Walk into the small restaurant near the shore of Lake Michigan in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and the smell of burgers and deep-fried cheese curds will assault your senses. According to the Blaze, locals will tell you Late’s has the best burger in town. It’s a throwback kind of restaurant, complete with a long, winding dining counter and spinning stools.

Late’s also features some throwback pricing for customers willing to pay with silver coins minted before 1965.

High on the south wall, up near the ceiling, hangs a sign featuring the special prices. In big bold letters it reads, “Late’s prices, if you pay in US silver coins dated 1964 or earlier.”

Bring your silver quarters and dimes into Late’s and you can feast on the best burger in town for just 12 cents. Need to feed a group? How about 10 hamburgers for $1? You can even cater your family reunion with 100 pieces of chicken for just $4.55.

When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Coinage Act of 1965, he set into motion five decades of currency debasement that continues today. Under the law, silver dimes and quarters no longer contain actual silver. Instead, the Treasury now mints coins made of “composites,” mostly formed from copper.

Todd Tikalsky has managed Late’s for 27 years, and he gets it. He has an accounting background. He understands economics. And he recognizes the true value of silver coins.

With the value of the dollar going down, we think the price of silver – the value of silver – is going up.”

Tikalsky understands government monetary policy has debased US currency. A quarter literally isn’t worth what it used to be. Simply put, when the government debases currency, a quarter no longer buys the same amount of stuff it once did.

Quantitative easing debases the currency, and the Federal Reserve has engaged in the practice for years. Tikalsky perfectly illustrated the impact of government policy in an interview with the Blaze:

With the government printing money and all it’s – the more and more things printed out, the less that they’re worth. A Hank Aaron rookie baseball card: If there was only one or two of them, they’d be worth millions; if there are thousands of them, well, they’re not worth as much. And that’s basically what the government is doing, you know, printing out money and the values are going down.”

Tikalsky put the sign up in 2013, and Late’s appears to still stand by its throwback, silver prices.

Late’s has arrived early to the barter party.

Greeks can tell you first-hand about the importance of a barter economy in times of economic chaos. Since the virtual collapse of the Greek financial system earlier this year, a robust barter economy has developed out of sheer necessity, as everyday Greeks try to find ways to cope with cash withdrawal limits and currency shortages.