth of silver, they would have been very large and cumbersome.

Bryan's opponents quickly exaggerated the size of this coin and made base metal caricature or satirical pieces produced in lead type metal, zinc, Babbitt metal, tin, bronze, aluminum, iron and other combinations. Some were as large as approximately 8 inches. The level of quality of the Bryan Money was controlled by the individual ability of each craftsman (see example).

Tradesmen groomed in the nineteenth century had various talents. The makers of Bryan Money were printers, blacksmiths, tool and die makers, hardware people, foundry workers, dentists and any handy person bursting with political opinion. There also were thousands produced and sold for profit by the manufacturers of novelties. Affluent jewelers in the east, such as Tiffany & Co., made several different coin silver comparative pieces (see example). They showed the outline of the Morgan dollar in comparison to the larger full content dollar. Also shown were the date, fineness of silver, and the rate of exchange of 16 to 1.