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Coin production temporarily ceased after the departure of the Romans in 410 CE.
[1]
“Kent seems to have taken the lead in the production of coin in England and, as its first issues and subsequent adaptations are in line with what happened in Francia, it is likely that exchange with Francia was a main function of the coinage. The first Kentish coins were probably struck in the late sixth century and imitated Merovingian gold tremisses… The Kentish gold coins are rare until the second quarter of the seventh century when some seem to have been struck in London as well as in Kent itself and one of the London issues apparently carries the name of King Eadbald. It was not normal in this period for the monarch’s name to appear on coins and consequently it has been questioned whether kings enjoyed a monopoly on the production of coin before the introduction of the named penny coinages of the late eighth century.”
[2]
[1]: (Higham 2004: 2) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K [2]: (Yorke 1990: 40-41) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN |
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"In south Arabia the earliest coins (fourth/third century BC) are imitations of Athenian tetradrachms, the dollar of their day: the obverse shows the head of Athena with helmet, the reverse has an owl, olive branch, crescent moon and the Greek letters AθE."
[1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 194) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list |
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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Raw or manufatured prestige goods -- ceramics, precious stone, feathers, textiles, jewelry, ornaments, etc. (both "articles" like jade and feathers, and "tokens" like shells) -- likely functioned as "primitive money" or "social currency."
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Piña Chan, Román. (1971). "Preclassic or Formative Pottery and Minor Arts of the Valley of Mexico." In The Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, ed. G. F. Ekholm, and I. Bernal. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp.157-178. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 331-3. [3]: Stoner, Wesley D., Deborah L. Nichols, Bridget A. Alex, and Destiny L. Crider. (2015)"The emergence of Early-Middle Formative exchange patterns in Mesoamerica: A view from Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 39: 19-35. [4]: Charlton, Thomas H. (1984). "Production and Exchange: Variables in the Evolution of a Civilization." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.17-42. [5]: Hirth, Kenneth G. (1984). "Early Exchange in Mesoamerica: An Introduction." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.1-16. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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The system closest to coinage ever practiced in Mesoamerica was the widespread use of cacao beans and copper axes as media of exchange during the Postclassic.
[1]
[1]: Berdan, Frances F., Marilyn A. Masson, Janine Gasco, and Michael E. Smith. (2003) "An International Economy." In Michael E. Smith and Frances F. Berdan (eds.) The Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, pg. 102. |
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Raw or manufatured prestige goods -- ceramics, precious stone, feathers, textiles, jewelry, ornaments, etc. (both "articles" like jade and feathers, and "tokens" like shells) -- likely functioned as "primitive money" or "social currency."
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Piña Chan, Román. (1971). "Preclassic or Formative Pottery and Minor Arts of the Valley of Mexico." In The Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, ed. G. F. Ekholm, and I. Bernal. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp.157-178. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 331-3. [3]: Stoner, Wesley D., Deborah L. Nichols, Bridget A. Alex, and Destiny L. Crider. (2015)"The emergence of Early-Middle Formative exchange patterns in Mesoamerica: A view from Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 39: 19-35. [4]: Charlton, Thomas H. (1984). "Production and Exchange: Variables in the Evolution of a Civilization." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.17-42. [5]: Hirth, Kenneth G. (1984). "Early Exchange in Mesoamerica: An Introduction." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.1-16. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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We have coded for Norwegian currency under ’foreign coins’ (see above).
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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"Initially, therefore, a North African coinage standard would have been established in the gold trade. But few gold coins penetrated south of the Sahara; they did not form the ordinary currency, and weights for coins were little used in the Sahel towns."
[1]
[1]: (Garrard 1982: 455) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/IVG2H488/collection. |
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Money was not used as means of exchange in the Hittite period yet. Silver and iron were alike used as a medium of exchange. Articles used in local trade.
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Money was not used as means of exchange in the Hittite period yet. Silver and iron were alike used as a medium of exchange. Articles used in local trade.
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Money was not used as means of exchange in the Hittite period yet. Silver and iron were alike used as a medium of exchange. Articles used in local trade.
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No reference to coins, and taxes were paid in silver and grain.
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No coinage in region until Lydia.
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Moneylenders would “loan coin”
[1]
The district of Quito reached its highest level of economic prosperity in the seventeenth century, but actual coinage was rare. This currency shortage was generalized throughout Spanish America.
[2]
[1]: (97) Lane, K. 2002. Quito 1599: City and Colony in Transition. University of New Mexico Press. [2]: Gauderman, K. 2010. Women’s Lives in Colonial Quito: Gender, Law, and Economy in Spanish America. University of Texas Press. |
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Not until Warring States Period at the earliest: "The earliest minted form of currency was the bu, a coin cast of bronze in the form of a miniature double-pronged digging stick or hoe, complete with hollow socket. They are particularly densely concentrated in the vicinity of the Eastern Zhou capital of Luoyang and in the states of Han, Zhao, and Wei."
[1]
[1]: (Higham 2009, 83) Higham, Charles. 2009. Encylopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing. |
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’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’.
[1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117. |
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"All scholars agree that neither money nor a clear concept of private land ownership existed during the Western Zhou period."
[1]
"The earliest minted form of currency was the bu, a coin cast of bronze in the form of a miniature double-pronged digging stick or hoe, complete with hollow socket. They are particularly densely concentrated in the vicinity of the Eastern Zhou capital of Luoyang and in the states of Han, Zhao, and Wei."
[2]
[1]: (Zhao 2015, 76) Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [2]: (Higham 2009, 83) Higham, Charles. 2009. Encylopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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The system closest to coinage ever practiced in Mesoamerica was the widespread use of cacao beans and copper axes as media of exchange during the Postclassic.
[1]
[1]: Berdan, Frances F., Marilyn A. Masson, Janine Gasco, and Michael E. Smith. (2003) "An International Economy." In Michael E. Smith and Frances F. Berdan (eds.) The Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, pg. 102. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"First, prior to the arrival of the first wave of [colonial] settlers [to Freetown in 1787] there existed no centralised currency system that resembled, for example, the gold dust of the Asante Kingdom (where the use of cowries was forbidden). Cowries were not generally much in use in the coastal and hinterland regions of Sierra Leone, and this led to acute problems in introducing coins that were of small enough denominations for local market transactions (in turn leading to problems with cut dollars in 1818)."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 199( Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’.
[1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117. |
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monnaie gauloise
[1]
This site does not offer clear evidence of indigenous coin production Some possible indication of 4th century coin production
[2]
, though many suggest indigenous coins in area not appear until mid-3rd c BCE
[3]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Boardman 1993, 308) Boardman, J. 1993. The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press [3]: (Wells 1999) Wells, P S. 1999. The Barbarians Speak: How The Conquered Peoples Shaped Roman Europe. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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Coins evolved at a later time.
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Coins were invented at a later time.
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’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’.
[1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117. |
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Rule-breakers were fined in gold or kind rather than indigenous coinage: ’By virtue of his position, all penalties for breach of the [Page 30] tribal or public oath are collected for and paid to the Ohene, in addition to certain court fees, such as Asida, or Atingé. In former times the Ohene of every large town was entitled to fine strangers entering his town bearing arms without his permission so to do. Fines are paid for accidental homicide; such as carelessly wounding a person taking part in the chase. A person found guilty of criminal intercourse with a married woman is liable to pay to the injured husband a fine of two ounces of gold (benda), that is, £7 4 s. In cases of theft the guilty offender is made to restore to the owner the stolen article or its value, and to his ruler he pays a fine. Where a thief is unable to restore a priceless article, he is killed, and his nearest blood relatives are fined, and, if unable to pay, are sold for the amount. The amount of a fine for theft does not depend so much on the value of the article as upon the nature thereof; e.g. it is not considered theft for a starving man to steal any foodstuff to appease his hunger. Among a people who have been accustomed to have all things in common, the sensibility of many persons to the criminality of theft is not so great as in Europe. In the old settlements, however, the standard of morality in this respect is steadily rising.’
[1]
[1]: Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 29p |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’ ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ were used, not ’No media of exchange or money’ or ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’.
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No reference to any indigenous coins being present, only traded items, slaves and brass rods. There may have been other forms of local currency, so can’t be certain. “From another historian we get the reasons for the Aro Expedition as follows: “Reasons for the war advanced by Sir Ralph Moore, the British High Commissioner of the Nigerian Coast Protectorate, included: To put a stop to slave dealing and the slave trade generally with a view to the Slave Dealing Proclamation No. 5 of 1901 being enforced throughout the entire territories as from first of January next; to abolish the Juju hierarchy of the Aro tribe, which by superstition and fraud causes much injustice among the coast tribes generally and is opposed to the establishment of Government. The power of the priesthood is also employed in obtaining natives for sale as slaves and it is essential to finally break it; to open up the country of the entire Aro to civilization; to induce the natives to engage in legitimate trade; to introduce a currency in lieu of slaves, brass rods, and other forms of native currency and to facilitate trade transactions; to eventually establish a labour market as a substitute to the present system of slavery””
[1]
[1]: Innocent, Rev. (2020). A Critical Study on the Ibini Ukpabi (Arochukwu Long Juju) Oracle and its Implications on the International Relations During the 20th Century. London Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, 20(10): 8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZXZGZSM3/collection |
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Cretans started minting around 470 BCE perhaps as a response to the reduced supple of new Aiginetan coinage.
[1]
[1]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotos, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 247-68. |
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The following suggests not only that cattle were no longer used as articles of exchange, but also the existence of system of exchange based on labor rather than physical currency. "By the middle of Red II this material symbol of inequality, cattle, ceased to be commonly kept, despite the emergence of a drier environment more suitable for animal husbandry in the second millennium A.D. Historically, cattle served as social capital in many non-centralized Voltaic societies, enabling marriages and funerary celebrations, and representing wealth. Consequently, the rejection of cattle, in addition to limiting the accumulation of wealth, may also indicate the beginning of matrimonial compensation in agricultural labor, typical of modern autonomous village societies."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30) |
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“Similarly, since the Huns minted no coins, it might reasonably be expected that the numismatic evidence would be slight. This is indeed the case, but from the distribution of Roman coins found in some of the territories once ruled by the nomads it does seem possible to draw one or two inferences.”
[1]
[1]: (Thompson 2004: 9) Thompson, E.A. 1996. The Huns. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/49W8PAAS |
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’The appearance of a silver Sandalwood Flower coinage in south central Java at the end of the eighth century provides the earliest indication of monetized transactions in insular Southeast Asia’.
[1]
Currency name = Masa and tahil.
[2]
[1]: (Wicks 1992, 243) Robert S. Wicks. 1992. Money, Markets, and Trade in Early Southeast Asia: The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems to AD 1400. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program. [2]: (Wicks 1992, 268) |
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Coins evolved at a later time.
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The literature suggests that culturally related and geographically adjacent polities in the Great Lakes region did not use coins as currency: barter was a common form of exchange, as was the use of tokens (e.g. ivory discs, cowrie shells) and articles (e.g. iron objects). In the case of Rwanda: "Neighbors exchanged goods by barter. Hunters, farmers, and herders exchanged game, leather goods, honey, sorghum, beans, milk, and butter, among other things. Iron objects and hoes above all were preferably exchanged for goats and if possible cattle, but sometimes also for the goods we have just enumerated. Indeed, the hoe was probably already the standard of value as it was in the nineteenth century."
[1]
In the case of Buganda: "As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region."
[2]
[1]: (Vansina 2004: 30) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection. [2]: (Reid 2010: 122, 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection. |
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After the introduction of foreign currency, barter was increasingly displaced by monetized exchange, but did not die out completely. Brass objects were particularly valuable. But this process did not predate colonization: ‘One of the significant economic transition brought about by the development of markets in Garo Hills is the gradual change over from barter to money economy.’
[1]
[1]: Alam, K. 1995. “Markets Of Garo Hills: An Assessment Of Their Socio-Economic Implications”, 112 |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’ is coded as ’Foreign coinage or paper currency’ ‘One of the significant economic transition brought about by the development of markets in Garo Hills is the gradual change over from barter to money economy.’
[1]
Cash crops, such as cotton, are sold at local markets. During the colonial and early independence periods, barter trade was gradually displaced by monetized exchange. The coins and bank notes used were of Koch, colonial and national origin.
