The U.S. Mint has experimented at times with some interesting blends of metals. For instance, in the late 1870s patterns were minted in "goloid"-a combination of gold, silver and copper it was argued would provide the solution to the then raging battle over the monetary standard.

Knowing this, I was intrigued by an 1885 proposal I ran into by Nicholas Veeder describing a new coin and paper money system he envisioned called "cometallism." In a lengthy paper, titled Cometallism: Gold and Silver Coinage, Uniting and Blending their Values in Paper Money, and for Establishing a Composite Single Standard Dollar of Account, written after the beginning of the Free Silver agitation and during the period of falling silver values, Veeder looked to address the problem of a lower value metal driving the higher value metal from circulation and the complaints associated with a depreciated currency.

[Veeder] called for the issuance of "coin certificates" (a $10 note is shown here), "which could be made payable in cometallic coin, or in separate gold and silver coins or bars, constituting an equal number of dollars of each metal..." "Such coin certificates," he added, "would be the most perfect money possible for use as general currency, as they would be issued only against a specific deposit always held in readiness for specific redemption, and would, therefore, in all probability be redeemed, even if, for some now unforeseen reason, the payment of specie for greenbacks and bank notes should be suspended."

There's much more to Veeder's plan, 67 pages in all, including the definition of a new "Dollar of Account" (linked to his cometallic coin), and specifications for the coin certificates. His cometallic coin would be called a "dollar," a gold coin issued not in cometallic form would an "orum," a silver coin not in cometallic form an "argent" and a paper dollar a "greenback."

To read the complete NumisMaster article, see:Certificates Part of 'Cometallic' Proposal(www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=9667)