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Gold, and silver, was nice metals for making durable tokens off back in the day. What made said tokens currency was not the metal, but the stamp. That said, da
by digi_owl 9y ago
Gold, and silver, was nice metals for making durable tokens off back in the day. What made said tokens currency was not the metal, but the stamp.
That said, daily, local, transactions were likely done either using simpler copper tokens or basically a verbal or written IOU.
- Chaebixi 9y ago> What made said tokens currency was not the metal, but the stamp. No, at least not always. IIRC, in Ancient Greece the money was the precious metal itself and its value of a coin was reckoned based on its weight and purity. The stamp was just an indicator of purity. The very largest amounts of money were measured using weight units (e.g. talents). It would have been impossible for it to be otherwise, since there were so many competing coin standards (e.g. a drachma in one city could be made to a very different standard to another, with standard weights possibly varying by as much as 50% or something).
- bradleyjg 9y agoRight. If it was all about the stamp, the Gresham's law wouldn't exist.
- real_estate 9y agoRelevant Duck Tales episode: http://www.tv.com/shows/ducktales/the-land-of-tra-la-la-342746/ http://www.tv.com/shows/ducktales/the-land-of-tra-la-la-3427...
- rabidonrails 9y agoThis is incorrect. The gold itself was valuable, and specifically gold because there were ways to tell in ancient times that it _was_ gold, and how pure it was. It helps that it's easily malleable for coinage too. I believe there was an episode of Connections that I saw as a kid where he explains why gold was used as currency. I'm searching for it and will link if I find it.