[1]: Alam, K. 1995. “Markets Of Garo Hills: An Assessment Of Their Socio-Economic Implications”, 112 |
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"Gift-giving and receiving do not rule out other kinds of exchange, but trade in the Rig Vedic context was probably minimal. Barter was the mode of exchange and cattle an important unit of value. The word nishka seems to have meant ’a piece of gold’ or ’gold necklace’, and there is no indication of the use of coins."
[1]
[1]: Singh, U. (2008) A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Dorling Kindersley: Delhi. p191 |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ‘1’ or ’No media of exchange or money’ was present, not ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’.
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No Rashtrakuta coins have been found, but many contemporary documents describe or mention the Empire’s currency. Arab traveller Sulaiman, for example writes that the Rashtrakutas had "silver coins called Tatriya coins which were one and a half times heavier than the Arab coins"
[1]
. However, some experts take the absence of tangible coins in the archaeological record to mean that the Rashtrakutas never did issue their own currency
[2]
[1]: Jayashri Mishra, Social and Economic Conditions Under the Imperial Rashtrakutas (1992), p. 20 [2]: A.P. Madan, The History of the Rashtrakutas (1990), p. 198 |
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The following quote states that the Funj Sultanate created their own imperial mint in the eighteenth century. “While Funj still knew no (official) coins or currencies in the early seventeenth century beyond the market of Sinnar and the harbour of Suakin, with the exception of gold in form of gold dust or braclets, (Spanish) silver coins (from American mines) increasingly entered the empire in the seventeenth century. This led to an accelerated export of gold and the establishment of silver coins in regional and even local markets in the eighteenth century, when silver replaced textiles and salt as currencies of exchange. This led to an even stronger import of small silver coins and the development of an imperial mint. In the late eighteenth century, the Spanish silver peso had become the major currency.”
[1]
[1]: (Loimeier 2013, 148) Loimeier, Roman. 2013. Muslim Societies in Africa: A Historical Anthropology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/HJTAUHA9/collection |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ’4’ Foreign coinage or paper currency was present, not ‘1’ ’No media of exchange or money’, ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’.
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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Daric.
[1]
Darius I was probably the first Achaemenid king to mint coins. Created a single currency monetary system. Standard coin was the gold Daric which was maintained at 97% purity. 3,000 darics made one talent. Silver coins were called shekels and were at least 90% pure. Twenty shekels to one daric, for a 40:3 silver-gold ratio. The currency system was maintained from 515 BCE until 330 BCE. The reluctance of the Persian kings to release their treasure to be minted hampered the empire’s economy.
[2]
Royal coinage encouraged trade. Before Darius trade was in barter or Lydian gold coins. Satraps could coin money but only King of Kings could coin in gold. Coin potraits first appeared in Persia.
[3]
[1]: (Farazmand 2002) [3]: (Shahbazi 2012, 133) Shahbazi, A Shapour. The Archaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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Cretans started minting around 470 BCE perhaps as a response to the reduced supple of new Aiginetan coinage.
[1]
[1]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotis, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 247-68. |
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The following suggests not only that cattle were no longer used as articles of exchange, but also the existence of system of exchange based on labor rather than physical currency. "By the middle of Red II this material symbol of inequality, cattle, ceased to be commonly kept, despite the emergence of a drier environment more suitable for animal husbandry in the second millennium A.D. Historically, cattle served as social capital in many non-centralized Voltaic societies, enabling marriages and funerary celebrations, and representing wealth. Consequently, the rejection of cattle, in addition to limiting the accumulation of wealth, may also indicate the beginning of matrimonial compensation in agricultural labor, typical of modern autonomous village societies."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30) |
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"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region."
[1]
[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection. |
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’Money had not been minted in Japan since the twelve imperial coins (kocho junisen) of Nara times, and from late Heian, Sung [Chinese dynasty 960-1280CE] coins circulated unchecked by legislative action.’
[1]
’ a situation that remained largely unchanged until 1588CE when Hideyoshi commissioned the Goto family to mint oban gold coins.’
[2]
[1]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.408 [2]: Hall, John Whitney (ed.). 1991.The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.p.61 |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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’Money had not been minted in Japan since the twelve imperial coins (kocho junisen) of Nara times, and from late Heian, Sung [Chinese dynasty 960-1280CE] coins circulated unchecked by legislative action. However, with the development of various forces of production and the expansion of commerce, the demand for a circulating currency increased. The court was thus forced to recognize the great importance of the Sung coins, whose circulation had been prohibited until early Kamakura. ’
[1]
[1]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.408 |
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"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region."
[1]
[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection. |
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’In China’s Song dynasty (AD 960-1279), contemporaneous with the period most closely associated with that height of the Khmer empire, records of Khmer tributary missions are scare compared to missions reported for neighbouring polities including Champa (central Vietnam) and southern Sumatra (Wong 1979). During this era, polities in Java and Sumatra developed multiple shipping ports, hosted foreign merchants, and established coinage (Christie 1999). The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[1]
’The economy of Angkor, now receiving detailed scholarly attention is somewhat peculiar because, unlike most neighbouring states, the empire never used money of any kind.’
[2]
[1]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) [2]: (Chandler 2008, p.9) |
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’In China’s Song dynasty (AD 960-1279), contemporaneous with the period most closely associated with that height of the Khmer empire, records of Khmer tributary missions are scare compared to missions reported for neighbouring polities including Champa (central Vietnam) and southern Sumatra (Wong 1979). During this era, polities in Java and Sumatra developed multiple shipping ports, hosted foreign merchants, and established coinage (Christie 1999). The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[1]
’The economy of Angkor, now receiving detailed scholarly attention is somewhat peculiar because, unlike most neighbouring states, the empire never used money of any kind.’
[2]
’Some major differences between the pre-Angkor and Angkor peri- ods include the transfer of the center of power and population from southeast to northwest Cambodia (see map 4); the title pon disap- peared; inscriptions adopted a different format; new names were used for deities; and new words for economic subjects appeared. The system of coinage used in early Cambodia was discontinued; the Angkor period economy was moneyless.’
[3]
’Coinages were arguably introduced into Southeast Asia to expand the economies of early Indianised polities, including Funan, and to enhance the status of rulers. The absence of coins in later polities, such as Pagan and Angkor, is attributed to the redistribution of surplus wealth through the temples and monasteries, rather than the royal courts (Gutman 1978: 8-10)’
[4]
[1]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) [2]: (Chandler 2008, p.9) [3]: (Miksic 2007, p. 82) [4]: (Lustig 2009, p. 95) |
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“It is unclear from Zhou’s account how products were paid for although it seems un-likely that government-sponsored currency was in circulation.”
[1]
’In China’s Song dynasty (AD 960-1279), contemporaneous with the period most closely associated with that height of the Khmer empire, records of Khmer tributary missions are scare compared to missions reported for neighbouring polities including Champa (central Vietnam) and southern Sumatra (Wong 1979). During this era, polities in Java and Sumatra developed multiple shipping ports, hosted foreign merchants, and established coinage (Christie 1999). The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[2]
[1]: (Chandler 2008, 87) [2]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) |
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’In China’s Song dynasty (AD 960-1279), contemporaneous with the period most closely associated with that height of the Khmer empire, records of Khmer tributary missions are scare compared to missions reported for neighbouring polities including Champa (central Vietnam) and southern Sumatra (Wong 1979). During this era, polities in Java and Sumatra developed multiple shipping ports, hosted foreign merchants, and established coinage (Christie 1999). The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[1]
’The economy of Angkor, now receiving detailed scholarly attention is somewhat peculiar because, unlike most neighbouring states, the empire never used money of any kind.’ [2] ’Coinages were arguably introduced into Southeast Asia to expand the economies of early Indianised polities, including Funan, and to enhance the status of rulers. The absence of coins in later polities, such as Pagan and Angkor, is attributed to the redistribution of surplus wealth through the temples and monasteries, rather than the royal courts (Gutman 1978: 8-10)’ [3] [1]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) [2]: (Chandler 2008, p.9) [3]: (Lustig 2009, p. 95) |
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’Strong evidence against the importance of trade or markets is the absence of money in post-6th-century Cambodia in contrast to Funan which had coinage’
[1]
’Neither is there reference to coinage, although precious metals are mentioned as objects of exchanges among donors and temples. The lack of coinage seems confirmed by the inability of archaeologists or architects excavating and restoring temples to discover any coins which may be dated between the end of the Funan and the post-Angkor period.’
[2]
’There was no system of coinage, but goods were valued by measures of silver by weight, quantities of rice, or length and quality of cloth.’
[3]
’But certain Indian traits, such as the minting and use of coinage, never took: the Khmer realm essentially remained a barter economy until the arrival of the French in the nineteenth century.’
[4]
[1]: (Vickery 1998, 314) [2]: (Vickery 1998, 275) [3]: (Higham 2004, 76) [4]: (Coe 2003, 63) |
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’The 1st to 5th century site of Oc Eo on Vietnam’s coast, then on the east-west maritime trade route, has produced, among other artefacts, a Vishnuite silver coin and a Roman gold medallion (Malleret 1959-62; Coe 2003; 66-67), but there is no evidence that Funan minted its own coinage (Sahai 1971: 94; Wicks 1992: 186). Indeed, the Chinese reported that taxes in Funan were paid in gold, silver, pearls and perfumes (Pelliot 1903: 252).’
[1]
Higham, however, points out that " A local coinage developed with motifs including the sun and shellfish. It did not survive the life of Funan, however.
[2]
Wicks sustains that there was no local coinage, but acknowledges the presence of Burmese or Thai coinage.
[3]
’Strong evidence against the importance of trade or markets is the absence of money in post-6th-century Cambodia in contrast to Funan which had coinage’ [4] ’Neither is there reference to coinage, although precious metals are mentioned as objects of exchanges among donors and temples. The lack of coinage seems confirmed by the inability of archaeologists or architects excavating and restoring temples to discover any coins which may be dated between the end of the Funan and the post-Angkor period.’<re>(Vickery 1998, p. 275); ’Barter was the normal market exchange mechanism. After the Angkor period, gold coins marked with symbols made their appearance, but until then gold or silver ingots with measured weights functioned as currency (the earliest evidence of the use of bullion in exchange dates from the period of the "Fu-nan").’ [5] ’Coinages were arguably introduced into Southeast Asia to expand the economies of early Indianised polities, including Funan, and to enhance the status of rulers. The absence of coins in later polities, such as Pagan and Angkor, is attributed to the redistribution of surplus wealth through the temples and monasteries, rather than the royal courts (Gutman 1978: 8-10)’ [6] [1]: (Lustig 2009, p. 82) [2]: (Higham 2004b, p. 27) [3]: (Wicks 1992, p. 186) [4]: (Vickery 1998, p. 314) [5]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.176) [6]: (Lustig 2009, p. 95) |
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The following implies the absence of an indigenous coinage system. "[F]rom the turn of the century, to the ‘mosaic of currencies’, which included the Sierra Leone Company coinage and the iron bars system, could be added silver Spanish dollars, Mexican dollars, French five-franc pieces and Maria Theresa thalers as well as gold Spanish American doubloons (or ‘pieces of eight’), American five-dollar and French twenty-franc pieces. By the 1820s, however relatively small in amounts, the Spanish dollar had become the principal foreign currency across the coastal region."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 199-201) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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Although exchange of goods will have taken place, sources do not suggest that specific monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Although exchange of goods will have taken place, sources do not suggest that specific monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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’The 1st to 5th century site of Oc Eo on Vietnam’s coast, then on the east-west maritime trade route, has produced, among other artefacts, a Vishnuite silver coin and a Roman gold medallion (Malleret 1959-62; Coe 2003; 66-67), but there is no evidence that Funan minted its own coinage (Sahai 1971: 94; Wicks 1992: 186). Indeed, the Chinese reported that taxes in Funan were paid in gold, silver, pearls and perfumes (Pelliot 1903: 252).’
