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Sorry, but no. Coinage was the right of kings for millenia. According to historians, the entire history of using coins as money started with governments basical

Sorry, but no. Coinage was the right of kings for millenia. According to historians, the entire history of using coins as money started with governments basically inventing the use of coins as a technique for simplifying the logistics of their armies (soldiers would be given coins that they could use to pay local populations for food; in exchange, the government would accept the coins instead of physical goods as payment of taxes). Even during the period of largely unregulated private banking that reached its peak in the 19th century, the private banks largely just issued paper money that was denominated in coins that were issued by governments.

barry-cotter 8y ago
Those coins the government issued were either gold or silver. The notes the banks issued were a promise to give the bearer a certain amount of a precious metal. As to the monopoly on coinage that’s just wrong. Best example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler
- hakfoo 8y ago
  There was also an excellent example to be seen in the US during the gold-rush era. This started by the late 1830s with early gold discoveries in Georgia, and exploded in California. Many private firms would assay gold and strike it into coins. Even though there were many problems with questionable and underweight coins, they circulated because the usability was still far higher than having to manually weigh and test loose gold, and government coinage was scarce, especially on the West coast. It's interesting that many of the private issues were boldly badged by the name of the issuer. I wonder if the goal there was to establish themselves as trusted third party in other people's transactions. You can't trust this stranger's loose gold, but you can trust it once we've weighed and stamped it.
danieltillett 8y ago
As the Romans and many others found being able to mint coins doesn't give you as much power as paper money since you need to find the gold and silver to make the coins (debasing the currency is a great way to destroy your economy). This really limited the practicable power of government. It took a while for the idea of paper money to catch on, but once fully accepted the modern state became possible.

barry-cotter 8y ago

Those coins the government issued were either gold or silver. The notes the banks issued were a promise to give the bearer a certain amount of a precious metal. As to the monopoly on coinage that’s just wrong. Best example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler

hakfoo 8y ago
There was also an excellent example to be seen in the US during the gold-rush era. This started by the late 1830s with early gold discoveries in Georgia, and exploded in California. Many private firms would assay gold and strike it into coins. Even though there were many problems with questionable and underweight coins, they circulated because the usability was still far higher than having to manually weigh and test loose gold, and government coinage was scarce, especially on the West coast. It's interesting that many of the private issues were boldly badged by the name of the issuer. I wonder if the goal there was to establish themselves as trusted third party in other people's transactions. You can't trust this stranger's loose gold, but you can trust it once we've weighed and stamped it.

danieltillett 8y ago

As the Romans and many others found being able to mint coins doesn't give you as much power as paper money since you need to find the gold and silver to make the coins (debasing the currency is a great way to destroy your economy). This really limited the practicable power of government. It took a while for the idea of paper money to catch on, but once fully accepted the modern state became possible.