SPECIE

Specie is metallic money in all of its forms, gold or silver traditionally, but including nickel and copper as well. Specie is distinguished from other forms of money such as paper money or credit instruments like checks, money order, credit cards and the like. The term specie is also occasionally applied to gold and silver bullion, which is ordinary gold and silver, as opposed to coins with collectible value. Since January of 1934, the gold coin is no longer routinely coined by the U.S. government, nor is it routinely in ordinary circulation in the United States. Public law 91-607, enacted in December of 1970, initiated the creation of non-silver dollars and half-dollars minted for general circulation. Coinage of the former 40 per cent silver half-dollar, pursuant to the Coinage Act of 1965, was discontinued in January of 1971. The Coinage Act also brought an end to the silver quarter and the dime, which are now coined with some silver and mostly baser metals, like copper and nickel. All coins in common circulation in the U.S., currently minted, are composed of baser metals, and specie is largely a form of metallic money of the past.

See also: Money

spe·cie / ˈspēshē; -sē/ • n. money in the form of coins rather than notes.PHRASES: in specie1. in coin.2. Law in the real, precise, or actual form specified: the plaintiff could not be sure of recovering his goods in specie.

Specie

SPECIE. The term "specie" is used to denote metal coin, or "hard money," as opposed to paper money.

SEE ALSO Continental Currency; Money of the Eighteenth Century.

                        revised by Harold E. Selesky