[1]
’Strong evidence against the importance of trade or markets is the absence of money in post-6th-century Cambodia in contrast to Funan which had coinage’ [2] ’Neither is there reference to coinage, although precious metals are mentioned as objects of exchanges among donors and temples. The lack of coinage seems confirmed by the inability of archaeologists or architects excavating and restoring temples to discover any coins which may be dated between the end of the Funan and the post-Angkor period.’ [3] ’Barter was the normal market exchange mechanism. After the Angkor period, gold coins marked with symbols made their appearance, but until then gold or silver ingots with measured weights functioned as currency (the earliest evidence of the use of bullion in exchange dates from the period of the "Fu-nan").’ [4] ’Coinages were arguably introduced into Southeast Asia to expand the economies of early Indianised polities, including Funan, and to enhance the status of rulers. The absence of coins in later polities, such as Pagan and Angkor, is attributed to the redistribution of surplus wealth through the temples and monasteries, rather than the royal courts (Gutman 1978: 8-10)’ [5] ’But certain Indian traits, such as the minting and use of coinage, never took: the Khmer realm essentially remained a barter economy until the arrival of the French in the nineteenth century.’ [6] [1]: (Lustig 2009, p. 82) [2]: (Vickery 1998, p. 314) [3]: (Vickery 1998, p. 275) [4]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.176) [5]: (Lustig 2009, p. 95) [6]: (Coe 2003, p. 63) |
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"The first Aksumite king to put his own coinage into circulation was Endybis (in the second half of the third century). The Aksumites’ monetary system was similar to the Byzantine system; in weight, standard and form, Aksumite coins bore a basic resemblance to Byzantine coins of the same period."
[1]
Early coins "showed the crescent and disc, representing the moon and sun of earlier beliefs".
[2]
"it would seem likely that coins were introduced because of Aksum’s participation in an international trade that was accustomed to such a means of exchange. The earliest Askumite coins belong to the third century AD".
[3]
90% coins are found in northern Ethiopia, mostly made of bronze. "most of the gold coins have come from South Arabia and, less certainly, from India ... It would appear that the coinage of Aksum had a rather limited circulation".
[3]
Most Aksumite coins are bronze.
[4]
Early kings e.g. Endybis, Aphilas etc. had coins.
[4]
Coin legends "are written in Greek or Ethiopic, never in south Arabian. Greek appears on the very earliest coins; Ethiopic begins only with Wazeba."
[5]
"The coins bear no dates, and this gives rise to many conjectures when it comes to classification. The oldest type - probably the one minted in the reign of Endybis - goes back no farther than the third century."
[5]
Wazeba, the first king to use Ethiopic on coins, ruled in the early fourth century CE. "the Aksumite kingdom issued its own gold, silver, and copper coins from the second half of the 3rd century to the middle of the 7th century."
[6]
[1]: (Kobishanov 1981, 386) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [2]: (Connah 2016, 143) Graham Connah. 2016. African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [3]: (Connah 2016, 146) Graham Connah. 2016. African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [4]: (Anfray 1981, 374) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [5]: (Anfray 1981, 375) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [6]: (Curtis 2017, 107) Matthew C Curtis. Aksum, town and monuments. Siegbert Uhlig. David L Appleyard. Steven Kaplan. Alessandro Bausi. Wolfgang Hahn. eds. 2017. Ethiopia: History, Culture and Challenges. Michigan State University Press. East Lansing. |
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"No single currency was in general use. Buhaya used cowrie shells, Ujiji employed special beads, and Pare utilised maize cobs, but none had a fixed value elsewhere."
[1]
[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 68) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection. |
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"no trace of a die or mint has been found south of the desert."
[1]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[2]
Currency included blocks of salt of different sizes.
[2]
According to Leo Africanus cowries used as currency for trading came from the Indian Ocean, via Persia.
[3]
According to al Bakri (11th century) ’The dinars they used were of pure gold and were called sola [bald] because they bore no imprints.’ ... Thus these documents allow us to be sure of the use in Black Africa of imprinted gold coins, without, however, being able to know whether such imprints were effiges of local emperors or kings, or to know whether there was any generalized imperial currency minited apart from the mitkal standard."
[4]
[1]: (Devisse 1988, 387) Devisse, J "Trade and Trade Routes in West Africa" in El Fasi, M and Hrbek, I. eds. 1988. General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Heinemann. California.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184282eo.pdf [2]: (Diop 1987, 133) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [3]: (Diop 1987, 134) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [4]: (Diop 1987, 135) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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[1]
The first Umayyad coins were imitations of Roman and Sasanid coins. In the reign of Abd Malik, a distinctly Islamic coin was issued with Arabic script and a uniform size and shape.
[2]
There were two principle coinages in circulation, the gold Dinar and the silver dirham. This was in part a legacy of the conquest of Byzantine and Sasanid territories where the two coins were the major form of currency.
[1]: (Kennedy ????, 67-70) [2]: (Sayles 2009, 132) |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ’No media of exchange or money’ or ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’.
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The following quote suggests that the main form of currency was cowrie shells. “The reign of Oba Esigie witnessed the increasing monetisation of the enclave economy (cowries), and provided the opportunity for the development of "institutionalized mechanisms of exploitation" (Belasco 1980, 81-82). The palace control of cowries and the elite domination of commercial development in the administrative and economic enclaves provided the final element in the emergence of the dual economy. The capital and commercial centres had developed highly sophisticated and well-organised monetary exchange systems. However, the vassal villages in the empire remained relatively static, with little circulation of either commercial consumer goods or currency forms (cowries or manillas).”
[1]
[1]: Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 421. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection |
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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Gold not used for coinage: "no trace of a die or mint has been found south of the desert."
[1]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[2]
According to Leo Africanus cowries used as currency for trading came from the Indian Ocean, via Persia.
[3]
According to al Bakri (11th century) ’The dinars they used were of pure gold and were called sola [bald] because they bore no imprints.’ ... Thus these documents allow us to be sure of the use in Black Africa of imprinted gold coins, without, however, being able to know whether such imprints were effiges of local emperors or kings, or to know whether there was any generalized imperial currency minited apart from the mitkal standard."
[4]
[1]: (Devisse 1988, 387) Devisse, J "Trade and Trade Routes in West Africa" in El Fasi, M and Hrbek, I. eds. 1988. General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Heinemann. California.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184282eo.pdf [2]: (Diop 1987, 133) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [3]: (Diop 1987, 134) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [4]: (Diop 1987, 135) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Monetary items have not been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Monetary system did not existed in the Akkadian Empire Period.
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Monetary system did not exist in the Early Dynastic Period.
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Monetary system did not exist in the Ubaid.
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Monetary system did not exist in the Ur III polity.
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Monetary system did not exist in the Uruk polity.
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"First, prior to the arrival of the first wave of [colonial] settlers [to Freetown in 1787] there existed no centralised currency system that resembled, for example, the gold dust of the Asante Kingdom (where the use of cowries was forbidden). Cowries were not generally much in use in the coastal and hinterland regions of Sierra Leone, and this led to acute problems in introducing coins that were of small enough denominations for local market transactions (in turn leading to problems with cut dollars in 1818)."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 199( Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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There was no currency but trade was based on an exchange system with their neighbours and other peoples who lived on the coast of North America.
[1]
[1]: “The Ancestral Sonoran Desert People - Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (U.S. National Park Service),”. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HZ95455H |
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The following suggests that strings, "standard measurements of beads" and possibly glass beads were used as "money". "Given their quality as a high-value and low-bulk commodity, long-distance travelers likely carried Ifè glass beads across the Yorùbá world and the adjacent areas as a means of payment for provisions on their journeys. The durability and affective qualities of these dichroic beads, especially the most common sègi, and the guarantee of their supply and demand encouraged people to use them as a means of high-value exchange and for storing wealth. We are short of evidence on whether glass beads evolved to serve as a standard currency, especially as a means of pricing. However, strings and other standard measurements of beads were likely used for purchasing high-value products and services."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 107-108) |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ‘1’ or ’No media of exchange or money’ was present, not ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’.
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ‘1’ or ’No media of exchange or money’ was present, not ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’. Monetary exchange was introduced by the colonial powers.
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"Another important difference lay in the long-time presence of special-purpose money and more sophisticated weights and measures than those found in the central Andean highlands. It is not clear how widely the currencies were used in prehistory. There is no evidence, for example, that land or labor could be purchased until the Colonial era (Hosler et al. 1990; Salomon 1986; 1987; Netherly 1978). The Incas themselves did not adopt the currencies for the state economy, although they used large amounts of the shell and gold for political and ceremonial ends. Instead, they either left things alone or manipulated the situation politically to give favored groups an advantage."
[1]
[1]: (D’Altroy 2014, 320) |
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Monetary system did not exist in the Shimashki’s polity
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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"Phoenicians developed minting of coinage relatively late, at least later than the Lydians and the Greeks. Sometime in the middle of the fifth century BCE, four cities abandoned the use of weights as monetary units and started minting coinage: Byblos (ca. 460 BCE), Tyre (ca. 450 BCE), Sidon (ca. 440 BCE), and Arwad (ca. 430 BCE)."
[1]
[1]: Jigoulov (2016:73), cf. Altmann (2016:137). |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Gold, silver and copper coins such as kreuzers, florins and ducats were minted in Austro-Hungary throughout the period.
[1]
“From approximately 1750-1940, a number of nations, particularly European colonial powers and commercial traders, minted trade coins to facilitate commerce with the local populace of Africa, the Arab countries, the Indian subcontinental, Southeast Asia and the Far East. Such coins generally circulated at a value based on the weight and fineness of their silver or gold content, rather than their stated denomination. Examples include the sovereigns of Great Britain and the gold ducat issues of Austria, Hungary and the Netherlands. Trade coinage will sometimes be found listed at the end of the domestic issues.”
[2]
[1]: (Čuhaj 2012: 83) Čuhaj, George S. ed. 2012. Standard Catalog of World Coins. 1801-1900. Iowa: Krause Publications. http://archive.org/details/standardcatalogo0000unse_n7n9. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GL3FWWA9 [2]: (Čuhaj 2012: 11) Čuhaj, George S. ed. 2012. Standard Catalog of World Coins. 1801-1900. Iowa: Krause Publications. http://archive.org/details/standardcatalogo0000unse_n7n9. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GL3FWWA9 |
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“[T]he Five Dynasties[…] period saw extensive internecine warfare that brought copper mining to a near standstill in the north. Because copper was becoming more and more scarce, almost all the contending warlords of the time attempted to prevent bronze coinage from flowing into their rivals’ hands as a result of cross-border trade. Their respective kingdoms—Southern Han, Min, Wu Yue, Southern Tang, Chu, Later Tang, Later Shu—cast heavily debased or token coinage from lead, iron, or even clay so that it could be used domestically, for example, to pay soldiers’ salaries. These coins were, of course, of very little intrinsic value, and ipso facto constitute the first step toward ridding Chinese currency of its metallic anchorage.”
[1]
[1]: (Horesh 2013: 375-376) Horesh, N. 2013. ‘CANNOT BE FED ON WHEN STARVING’: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC THOUGHT SURROUNDING CHINA’S EARLIER USE OF PAPER MONEY. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 35(3): 373-395. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6PGHSGRX/library |
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"Another question remains about the use of the coins minted by the Ziyadids. They were most probably struck for economic and trading purposes, but for the moment, such coins have not been recorded in the regions in contact with Yemen during these periods, mostly Ethiopia and India. However, we probably have to put this fact down to the lack of excavations in these regions, and to the difficulty of identifying these coins."
[1]
[1]: (Peli 2008: 261) Peli, A. 2008. A history of the Ziyadids through their coinage (203—442/818—1050). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies , 2008, Vol. 38, Papers from the forty-first meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held in London, 19-21 July 2007 (2008), pp. 251-263. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ADM7C94B/library |
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“Furthermore, Odovacer bestowed the Senate with the right to mint coins and to lobby the church (although possibly only theoretically and as part of a royal campaign, respectively).”
[1]
[1]: (Radtki 2016: 127) Radtki, C. 2016. The Senate at Rome in Ostrogothic Italy. In Arnold, Bjornlie and Sessa (eds) A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy pp. 121-146. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XRH6FW4T/item-list |
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"[T]he Gahadavala kingdom relied on putatively gold dinaras of an equal alloy of gold, silver and copper."
[1]
[1]: (Deyell 2019: 55) Deyell. 2019. Indian Kingdoms 1200–1500 and the Maritime Trade in Monetary Commodities. In Serel, S. and G. Campbell (eds) Currencies of the Indian Ocean World pp. 49-69. Palgrave Macmillan. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9G8TX845/library |
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“From this it is known that the currency had been unified into metals, and the coin money into chien. The same system was followed by the subsequent Han dynasty. For the following two thousand years until the latter years of the Ching dynasty, the Chinese currency saw the chien rated as its standard money.”
