GOLD. —Coinage.
97
certain size, it is evident that coins did not exist inhis day; and, on the other hand, since reference ismade to them in the laws of Lycuegds, we areassured of their employment at that date. Thustheir invention is fixed between these two dates, thatis, B.C. 950 and B.C. 820, or as nearly as we cantell at about 880 B.C. This money consisted, so far aswe have any records, of “spikes,” or small brass oriron obelisks, which were of such a size that the handcould just manage to grasp six at once. From thisfact were derived the names obolus (a spike) and drachma(a handful) for two Greek coins in use long after-wards, one of which was worth six of the other.
It is interesting to note that in the earliest goldcoinage ever issued—that of Lydia, in Asia Minor —■the same ratio existed between it and the smallersilver coins as at the present day our sovereignbears to the shilling.
While to the Lydians is generally ascribed thefirst introduction of gold coins, it is generally sup-posed that the invention of silver money rightlybelongs to the inhabitants of the Island of GDgina,of whose coinage specimens exist similar to theearliest Greek coins, bearing on the reverse simplythe rude form of a punch mark, without any attemptat ornament.
In the earlier moneys the portraits borne alwaysrepresented gods, or some animal considered to betypical of the town or state in which they wereissued; and the introduction of human portraits onthe coins did not take place till a comparativelyrecent period, when the art of coining had beenbrought to a high state of perfection. This was,however, at first only accomplished under a pre-tence of deification.
The metal adopted for the currency in differentcountries depended, as was natural, on the distri-bution of metals in those countries. Thus in AsiaMinor the first money was of gold, and the metal iswell known to have existed in the river I’actolus.Greece , on the other hand, possessing rich silvermines, its first coinage was of this metal. Italy ,again, possessing as it did an immense supply of
copper, its first money consisted of a kind of bronze,termed xs, in which copper is the principal ingredi-ent. The Homans did not issue gold and silvercoins till the years 207 B.C. and 281 B.C. respectively.
William the Conqueror after the conquest re-placed the old brass money of the Saxons by a coin-age of silver, dividing the pound into twenty shillingsand the shilling into twelve pence, a system whichhad already been introduced into France by Charle-magne in the eighth century. Gold coins were notintroduced until the year 1257, when FIeney III.caused “ gold pennies ” to be struck of fine metal,although previously much foreign gold money wasfreely circulated in England. Edward III . intro-duced half a carat grain, or 05 per cent, of alloy, andthe standard was gradually lowered to 22 cts., or916-6 parts of fine gold in 1000 of alloy, a propor-tion first employed by Henry VIII. in 1527 ; whileonce, in the year 1546, it was reduced by HenryVIII. to 20 cts., or 883-5, the lowest gold standardever known in England ; but this was immediatelyreplaced in the next reign by the old standards.
That introduced by Edward III . was 994-8, and wassubsequently called “angel” gold, in contradistinctionto the more modern standard 916-6, called “crown”gold, respectively from coins called “angels” and“crowns,” issued of these two compositions. Thetwo standards continued concurrently in use tillabout 1640, since which date the latter has alonebeen employed.
The alloys employed for the silver currency haveundergone even more violent changes, principally,however, during the reigns of Henry III. and hissuccessor, when it fell as low as 333\3 parts in 1000,nevertheless the standard now in use is the oneoriginally introduced by William the Conqueror ,and has been used uninterruptedly except at thetimes indicated.
The following table, which constitutes a portion ofthe 1st Schedule to the Coinage Act of 1870, givesthe weight of all coins now legally current in bothFrench and English measure, together with theirleast current weight, standard of fineness, and remedy
Denomination of Coin-
Standard Weight.
Least Current Weight.
Remedy Allowance.
Imperial
Weight.
Grains.
Metric
Weight.
Grams.
Imperial
Weight.
Grains.
Metric
Weight.
Grams.
Standard
Fineness.
Weight Per Piece.
Imperial Metric
Grains. Grams.
Gold—
Five pound,....Two pound,....
Sovereign,.
Half-sovereign,.Silver—
616-37239
246*54895
123-27447
61*63723
39-94028
15*97611
7*98805
3*99402
612-50000
245*00000
122*50000
61*12500
39*68935')15*87574 I7*93787 f3*96083 J
fine gold,A alloy;or millesimalfineness,916-6
f 1-00000J 0*400001 0*200001^0*10000
0*0647910*02592 I0*01296 f0*00648 J
Crown.
Half-crown,.
Florin,.
Shilling,.
Sixpence,.......
Fourpence,.
Threepence,....
Twopence,.
Penny,.
Buokze—
Penny,.
Ilalf-penny,.
Farthing,.
436*36363
218*18181
174*54545
87*27272
43-63636
29-09090
21*81818
14-54545
7*27272
28*27590
14-13795
11*31036
5*65518
2*82759
1*88506
1-41379
0*94253
0*47126
145*83333
87*50000
43*75000
9-44984
5*66990
2*83495
y
3§fmesilver,it “Hoy ;or millesimalfineness, 925.
J
f 1-818180*909090*727270*36363- 0*181810-121210*090900-06060L 0-03030
0-137811
0-05890
0*04712
0*02356
0*01178 -
0*00785
0-00589
0-00392
0 00196
Mixed metal,copper, tin,and zinc.
(2-91666-< 1 75000(0*87500
0-18899)0-11339 y0-05669)
Millesimal
Fineness.
0-002
0 004
None.
VOL. II.
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