[1]
[1]: (Hozumi 1954: 19-20) Hozumi, F. 1954. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HISTORY OF CHINESE MONEY. Kyoto University Economic Review 24(2): 18-38. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BGDN5V7V/library |
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British sterling. "Before the early nineteenth century the Royal Mint’s role was largely domestic. Britain’s North American colonies had gained the right to issue their own coinage ... while in South Asia the East India Company had been allowed since the late seventeeth century to ’purchase’ permission from local Indian rulers to reproduce coins that followed India as opposed to English conventions. For the Mint itself the eighteenth century was a period of relative stagnation: British silver and copper coinage was in a poor condition and was in short supply. ... The end of the Napoleonic wars, however, was followed by currency reform and in 1816-17 recoinage in Britain. In 1818 private coins were made illegal. ... The installation of Boulton’s steam-powered machinery, coupled with a French invention, the ’reducing machine’, which reproduced original coin designs by machine rather than by hand engraving, enabled for the first time the mass production of high-quality and homogenous copper coins and transformed the Mint itself into an ’industrial concern’. These changes coincided with the growth of a ’second’ British Empire and the Mint began producing more coins for overseas dependenies."
[1]
[1]: (Stockwell 2018, 45-46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge. |
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"The feudal levies due from subordinates to the Gurjara king were supplemented by standing armies garrisoned on the frontiers. The use of money was strongly impliedly such a system. Although direct references are elusive, the maintenance of large permanent military forces must have required the regular disbursement of pay or expenses in the form of ready cash. The forms of money would have to satisfy two conditions: sufficiently high value units to be easily transportable from point of collection to point of disbursement; yet sufficiently low value units to meet the modest salary or expenditure levels of individual soldiers."
[1]
[1]: (Deyell 2001, 397) Deyell, J. 2001. The Gurjara-Pratiharas. In R. Chakravarti (ed) Trade in Early India. OUP. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MF59EW5P/library |
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Silver coinage becoming copper coinage following the Circassian takeover.
[1]
dirhams.
[2]
Fluctuation in economy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which impacted the rise and fall of wages. Unskilled labourers made on average 3 dinars per month
[3]
[4]
Plague and other factors in the 15th century caused fluctuation and decrease in wages for unskilled workers, some receiving 3 dinars each month and 33.3 dinars per year, some waqf workers as low as 7 gold dinars per year.
[5]
[1]: (Levanoni 1995, 133) [2]: (Raymond 2000, 112) [3]: Scheidel, W. 2010. Real Wages in Early Economies: Evidence for Living Standards from 1800 BCE to 1300 CE. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 53(3), 425-462. [4]: Meloy, J. 2001. Copper Money in Late Mamluk Cairo: Chaos or Control? Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 44(3), 293-321 [5]: (42) Borsch, Stuart. 2014. "Subsisting or Succumbing? Falling Wages in the Era of Plague." Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg Working Papers 13 (May 2014): 1-46 |
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Copper coins for petty trade.
[1]
Silver and gold real coins.
[1]: (Casey 2002, 58) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT |
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As Northern Song.
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Taxation was a majour source of public income: ’Besides the wealth to be extracted from the southern peasantry, the Imams of the period also had available, if they could retain control, taxes from a burgeoning coffee trade. The rise and fall of the Yemeni coffee trade with Europe matches almost exactly the trajectory of the Imamate’s wealth (see Boxhall 1974; Niebuhr 1792). The English and Dutch established factories at Mocha in 1618; the trade was probably at its height around 1730; and the world price of coffee finally crashed at the start of the nineteenth century, at which point one gets mention of Imams debasing the currency (al-’Amri 1985: 59). This wealth, however, had always to be fought for; the rulers became wealthier and more powerful than hitherto, but still were liable to dispute among themselves.’
[1]
’The state the Qasimis formed in the midst of this was none the less impressive (for the rulers’ genealogy see Fig. 6.1). Al-Qasim himself, who early in his fight against the Turks had wept over his children starving at Barat, was wealthy when the truce was signed. He built the mosque at Shaharah, then built houses for himself and his followers, planted coffee in al-Ahnum, and amassed more land than the public treasury (Nubdhah: 258, 334-6). The court expanded with the southern conquests. Al-Mutawakkil received an embassy from Ethiopia and exchanged gifts of fine horses with Aurangzib of India (Serjeant 1983: 80-1), while his relatives expressed concern about his monthly demands for funds from Lower Yemen. Further criticism of his taxation policy came from Muhammad al-Ghurbani at Barat, but in 1675 the levies on Lower Yemen were redoubled (ibid. 82). Under Muhammad Ahmad, ’He of al-Mawahib’" (1687-1718), the exactions became more severe still, in support of a grandiose court and a large standing army complete with slave soldiers (ibid., Zabarah 1958: 451, 457; alShawkani 1929: ii. 98).’
[1]
Shaykhs also collected funds from landholdings: ’Whatever setbacks they suffered, however, Bayt al-Ahmar were not displaced permanently. In the year after Abu ’Alamah’s rising, when the Sharif of Abu ’Arish and a rival claimant to the Imamate were active in the north-west, they were again a power to be reckoned with." Certainly they collected taxes as well as rents in the nineteenth century, and local memory credits them with taking revenue even from coastal towns in the north Tihamah, They retain considerable lands in the west to the present day.’
[2]
’Nor were Bayt al-Ahrnar of Hashid the only shaykhly family in the area: Nasir juzaylan of Dhu Muhammad lost forts to Abu ’Alamah at al-Masiih, and a garrison from Dhii Husayn were chased out of al-Sha’iq in Bani ’Awam (again near Hajjah), but the shaykhly families of Barat retained or re-established a hold there. Al al-Shayif of Dhfi Husayn, for example, still own land in Hajjah province, and Bayt Hubaysh of Sufyan have considerable holdings near al-Mahwit (Tutwiler 1987). The picture which emerges between the lines of eighteenth-century histories and tariijim is of myriad forts in the western mountains, each garrisoned by twenty or thirty tribal soldiers and controlling an area for some shaykh of the northern plateau. As the eighteenth century wears on, so the same pattern comes more clearly to light in Lower Yemen too: in his entry for 1752, for example, al-jirafi records for the first time what will punctuate his history thereafter, Barat tribesmen at odds with the Imam south of San’a’ (al-jirafi 195I: 183). They continued to appear there into the present century, leaving behind great numbers of tribal families and large shaykhly holdings of land outside tribal territory.’
[3]
’These shaykhs are not the subject of Imamic history. Although the Imamate could not have functioned as it did without them, and although the granting of ’fiefs’ to them went on for centuries, the details of their financial and administrative position are nowhere written up. Nor has local documentation come to light. Until it does, we must form what estimate we can by looking at the great shaykhly houses nowadays.’
[4]
Taxation and stipends were a major bone of contention between imams and tribes: ’Al-Mutawakkil al-Qasim then took the Imamate (Serjeant 1983: 84), and at this stage al-Ahmar was apparently on good terms with al-Husayn, the new Imam’s son (Zabarah 1941: 539); but when alNasir Muhammad made a rival claim in 1723 al-Ahrnar and many other shaykhs went over to him. The leading sayyids were meanwhile divided among themselves over the perennial problem of taxation (ibid. 289). In 1726 the Dhayban section of Arhab cut the roads, and a group of them made trouble in San’a’ itself (Zabarah 1958: 359). The Imam had them hunted through the streets, in response to which "Arhab tribesmen invited Hashid and Bakil to join them in taking revenge and wiping out the dishonour they had sustained. The tribes responded. ’All b. Qasim al-Ahmar, Paramount Shaykh of Hashid, and Nasir b. juzaylan, Paramount Shaykh of Bakil, proceeded to ’Amran where they met al-Husayn, the Imam’s son, whom they persuaded to join them ... (al]iriifi 1951: 181, trans. Stookey 1978: 151-2).’
[5]
Dresch mentions tax registers: ’From the summary histories one forms an impression of steadily increasing disorder through the next twenty years, until ’the people of San’a’ and others’ invited the Turks again to take the city ’after they had tired of the chaos which prevailed there, the dominion of men from the tribes, the cutting of the roads, and the lack of any ordered security’ (al-jirafi 1951: 205-6). A more recently available, and more detailed, source gives a different impression (al-Hibshi 19 80: 29 6 ff.). But the Turks seem in any case to have had designs on the highlands: they had increased their forces on the coast ’until stores were coming ashore with San’a’ printed on every load’ (ibid. 315), and when they finally arrived, in 1872, they demanded the tax registers which would reveal to them the administration and resources of the whole country (al-Wasi’I 1928: IIO). They were to remain in highland Yemen until 19 18.’
[6]
More details on the currency used may be needed. Dresch mentions Riyals in his discussion of stipends: ’Hasan al-’Ansi and the Barat tribes appeared outside San’a’ in 1770. They were successfully driven off, which provoked some vainglorious poetry from the victors (Serjeant 1983: 86; d. alShawkani 1929: i. 459), but elsewhere al-Shawkani suggests (ibid. ii. 136) how this was achieved: an addition to the tribesmen’s stipend of 20,000 riyals per annum, the implication being that they already received regular payment. These incursions and payments continued for several decades.P and the Barat tribes remained active in Lower Yemen until the Turks took the area in the late nineteenth century.’
[7]
[1]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 200 [2]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 206 [3]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 206p [4]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 209 [5]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 203 [6]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 217 [7]: Dresch, Paul 1989. "Tribes, Government and History in Yemen", 213 |
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“The passing of the imperial age is surely symbolised by the transition from the peso—the ‘piece of eight’ (that is, eight reals, or ten after 1728) —to the little peseta of two reals, a silver coin which could pay a labourer’s wages for half a day. That is, silver no longer flowed abroad so much in payments to bankers and soldiers but could be used at home; so vellón could be partly phased out, and from 1680 its face value was reduced by three-quarters. This stabilisation of the currency no doubt fostered the revival of the Spanish economy in the eighteenth century, contributing to a spread of the internal market. Silver coins themselves, of course, were notoriously vulnerable to hoarding and theft, and the growth of the economy also depended on some extension of credit facilities.”(Casey 2002: 70) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT
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The Kingdom of Kent produced the first coins in the late sixth century, driven primarily by their ongoing trade with Francia (France). King Offa of Mercia (r. 757-796 CE) had the first Mercian coinage, and by the end of his reign they were being minted at Canterbury, Rochester, London and East Anglia.
[1]
[1]: (Yorke 1990: 40, 115) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN |
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“The public debt at the beginning of the reign of Leopold II amounted to 375 million guilders in government bonds. Only after 1796 did they have to be accepted, however, as payment in lieu of cash. At that time paper money was introduced officially as legal tender. The situation soon worsened. By 1809 coins were hoarded. Even copper coins disappeared from circulation. The public debt had risen to nearly 700 million guilders and was to rise further. Private credit was unobtainable. In March, 1811, a decree signed by the emperor a month before it was published, declared in effect state bankruptcy. The value of the paper guilder, officially the full equivalent of the silver coin, amounted in effect (that is, in private trade) only to one-twelfth.”
[1]
[1]: (Kann 1974: 241) Kann, Robert A. 1974. A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918. Los Angeles: University of California Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RP3JD4UV |
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British sterling. "Before the early nineteenth century the Royal Mint’s role was largely domestic. Britain’s North American colonies had gained the right to issue their own coinage ... while in South Asia the East India Company had been allowed since the late seventeeth century to ’purchase’ permission from local Indian rulers to reproduce coins that followed India as opposed to English conventions. For the Mint itself the eighteenth century was a period of relative stagnation: British silver and copper coinage was in a poor condition and was in short supply. ... The end of the Napoleonic wars, however, was followed by currency reform and in 1816-17 recoinage in Britain. In 1818 private coins were made illegal. ... The installation of Boulton’s steam-powered machinery, coupled with a French invention, the ’reducing machine’, which reproduced original coin designs by machine rather than by hand engraving, enabled for the first time the mass production of high-quality and homogenous copper coins and transformed the Mint itself into an ’industrial concern’. These changes coincided with the growth of a ’second’ British Empire and the Mint began producing more coins for overseas dependenies."
[1]
[1]: (Stockwell 2018, 45-46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge. |
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Russian coinage in the early 17th century was primarily based on silver and copper coins. The most common silver coin was the "kopeck," and larger denominations were based on multiples of the kopeck. Previous to that the most used currency was a small silver coin called denga.
[1]
[1]: Иван Георгиевич Спасский, Русская Монетная Система: Историко-Нумизматический Очерк (Аврора, 1970). Zotero link: EVFABBP4 |
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Livre tournois, of 20 sols and 240 deniers, was a unit of account. Widely used gold coin, ecu d’or soleil fixed at 36s3d in 1498 CE, 2 livres (i.e. 40s) in 1516 CE, 45s in 1533 CE, 50s in 1551 CE, 60s in 1574 CE. Widely used silver coin, teston, fixed at 10s in 1498 CE, 10s6d in 1541 CE, 12s in 1561 CE. The livre parisis was a lesser used larger unit of account: 1 sol tournois = 15 deniers parisis.
[1]
[1]: (Potter 1995, xvi) |
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Coins minted in Delhi at the Mint.
[1]
It was commercially prosperous, introducing standardised gold, silver and copper coinage.
[2]
[1]: Digby, S. (1982). The Currency System in The Cambridge Economic History of India Vol.1 c.1200-c.1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.93-96. [2]: Asher, Catherine B., and Cynthia Talbot, India before Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp.39-40. |
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Contemporary sources refer to coins known as Karshapana, Dramma, Pana, and Gadyana
[1]
. They were made of silver, lead, and potin, an alloy of silver and lead
[2]
.
[1]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 36 [2]: S. Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), p. 25 |
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[1]
government coinage.
[2]
Striking of coinage was one of the institutions of Islamic statehood.
[3]
[1]: Treadwell, L. 2001. Buyid Coinage: A Die Corpus (322 - 445 A.H.). Oxford: Ashmolean Museum [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 227-228) [3]: (Peacock 2015, 48) Peacock, A C S. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. |
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Venetian gold ducats
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"The Thai kingdom of Sukhothai introduced the pot-duang, popularly known to the West as ’bullet coins’. These continued to be used throughout Central Thailand, even under the historical successors of Sukhothai, from Ayutthaya down to the present kingdom of Rattanakosin (Bangkok)."
[1]
[1]: (Van Dongen, no publication year, pp. 8-9) |
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[1]
[1]: (Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids |
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The silver, bronze and nickel coins in circulation and issued by the Greco-Bactrian kings.
[1]
[2]
Attic Greek standard coinage.
[3]
[1]: Yarshater, CHI Ehasan. The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3 (1, 2) the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Cambridge (University Press), 1983. pp. 240-241 [2]: Sidky, H. The Greek Kingdom of Bactria: From Alexander to Eucratides the Great. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2000., pp.191-199. [3]: (Colledge 1984, 25) Colledge M A R in Ling, R ed. 1984. The Cambridge Ancient History: Plates to Volume VII, Part 1 : the Hellenistic World to the Coming of the Romans. Cambridge University Press. |
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imitations of Sassanian coinage were made.
[1]
[1]: Litvinskiĭ, B.A., and Unesco. “THE HEPHTHALITE EMPIRE.” In History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. III The Crossroads of Civilizations A.D. 250 - 750, 138-65. Paris: Unesco, 1992, pp.149 Skaff, Jonathan Karam. "Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian Silver Coins from Turfan: Their Relationship to International Trade and the Local Economy." Asia Major 11, no. 2 (1998): 67-115. |
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The economy was advanced enough that copper coinage was minted in quantities that implied it was used as ’small change’.
[1]
Accordng to the Chinese chronicle, the Pei-shih (Annals of the Wei Dynasty) "the Kidarites, whom it refers to as the Ta Yueh-chih (Lesser Yueh-chih), ’have money made of gold and silver’. This information is confirmed by the evidence of their coins.
[2]
Gold, silver, copper coins.
[2]
"On Gandharan coins bearing their name the ruler is always clean-shaven, a fashion more typical of Altaic people than of Iranians."
[3]
[1]: (Zeimal 1996, 135) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [2]: (Zeimal 1996, 132) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [3]: (Grenet 2005) Grenet, Frantz. 2005. KIDARITES. Iranicaonline. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kidarites |
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Empire’s founder "Kujala issued the first Kushan coins from Taxila, which were patterned on the Roman coinage."
[1]
The gold coinage introduced by Vima Kadphises used a gold dinar that copied the weight standard of the Roman gold aureus. Most of the early coinage was made of bronze, and each coin bore a legend in Bactrian using Kushan script based on the Greek alphabet
[2]
The coins of Vima Kadphises "are of such high quality that some historians believe that they must have been made by Roman mint masters in the service of the Kushana kings."
[3]
[1]: (Samad 2011, 81) Samad, R. U. 2011. The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys. Angora Publishing. [2]: J. Harmatta, ’History of Civilisations of Central Asia pp. 249, 276-281 [3]: Katariya, Adesh. 2012. The Glorious History of Kushana Empire: Kushana Gurjar History. Adesh Katariya. |
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’In the 1st centuries B.C. and A.D. many countries and peoples situated on the periphery of the Hellenistic and Roman civilization passed through the stage of striking "barbarous imitations". Perhaps the closest analogy as regards both the external phenomena and the essential processes underlying them is provided by a comparison between the"barbarous imitations" of Transoxiana and those of the western European tribes and peoples. In both cases there occurred a penetration of foreign coins into regions which were still without their own currency and ignorant of the circulation of money - and with these coins there arrived the idea itself of using for commercial dealings metal tokens of a certain shape and appearance. Subsequently the foreign coins were "reproduced" by local craftsmen - usually at a lower artistic and technical level.’
[1]
Heraus was a ’Central Asian clan chief of the Kushans, one of the five constituent tribes of the Yuezhi confederacy in the early first century C.E. He struck tetradrachms and obols in relatively good silver’.
[2]
[1]: (Zeimal in Yarshater 1983, 233) [2]: (Mac Dowall 2003) D. W. Mac Dowall. 2003. ’Heraus’, Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/heraus (accessed on 10 September 2016). |
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T’ai-tsu and T’ai-tsung "bequeathed to their successors... a unified, stable currency out of the various monetary systems of the Five Dynasties period."
[1]
"The main currency in the early Sung - and it would remain important throughout the dynasty - was a round bronze coin, the ch’ien. This coin had a square hole in the middle which made it possible, for large transactions, to thread many of them onto cords or strips of leather to form "strings" (min, kuan) really or nominally consisting of 1,000 coins."
[2]
Government mints. "In total, the mints produced 262 million strings of bronze coins over one-and-a-half centuries. In addition, the mints produced a large amount of iron coins, the circulation of which was restricted to Sichuan and the frontier in north-west China. Large amounts of bronze coins produced by previous dynasties also circulated in the market. At the dawn of the twelfth century, the aggregate value of the money supply has often been estimated at no less than 300 million strings."
[3]
[1]: (Golas 2015, 147) [2]: (Golas 2015, 207) [3]: (Liu 2015, 62) |
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Bronze coin for everyday use. In the early Qing, as in the late Ming, the state treated coinage more as a source of revenue than an instrument of sovereign control over the economy. However, the growth of the commercial economy in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries rekindled market demand for coin.
[1]
Bimetallic system, includes the use of silver taels with copper and bronze coins. When the supply of silver changed as a result of international trade, it caused great financially instability within the system.
[2]
[1]: (von Glahn 1996, p.252) [2]: (Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. April 2020. Email) |
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Bronze and copper coinage, by 1887 a mint established in Guangdong to mint silver coins.
[1]
Bimetallic system, includes the use of silver taels with copper and bronze coins. When the supply of silver changed as a result of international trade, it caused great financially instability within the system.
[2]
[1]: (Zhengping 2014, 21) [2]: (Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. April 2020. Email) |
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"The earliest minted form of currency was the bu, a coin cast of bronze in the form of a miniature double-pronged digging stick or hoe, complete with hollow socket. They are particularly densely concentrated in the vicinity of the Eastern Zhou capital of Luoyang and in the states of Han, Zhao, and Wei."
[1]
Different states had different types/shapes of metal objects used as a store of wealth; unclear if used as medium of exchange. Han, Wei, Zhao used ‘coin’ shaped like spade; knife-shaped coin used in Qi, Yen, and Zhao; cowrie-shaped coin used Chu; circular coin with hole in Qin, Zhao, and Zhou
[2]
Unclear if coinage was always monopoly of state, or produced by large merchant groups/families Wei: spade-shaped token. true coins not introduced until state of Qin in late third c bce (right after this period)
[1]: (Higham 2009, 83) Higham, Charles. 2009. Encylopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing. [2]: (Gernet 1982, 73) |
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dinar.
[1]
Gold and silver coins used by wholesale and distance merchants and amirs who had their own iqta.
[2]
. Copper coin system was introduced in Aleppo 1175-6 CE.
[3]
Merger of currency zones occurred after 1187 CE.
[4]
[1]: (Raymond 2000) [2]: (Heidemann 2009, 276 [5]) [3]: (Heidemann 2009, 284 [6]) [4]: (Heidemann 2009, 285 [7]) |
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Silver coinage.
[1]
dirhams.
[2]
dinars.
[3]
Gold coins.
[4]
Fluctuation in economy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which impacted the rise and fall of wages. Unskilled labourers made on average 3 dinars per month
[5]
[6]
Plague and other factors in the 15th century caused fluctuation and decrease in wages for unskilled workers, some receiving 3 dinars each month and 33.3 dinars per year, some waqf workers as low as 7 gold dinars per year.
[7]
[1]: (Levanoni 1995, 133) [2]: (Raymond 2000, 112) [3]: (Raymond 2000, 116) [4]: (Oliver and Atmore 2001, 19) Oliver R and Atmore A. 2001. Medieval Africa 1250-1800. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [5]: Scheidel, W. 2010. Real Wages in Early Economies: Evidence for Living Standards from 1800 BCE to 1300 CE. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 53(3), 425-462. [6]: Meloy, J. 2001. Copper Money in Late Mamluk Cairo: Chaos or Control? Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 44(3), 293-321 [7]: (42) Borsch, Stuart. 2014. "Subsisting or Succumbing? Falling Wages in the Era of Plague." Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg Working Papers 13 (May 2014): 1-46 |
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Silver coinage.
[1]
dirhams.
[2]
dinars.
[3]
Fluctuation in economy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which impacted the rise and fall of wages. Unskilled labourers made on average 3 dinars per month
[4]
[5]
Plague and other factors in the 15th century caused fluctuation and decrease in wages for unskilled workers, some receiving 3 dinars each month and 33.3 dinars per year, some waqf workers as low as 7 gold dinars per year.
[6]
[1]: (Levanoni 1995, 133) [2]: (Raymond 2000, 112) [3]: (Raymond 2000, 116) [4]: Scheidel, W. 2010. Real Wages in Early Economies: Evidence for Living Standards from 1800 BCE to 1300 CE. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 53(3), 425-462. [5]: Meloy, J. 2001. Copper Money in Late Mamluk Cairo: Chaos or Control? Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 44(3), 293-321 [6]: (42) Borsch, Stuart. 2014. "Subsisting or Succumbing? Falling Wages in the Era of Plague." Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg Working Papers 13 (May 2014): 1-46 |
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Livre tournois. Silver livre tournois which was worth 20 sous or 240 deniers. Early in the eighteenth century two attempts were made to introduce a paper currency which both failed.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Ladurie, E L. 1991. The Ancien Regime. A History of France, 1610-1774. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. p. 336, 554, 290. [2]: Briggs, R. 1998. Early Modern France 1560-1715. Second edition. Oxford. Oxford University Press. p 151. |
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"During the late 8th century under Charlemagne, the livre esterlin was fixed at 5,760 grains (367.1 grams) and consisted of 20 sous, 12 onces, 240 deniers, 480 oboles. This livre was the first national standard; it was retained until the middle of the 14th century, when the government of King John II the Good authorized the employment of a new, heavier, livre called the livre poids de marc."
[1]
[1]: (Zupko in Kibler et al 2005, 1842) |
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"The first Aksumite king to put his own coinage into circulation was Endybis (in the second half of the third century). The Aksumites’ monetary system was similar to the Byzantine system; in weight, standard and form, Aksumite coins bore a basic resemblance to Byzantine coins of the same period."
[1]
Early coins "showed the crescent and disc, representing the moon and sun of earlier beliefs".
[2]
"it would seem likely that coins were introduced because of Aksum’s participation in an international trade that was accustomed to such a means of exchange. The earliest Askumite coins belong to the third century AD".
[3]
90% coins are found in northern Ethiopia, mostly made of bronze. "most of the gold coins have come from South Arabia and, less certainly, from India ... It would appear that the coinage of Aksum had a rather limited circulation".
[3]
Most Aksumite coins are bronze.
[4]
Early kings e.g. Endybis, Aphilas etc. had coins.
[4]
Coin legends "are written in Greek or Ethiopic, never in south Arabian. Greek appears on the very earliest coins; Ethiopic begins only with Wazeba."
[5]
"The coins bear no dates, and this gives rise to many conjectures when it comes to classification. The oldest type - probably the one minted in the reign of Endybis - goes back no farther than the third century."
[5]
Wazeba, the first king to use Ethiopic on coins, ruled in the early fourth century CE. "the Aksumite kingdom issued its own gold, silver, and copper coins from the second half of the 3rd century to the middle of the 7th century."
[6]
[1]: (Kobishanov 1981, 386) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [2]: (Connah 2016, 143) Graham Connah. 2016. African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [3]: (Connah 2016, 146) Graham Connah. 2016. African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [4]: (Anfray 1981, 374) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [5]: (Anfray 1981, 375) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [6]: (Curtis 2017, 107) Matthew C Curtis. Aksum, town and monuments. Siegbert Uhlig. David L Appleyard. Steven Kaplan. Alessandro Bausi. Wolfgang Hahn. eds. 2017. Ethiopia: History, Culture and Challenges. Michigan State University Press. East Lansing. |
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"Philip II to Louis IX gradually standardized coinage into two main types, the denier of Paris, called the parisis, and that of Tours, the tournois, with a specific relationship between the two. Barons in France continued to mint coins, but the kings increasingly interferred, and in 1263 Louis IX established the principle that royal money be acceptable as legal tender throughout the kingdom."
[1]
Local mint in Provins operated since the 10th century: By 1170s CE provided the dominant currency in Eastern France and widely used as far as central Italy.
[2]
; Minted silver deniers, called provinois
[3]
; These were the coins of the Champagne Fairs
[3]
; Later the Provins mint struck royal money, the denier tournois
[4]
; Philip IV moved the royal mint from Provins to Troyes.
[4]
; Silver until Philip IV (reign 1284-1314 CE) reintroduced gold coinage.
[1]: (Hunt and Murry, 1999 46) [2]: (Spufford 2006, 146) [3]: (Spufford 2006, 149) [4]: (Spufford 2006, 148) |
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c570 CE gold coins. Solidus. coins bear name of mint, moneyer and sometimes a king, saint or church (i.e. not all royal issue). debased with silver until 660s CE when new silver denarius created.
[1]
Proportion of gold in coins fell rapidly from 630s CE. Officially replaced by silver in late seventh century. Possible "inflationary period after 700 until Charlemagne devalued the solidus," also a lack of gold.
[2]
Quentovic: Coin mint centre; 7th century gold trientes until c670 CE; 8th century silver sceattas or pennies. trading coinage. no fiscal role. high value and consistent in quality.
[3]
Dorestad
[3]
: Coin mint centre; gold trientes until c650 CE; 8th century silver sceattas or pennies. trading coinage. no fiscal role. high value and consistent in quality. In Frisia and Quentovic (Frankish port) silver sceattas. Mercantile coin.
[1]
[1]: (Wood 1994, 217-219) [2]: (Wood ed. 1998, 409) [3]: (Wood 1994, 293-297) |
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c570 CE gold coins. Solidus. coins bear name of mint, moneyer and sometimes a king, saint or church (i.e. not all royal issue). debased with silver until 660s CE when new silver denarius created.
[1]
Proportion of gold in coins fell rapidly from 630s CE. Officially replaced by silver in late seventh century.
[2]
Quentovic: Coin mint centre; 7th century gold trientes until c670 CE; 8th century silver sceattas or pennies. trading coinage. no fiscal role. high value and consistent in quality.
[3]
Dorestad [3] : Coin mint centre; gold trientes until c650 CE; 8th century silver sceattas or pennies. trading coinage. no fiscal role. high value and consistent in quality.In Frisia and Quentovic (Frankish port) silver sceattas. Mercantile coin. [1] [1]: (Wood 1994, 217-219) [2]: (Wood ed. 1998, 409) [3]: (Wood 1994, 293-297) |
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monnaie gauloise
[1]
This site does not offer clear evidence of indigenous coin production Some possible indication of 4th century coin production
[2]
, though many suggest indigenous coins in area not appear until mid-3rd c BCE
[3]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Boardman 1993, 308) Boardman, J. 1993. The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press [3]: (Wells 1999) Wells, P S. 1999. The Barbarians Speak: How The Conquered Peoples Shaped Roman Europe. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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monnaie gauloise
[1]
Coinage universal from 3rd century BCE: "the first indigenous coins in temperate Europe were minted during the third century B.C., and the designs were based on Greek prototypes."
[2]
Idea of coinage introduced by mercenaries returning from Greece.
[2]
Original usage may have been to pay mercenaries. Cheiftains were paid in gold staters or silver pieces; Design of coin decided in each locale. Magistrates had power to issue coins.
[3]
; Gold coin found - origin Mediomatrices of NW Gaul?
[4]
; Gold stater from Gaulish city of Parisii
[5]
; Oppida excavated Manching, Bavaria, 3rd-2nd centuries BCE, evidence of monetary economy. Minted gold, silver and bronze coins.
[6]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Wells 1999, 54) [3]: (Kruta 2004, 100) [4]: (Kruta 2004, 186) [5]: (Kruta 2004, 185) [6]: (Wells 1999, 30) |
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Coinage universal from 3rd century BCE: "the first indigenous coins in temperate Europe were minted during the third century B.C., and the designs were based on Greek prototypes."
[1]
; Idea of coinage introduced by mercenaries returning from Greece.
[1]
; Original usage may have been to pay mercenaries. Cheiftains were paid in gold staters or silver pieces; Design of coin decided in each locale. Magistrates had power to issue coins.
[2]
; Gold coin found - origin Mediomatrices of NW Gaul?
[3]
; Gold stater from Gaulish city of Parisii
[4]
; Oppida excavated Manching, Bavaria, 3rd-2nd centuries BCE, evidence of monetary economy. Minted gold, silver and bronze coins.
[5]
; Each oppidum minted distinctive types of coins.
[6]
Present.
[7]
[1]: (Wells 1999, 54) [2]: (Kruta 2004, 100) [3]: (Kruta 2004, 186) [4]: (Kruta 2004, 185) [5]: (Wells 1999, 30) [6]: (Wells 1999, 49-54) [7]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) |
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"The Coinage of the British Empire from the Earliest Period to the Present Time" Henry Noel Humphreys (1861). "Before the early nineteenth century the Royal Mint’s role was largely domestic. Britain’s North American colonies had gained the right to issue their own coinage ... while in South Asia the East India Company had been allowed since the late seventeeth century to ’purchase’ permission from local Indian rulers to reproduce coins that followed India as opposed to English conventions. For the Mint itself the eighteenth century was a period of relative stagnation: British silver and copper coinage was in a poor condition and was in short supply. ... The end of the Napoleonic wars, however, was followed by currency reform and in 1816-17 recoinage in Britain. In 1818 private coins were made illegal. ... The installation of Boulton’s steam-powered machinery, coupled with a French invention, the ’reducing machine’, which reproduced original coin designs by machine rather than by hand engraving, enabled for the first time the mass production of high-quality and homogenous copper coins and transformed the Mint itself into an ’industrial concern’. These changes coincided with the growth of a ’second’ British Empire and the Mint began producing more coins for overseas dependenies."
[1]
[1]: (Stockwell 2018, 45-46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge. |
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Cretan cities started minting around 470 BCE as a response to the reduced supply of new Aiginetan coinage.
[1]
Most cities, except Kydonia, Gortyn, Phaistos, Knossos and Lyttos, started their coinage by overstriking Aiginetan staters. The 5th century BCE is a period of serious political developments in the Aegean with the raise of Athenian hegemony, a power in open rivality with Aigina. The decline of the Aiginetan coinage, the only currency in circulation in Archaic Crete, and the accustom of Cretans to use coinage for their transaction led the major cities to open their mints and overstrike the foreign coins from their treasuries.
[2]
[1]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotis, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 257-59. For the cretan coins see the seminal work of Le Ride, G. 1966. Monnaies Crétoises du Ve au Ier Sicècle av. J.-C. (Études Crétoises XV), Paris. [2]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotis, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 258. |
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During the Hellenistic period, most Cretan cities started their coinage.
[1]
[2]
The outburst of coining has been explained as the result of returning mercenaries, commerce, or difficult political situation in the Aegean.
[3]
[4]
According the Stefanakis the outburst of coining indicates the change in the economic mentality of Cretans. Mercenaries and merchants who had become accustomed to money transactions while abroad might have contributed to the adoption of coinage in their home cities. Moreover, the high influx of foreign silver coins in the state treasuries led to the active participation in the monetary economy. "However, because transactions on foreign currency of different weight standards would have been difficult since an established weight standard had existed on Crete for over a century and a half, the cities found it necessary tp reming the silver in their possessions and therefore to developed their own mints and choose their own coin types."
[5]
Cretan city-states adopted a reduced Aiginetan standard which fluctuated between 6% and 12% below the Aiginetan standard of 12.20 gr.
[6]
The Cretan mints, therefore, were adjusting to a weight standard that dominated the southeastern Aegean. It is also likely that the adoption of a standard lower than that of the Aeginetan was due to the the scarcity of silver on the island. The standard weights of the Cretan coins are ±11.10 for stater, ±5.50 for drachm, ±2.75 for hemidrachm, and ±0.90 for obol.
[1]: Le Ride, G. 1966. Monnaies Crétoises du Ve au Ier Sicècle av. J.-C. (Études Crétoises XV), Paris [2]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotis, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 259-64. [3]: Kraay, C. M. 1984. "Greek coinage and war," in Heckel, W. and Sullivan, R. (eds), Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World (The Nickel Numismatic Paper), Waterloo (Ontario), 3-18 [4]: Petropoulou, A. 1985. Beiträge zur Wirtschafts- ind Gesellschaftsgeschichte Kretas in hellenistischer Zeit, Frankfurt, 61-68. [5]: Stefanakis, M. I. 1999. "The introduction of coinage in Crete and the beginning of local minting," in Chaniotis, A. (ed.), From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders. Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete, Stuttgart, 260. [6]: Garaffo, S. 1974. "Riconiazzioni e politica monetary a Creta: Le emission argentee del V al I secolo AC," in Antichita Cretesi. Studi in honore di Doro Levi, II, Catania, 59-74. |
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’The appearance of a silver Sandalwood Flower coinage in south central Java at the end of the eighth century provides the earliest indication of monetized transactions in insular Southeast Asia’.
[1]
Currency name = Masa and tahil.
[2]
[1]: (Wicks 1992, 243) Robert S. Wicks. 1992. Money, Markets, and Trade in Early Southeast Asia: The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems to AD 1400. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program. [2]: (Wicks 1992, 268) |
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|
Post-Mauryans "saw the emergence and development of local currencies throughout the Deccan. Numismatic studies have agreed that such local currencies first appeared as uninscribed cast and die-struck coins in semi-precious metals like lead and copper."
[1]
"Two aspects of the pre-Satavahan situation need to be emphasised in the development of the early historical sites in the Central Deccan... One was the particular natural of the economy which rested on the small-scale production of iron-related artefacts. The other was the substantial evidence found from sites like Kotalingala of pre-Satavahana coinage (Krishnasastry, 1983), indicating that there was a mobilization of resources at a local level, which meant that the political elite had the ability to issue their own coins. Though this is most striking in the Central Deccan because these coins are found along with the early coins of the Satavahana"
[2]
[1]: (Shimada 2012, 117) Shimada, Akira. 2012. Early Buddhist Architecture in Context: The Great Stupa at Amaravati (ca. 300 BCE-300 CE). BRILL. [2]: (Parasher-Sen 2000, 242) Parasher-Sen, Aloka. "Origins of Settlements, Culture and Civilization in the Deccan" Gupta, Harsh K. Parasher-Sen, Aloka. Balasubramanian, D. eds. 2000. Deccan Heritage. Indian National Science Academy. Universities Press (India) Limited. Hyderabad. |
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"Until today sixteen hoards of Gupta coins have been discovered in different parts of the country. All the coins, whether of gold, silver or copper, are of standard value, depict artistic taste and maintain uniformity in weight and value. [...] When Guptas came to power, they issued their own coinage while adhering to the Roman standard and Indo-Scythian types."
[1]
[1]: (Khosla 1982, 67-68) Sarla Khosla. 1982. Gupta Civilization. New Delhi: Intellectual Press. |
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The Masakas was a tiny silver coin of the Mauryan period. Coins from the Mauryan period have a lower content of precious metals, and seem to have been alloyed with copper. The Masaka has been found throughout the Mauryan empire. The ’Arthasatra’ provides an account of four denominations of silver coinage also in circulation, with a values divided from 1 pana, the 1/2 valued ardha pada, the the pada, worth 1/4, the asha bhaga worth 1/8. Finally, there was the masaka, which was seemingly worth 1/16 of a Pada.
[1]
The Maskaka silver coins. "The shape, form and weight of these punch-marked coins suggests that they are indigenous, with no foreign influence."
[2]
[1]: Rao Bandela, Prasanna Coin Splendour: A Journey Into the Past (Hyberdalad, 2000) pp. 26-31. [2]: Rao Bandela, Prasanna Coin Splendour: A Journey Into the Past (Hyberdalad, 2000) p. 25. |
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Silver based money, the rupiya introduced by Sher Shah.
[1]
Sher Shah (c.1540) issued a pure silver coin called a rupya (rupee) with a weight of 178.25 grains. He issued gold coins, which were rare, as well as a copper coin called paisa and extended the issuing of this coinage on a uniform basis from all his 15 mints. This trimetallic system became permanent when it was adopted by Akbar with minor modifications. The Mughal rupee soon became the standard for which commodity prices, rates for exchange and for loans were quoted in.
[2]
Akbar sanctioned the following daily rates of wages: ordinary labourers 2 dams, superior labourers 2-4 dams, carpenters 3-7 dams and builders 5-7 dams. The dam was a copper coin a litter over 1 tola and 8 Masas in weight and 1/40 of the value of the silver rupiya in value. The purchasing power of an Akbari Rupiya was nearly 6 Indian Rupees in 1912. (82) The lowest servants were entitled to less than two rupees monthly (e.g. 65 dams for a sweeper, 60 for a camel-driver, etc.) while the bulk of the menials and the ordinary foot-soldiers began at less than three Rupees. Even slaves were entitled to one dam daily, equivalent to three-quarters of a rupee monthly in the currency of the time. (82)
[3]
Cost of wheat equals 0.30 rupees per maund of 25.11kgs c.1595 CE in Lahore. (21, Table 3) In 1611, price of wheat in Surat (Gujarat) was 1.03 rupees per maund, rising to 6.37 in 1630 during famine. In 1631 at Broach (Gujarat) the price rose to 6.66 rupees per maund (25, Table 4). The prices of wheat in Agra were higher than Lahore by almost 20 percent. (31) Ordinary Labourer receives 1.50 rupees per month c.1595 (64) Lowest wage of a worker in the Imperial Establishment (domestic servant, peon, porter, etc) c.1613-89 in Agra was 3.00 rupee per month on average. The daily wages of an unskilled labourer more than doubled between c.1595 and 1637 from 2 dams to 6.5 paisas. In 1637 the monthly wages of unskilled labourers was 3.5 rupees. (69-70, Table 24) [4] [1]: Catherine B. Asher and Cynthia Talbot, India before Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), p.121. [2]: (455-57) Dani, A. S. and Masson, V. 2003. History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO [3]: Sircar, D. C. 2008. Studies in Indian Coins. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. [4]: Haider, N. 2004. “Prices and Wages in India (1200-1800): Source Material, Historiography and New Directions.” Towards a Global History of Prices and Wages, Utrecht: 19-21 Aug. 2004. |
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No Rashtrakuta coins have been found, but many contemporary documents describe or mention the Empire’s currency. Arab traveller Sulaiman, for example writes that the Rashtrakutas had "silver coins called Tatriya coins which were one and a half times heavier than the Arab coins"
[1]
. However, some experts take the absence of tangible coins in the archaeological record to mean that the Rashtrakutas never did issue their own currency
[2]
[1]: Jayashri Mishra, Social and Economic Conditions Under the Imperial Rashtrakutas (1992), p. 20 [2]: A.P. Madan, The History of the Rashtrakutas (1990), p. 198 |
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|
"The Sungas issued only copper coins. Their state economy was either independent of a safe currency, or was affected by a shortage of precious metals. None of the local contemporary dynasties issued a silver coinage. We get the impression that indirect commerce using a high-value currency as a means of exchange was less favored by indigenous rulers."
[1]
[1]: (Falk 2006, 153) Harry Falk. 2006. ’The Tidal Waves of Indian History: Between the Empires and Beyond’ in Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, edited by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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|
"The Vakataka period was considered to be a dark phase in Indian numismatics. But recently, Ajay Mitra Shastri has made a startling discovery of a copper coin of the Vakataka king Prithvisena (II ?)"
[1]
"It was assumed by some scholars that the Vakatakas themselves did not issue any coins, but allowed coins of other rulers to circulate in their territory. However, this assumption has been proved wrong in the light of new discoveries about Vakataka coinage"
[2]
[1]: Hackens, Tony. Moucharte, Ghislaine. Courtois, Catherine. Dewit, H. Van Diressche, Veronique. 1993. Actes du XIe Congrès international de numismatique: Monnaies byzantines, monnaies médiévales et orientales. Association Professeur Marcel Hoc pour l’encouragement des recherches numismatiques. [2]: (Sawant 2009) Reshma Sawant. 2008. ‘State Formation Process In The Vidarbha During The Vakataka Period’. Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 68-69: 137-162.< |
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|
The gold Dinar, the silver dirham, copper daniq.
[1]
There were two principle coins in circulation, the gold Dinar and the silver dirham. This was in part a legacy of the conquest of Byzantine and Sassanian territories where the two coins were the major form of currency. The ratio of exchange was twenty dirhams to the dinar. From approximately 800 CE-950 CE a copper coin called the daniqs seems to have been in circulation.
[2]
By 819 CE the coinage was increasingly being debased.
[3]
[1]: Kennedy, The Armies of the Caliphs pp 67-70. [2]: Kennedy, Hugh N.The Court of the Caliphs, p. xxv [3]: Kennedy, The Armies of the Caliphs pp 81. |
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Dinars. "Toward the end of the Abbasid reign, from 1160 to 1258, a series of poorly struck, light-weight coins were issued in Baghdad. Most of these coins were, in effect, no more than coin ingots and were not consistent with any definite monetary standard."
[1]
[1]: http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/abbasid-coins-750-1258ce |
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|
[1]
From the 1180s, Rome copied the deniers of Champagne, minting them as provisini; the grosso was introduced in the 1250s.Spufford, 69-70 There was a papal mint at Viterbo from the pontificate of Nicholas IV.
[2]
Ravenna, Bologna, and Ancona also minted coins.
[3]
[1]: (http://medievalcoins.ancients.info/Papal_State.htm) [2]: Spufford, 70 [3]: Spufford, 71-72 |
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|
"Elymais coined its own money, conducted its own public works programs, and in other was was apparently independent until about A.D. 215, when, documentary evidence suggests, the Parthian imperial government was once again in control at Susa."
[1]
"bronze Elymean coins at least for a time played a significant role in rural economies, since these coins are found on many small rural hamlets, not just at Susa and larger sites, and are found in several denominations and in issues that spanned at least several decades."
[2]
[1]: (Wenke 1981, 306) Wenke, Robert J. 1981. Elymeans, Parthians, and the Evolution of Empires in Southwestern Iran. Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 101. No. 3. Jul-Sep. American Oriental Society. pp. 303-315. http://www.jstor.org/stable/602592 [2]: (Wenke 1981, 314) Wenke, Robert J. 1981. Elymeans, Parthians, and the Evolution of Empires in Southwestern Iran. Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 101. No. 3. Jul-Sep. American Oriental Society. pp. 303-315. http://www.jstor.org/stable/602592 |
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|
Dinars.
[1]
Ghazan the Reformer reformed the coinage.
[2]
"the gold and silver coins and the measures (kila, gas) were standardised according to the standards of Tabriz".
[3]
[1]: Morgan, David. The Mongols. 2nd ed. The Peoples of Europe. Malden, MA ; Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, P.147. [2]: (Morgan 2015, 75) Morgan, David. 2015. Medieval Persia 1040-1797. Routledge. [3]: (Houtsma et al. 1993, 586) Houtsma, M Th. Wensinck, A J. Gibb, H A R. Heffening, W. Levi-Provencal, E. 1993. First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936. E.J. Brill. Leiden. |
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e.g the drachm issued by Parthian mints.
[1]
Many coins have been found that were produced in the Parthian Empire and they are an important source in their own right. Gold and silver coins have been found from the Oxus treasury.
[2]
"The earliest coins are those of Arsaces I (c. 238-211 BCE) and Arsaces II (c. 211-191 BCE) which were perhaps minted at Mithradatkirt or Nisa, now in the Republic of Turkmenistan."
[3]
In the most economically advanced regions (e.g. Mesopotamia, Susiana, Margiana) a "vast quantity of small bronze coins" were minted.
[4]
[1]: David Sellwood, ‘Parthian Coins’, in Ehsan Yar-Shater (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Part 1, Vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 279-98. [2]: A.D.H. Bivar, ‘The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids’, in Ehsan Yar-Shater (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Part 1, Vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p.29. [3]: (Curtis 2007) Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. [4]: (Koshelenko and Pilipko 1994, 135) Koshelenko, G. A. Pilipko, V. N. Parthia. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizatins 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing. |
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|
e.g the drachm issued by Parthian mints.
[1]
Many coins have been found that were produced in the Parthian Empire and they are an important source in their own right. Gold and silver coins have been found from the Oxus treasury.
[2]
"The earliest coins are those of Arsaces I (c. 238-211 BCE) and Arsaces II (c. 211-191 BCE) which were perhaps minted at Mithradatkirt or Nisa, now in the Republic of Turkmenistan."
[3]
In the most economically advanced regions (e.g. Mesopotamia, Susiana, Margiana) a "vast quantity of small bronze coins" were minted.
[4]
[1]: David Sellwood, ‘Parthian Coins’, in Ehsan Yar-Shater (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Part 1, Vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 279-98. [2]: A.D.H. Bivar, ‘The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids’, in Ehsan Yar-Shater (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Part 1, Vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p.29. [3]: (Curtis 2007) Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. [4]: (Koshelenko and Pilipko 1994, 135) Koshelenko, G. A. Pilipko, V. N. Parthia. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizatins 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing. |
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The Safavids minted silver tangas, as well as tumans and dınars. Copper coins were also minted for small dominations.
[1]
When Esmāʿil became shah he had coins "struck in his name".
[2]
To begin with, the basic coins the Safavids minted were silver tangas, as well as tumans and dınars. The range of coins minted expanded over the late 17th century. There were money testers to insure quality control of coin weights and purity. Copper coins were also minted for small dominations, and "From the available evidence it has been surmised that each Iranian city had its own copper mint" although these coins were only used within regions.
[1]
When Esmāʿil became shah he had coins "struck in his name".
[2]
Credit was obtained through Indian merchants trading in Persia. "Whether owing to their exemption from Islamic restrictions on any open practice of usury or to their expertise in money-changing, the Indian banyas (traders and bankers by caste) became fairly numerous in Persia, becoming closely associated with the mints. Credit was also greatly influenced by the multitude of Indian usurers (in Isfahan alone there were over 10,000 banyas in the seventeenth century)."
[1]
[1]: Moosvi, S. “THE MONETARY SYSTEM IN SAFAVID PERSIA.” In History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. V The Sixteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Centuries, edited by Chahryar Adle and Irfan Habib, Paris: Unesco, 1992, p.455 [2]: Rudi Matthee ‘SAFAVID DYNASTY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids. |
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Late fourth century adopted coinage on Greek model.
[1]
"Around 272 Aurelian attempted a currency reform. In place of the defunct sestertius, he issued a XXI billon (very debased silver) coinage as small change (a reformed antoninianus). ... They were made of copper washed in silver and contained about 5 percent silver."
[2]
Rome produced its first coin about 281 BCE, a Greek-style silver didrachma, minted in Neapolis (and twelve years later coins were minted in Rome.) Prior to end of Second Punic War (end 201 BCE) many coins were produced by communities other than Rome. Monetary and economic unity from Rome was achieved by the early 1st century BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Crawford 1988, 32-33) Crawford, Michael. Early Rome and Italy. Boardman, John. Griffin, Jasper. Murray, Oswald. eds. 1988. The Oxford History of the Roman World. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Adkins and Adkins 1994, 307) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Crawford 2001, 32, 42) |
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Coinage from Ardashir I.
[1]
"Striking coins was always a royal prerogative, and during the entire Sasanian history the typology employed is the same over the entire empire, proving that the mints always were under control of the royal central authorities."
[2]
"Sasanan coinage of silver and copper, more rarely of gold, circulated over a wide area".
[3]
Drachms (fine silver), half-drachms, obols, half-obols, tetradrachms ("poor silver alloy")
[4]
Khusrau II, later Sassanid period, was the last ruler to issue gold coins.
[4]
[1]: (Daryaee 2009, 2-20) Daryaee, Touraj. 2009. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B. Tauris. London. [3]: (Chegini 1996, 48) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [4]: (Chegini 1996, 49) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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|
[1]
[2]
Standardized coins and weights. Gold denar, silver drachm, one sixth silver dang, copper pasiz.
[1]
"Striking coins was always a royal prerogative, and during the entire Sasanian history the typology employed is the same over the entire empire, proving that the mints always were under control of the royal central authorities."
[3]
"Sasanan coinage of silver and copper, more rarely of gold, circulated over a wide area".
[4]
Drachms (fine silver), half-drachms, obols, half-obols, tetradrachms ("poor silver alloy")
[5]
Khusrau II, later Sassanid period, was the last ruler to issue gold coins.
[5]
[1]: (Daryaee 2009, 144) Daryaee, Touraj. 2009. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B. Tauris. London. [4]: (Chegini 1996, 48) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [5]: (Chegini 1996, 49) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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|
Silver coins (’tetradrachms’) were introduced by the Seleucid kings after Seleucus I in order to increase the royal revenue. The kings needed money to pay mercenary soldiers and cover military expenses to defend the kingdom. Gold coins were also used as a higher denomination of money, after the ‘Alexanders’ which were in use during the reign of Alexander.
[1]
[1]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Financial Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p31-2, p64 |
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|
"...individual areas used whatever type of coinage precedent, convenience and local circumstances dictated: Byzantine coins in Syria, Fatimid ones in Baghdad, the old Nishapuri dinar in Khurasan, and so on."
[1]
"The gold dinars issued at Nishapur, Merv, and other Central Asian mints became standard instruments of trade across Eurasia, staving off for a time the rising inflation that was later to be reflected in the issuance of degraded silver coinage."
[2]
Silver coins minted, "of a fineness superior to other Muslim coinages in the Levant".
[3]
“In the earliest period following the establishment of the Turks the only money was what the occupiers found, which must have been fairly abundant, being on the one hand accumulated by them as tribute or booty, or on the other hidden when possible by the indigenous people... “The first mintings appear only under the Danismendid Gumustekin Gazi and probably a little later under the Seljukid Sultan Masud I. Until the middle of the century at least they are solely of copper, that is to say, intended only for local trade. Silver was to appear under Kilic Arslan II, gold only in the thirteenth century.”
[4]
[1]: (Peacock 2015, 8) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh. [2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [3]: Meyers, Eric M., ed., ‘Anatolia in the Islamic Period’, The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) [4]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.97 |
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|
"the Ostrogothic kings, like Odovacar before them, never questioned the basic structure of the Roman monetary system. ... They took for granted the imperial perogative to control the striking of gold, for which Goth and Roman alike secured and guaranteed the psychological acceptance of the entire coinage. Silver and bronze coins were subspecies used for regular exchange, and their symbolism varied substantially, especially on the Ostrogothic bronze issues, without ever affecting the monetary structure as a whole." Theodoric also introduced "several new series in bronze" and fixed the rate of exchange between the metals.
[1]
[1]: (Burns 1991, 70) |
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|
Rome produced its first coin about 281 BCE, a Greek-style silver didrachma, minted in Neapolis (and twelve years later coins were minted in Rome.) Prior to end of Second Punic War (end 201 BCE) many coins were produced by communities other than Rome. Monetary and economic unity from Rome was achieved by the early 1st century BCE.
[1]
Roman coins included the silver denarius, silver Sestertius and gold aureus.
[2]
Further reading: "Money in the Late Roman Republic."
[3]
[1]: (Crawford 2001, 32, 42) [3]: (Hollander 2007, 80-81) |
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|
Rome produced its first coin about 281 BCE, a Greek-style silver didrachma, minted in Neapolis (and twelve years later coins were minted in Rome.) Prior to end of Second Punic War (end 201 BCE) many coins were produced by communities other than Rome. Monetary and economic unity from Rome was achieved by the early 1st century BCE.
[1]
[1]: (Crawford 2001, 32, 42) |
||||||
|
Rome produced its first coin about 281 BCE, a Greek-style silver didrachma, minted in Neapolis (and twelve years later coins were minted in Rome.) Prior to end of Second Punic War (end 201 BCE) many coins were produced by communities other than Rome. Monetary and economic unity from Rome was achieved by the early 1st century BCE.
[1]
Roman coins included the silver denarius, silver Sestertius and gold aureus.
[2]
[1]: (Crawford 2001, 32, 42) |
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|
The first minting occurred in 708 CE with silver and copper coins.
[1]
. "By the late seventh century, a few silver coins were issued, but they did not have a large circulation." The minting of 708 CE was modeled on the Tang currency.
[2]
"Copper cash was known as Wado-kaichin, and four were the equivalent of a silver coin."
[2]
Gold coins minted in 760 CE, one gold coin worth 100 copper mon.
[2]
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 435. [2]: (Higham 2009, 84) Higham, Charles. 2009. Encylopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing. |
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|
’...the twelve imperial coins (kocho junisen) of Nara times, and from late Heian’
[1]
’In the quest for recognition as a civilized society by the seemingly advanced countries of the adjacent continent, Japanese leaders followed the example of Korea and China in minting the government’s own coinage, despite the apparent absence of a vigorous domestic commerce in need of money currency. The leaders also probably hoped thereby not only to encourage and facilitate such commerce as existed, but perhaps as well to reap the profits that currency manipulation made possible. The first minting was the well-known Wado kaiho coin of 708, which was produced just seven years after the adoption of theTaiho code of 701. Eleven new coins followed in the next two and a half centuries (until 958), eight of them during the Heian years. Minting at various places but mainly in copperproducing regions like Suo and Nagato, they were mostly made of brass, but some were silver, and there was one gold coin, the Kaiki shoho coin of 760.’
[2]
’The government seems to have tried to regain control of the currency by its frequent minting of new coins, and also by reducing the disparity between the legal value of the coinage and its actual metallic worth. But despite all efforts, the coins fell rapidly out of use after the last minting in 958, replaced in the late Heian period by imports of Chinese coins, especially the copper coins of Northern Sung.’
[2]
[1]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.408 [2]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.164 |
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[1]
The first Umayyad coins were imitations of Roman and Sasanid coins. In the reign of Abd Malik, a distinctly Islamic coin was issued with Arabic script and a uniform size and shape.
[2]
There were two principle coinages in circulation, the gold Dinar and the silver dirham. This was in part a legacy of the conquest of Byzantine and Sasanid territories where the two coins were the major form of currency.
[1]: (Kennedy ????, 67-70) [2]: (Sayles 2009, 132) |
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The first minting occurred in 708 CE with silver and copper coins.
[1]
. "By the late seventh century, a few silver coins were issued, but they did not have a large circulation." The minting of 708 CE was modeled on the Tang currency.
[2]
"Copper cash was known as Wado-kaichin, and four were the equivalent of a silver coin."
[2]
Gold coins minted in 760 CE, one gold coin worth 100 copper mon.
[2]
"In 765, further minting of copper coins only was instituted at Nara."
[2]
"...the twelve imperial coins (kocho junisen) of Nara times, and from late Heian’
[3]
’In the quest for recognition as a civilized society by the seemingly advanced countries of the adjacent continent, Japanese leaders followed the example of Korea and China in minting the government’s own coinage, despite the apparent absence of a vigorous domestic commerce in need of money currency. The leaders also probably hoped thereby not only to encourage and facilitate such commerce as existed, but perhaps as well to reap the profits that currency manipulation made possible. The first minting was the well-known Wado kaiho coin of 708, which was produced just seven years after the adoption of theTaiho code of 701. Eleven new coins followed in the next two and a half centuries (until 958), eight of them during the Heian years. Minting at various places but mainly in copper producing regions like Suo and Nagato, they were mostly made of brass, but some were silver, and there was one gold coin, the Kaiki shoho coin of 760."
[4]
[1]: Brown, D., 1993.The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 2.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 435. [2]: (Higham 2009, 84) Higham, Charles. 2009. Encylopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing. [3]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.408 [4]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.164 |
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"As the assessment of the land was expressed in cash terms it was first as hard cash that taxes were collected, until technical difficulties obliged the Hōjō to change the system. Being unable to mint sufficient coins within the domain, and being equally unable to control the entry of debased coinage into the domain, conversion standards were introduced to express the tax in terms of rice, lacquer or cotton."
[1]
[1]: (Turnbull 2008) |
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‘in the Tokugawa period (1600-1867), a nationally independent monetary system was created, as the shogunal government (Bakufu) issued its own bronze, silver, and gold coinages. Up to the 1770s, the Tokugawa coinage system functioned as a triple monetary standard. Each of the metallic coinages had its own system of denominations, despite Bakufu efforts to fix rates between them, the gold, silver, and copper coinages in effect floated against each other in the exchange markets.’
[1]
[1]: Metzler, Mark. 2006. Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan. Volume 17 of Twentieth Century Japan: The Emergence of a World Power. University of California Press.p.15 |
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"The dirhams struck with the name and title of Ibrahim Tamghach Khan were known as mu’ayyadi. They were made of low-grade silver, but the addition of copper was not a fraud carried out in secret. The population knew the official standard of purity of the mu’ayyadi dirhams; their value, which tallied with that standard, fluctuated slightly and was fixed in terms of pure gold. Greater purchasing power was attached to the Bukhar Khudat dirhams, which were struck on the model of the Sasanian coinage"
[1]
[1]: (Davidovich 1997, 136) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO. |
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’The 1st to 5th century site of Oc Eo on Vietnam’s coast, then on the east-west maritime trade route, has produced, among other artefacts, a Vishnuite silver coin and a Roman gold medallion (Malleret 1959-62; Coe 2003; 66-67), but there is no evidence that Funan minted its own coinage (Sahai 1971: 94; Wicks 1992: 186). Indeed, the Chinese reported that taxes in Funan were paid in gold, silver, pearls and perfumes (Pelliot 1903: 252).’
[1]
’Strong evidence against the importance of trade or markets is the absence of money in post-6th-century Cambodia in contrast to Funan which had coinage’ [2] ’Neither is there reference to coinage, although precious metals are mentioned as objects of exchanges among donors and temples. The lack of coinage seems confirmed by the inability of archaeologists or architects excavating and restoring temples to discover any coins which may be dated between the end of the Funan and the post-Angkor period.’ [3] ’Barter was the normal market exchange mechanism. After the Angkor period, gold coins marked with symbols made their appearance, but until then gold or silver ingots with measured weights functioned as currency (the earliest evidence of the use of bullion in exchange dates from the period of the "Fu-nan").’ [4] ’Coinages were arguably introduced into Southeast Asia to expand the economies of early Indianised polities, including Funan, and to enhance the status of rulers. The absence of coins in later polities, such as Pagan and Angkor, is attributed to the redistribution of surplus wealth through the temples and monasteries, rather than the royal courts (Gutman 1978: 8-10)’ [5] ’But certain Indian traits, such as the minting and use of coinage, never took: the Khmer realm essentially remained a barter economy until the arrival of the French in the nineteenth century.’ [6] [1]: (Lustig 2009, p. 82) [2]: (Vickery 1998, p. 314) [3]: (Vickery 1998, p. 275) [4]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.176) [5]: (Lustig 2009, p. 95) [6]: (Coe 2003, p. 63) |
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According to a seventeenth-century Dutch source, "The Siamese money is made of very fine silver, has the proper weight, is cast in round shape and is minted with the king’s seal. The common people are very curious about such seals, so that one has great trouble in paying it out, for out of ten pieces they sometimes do not want to take a single one, not because the silver alloy is not good, but because the seal of the king is not according to the rule. There are three kinds of coins, namely ticals, maas, and foeanghs, which in Netherlands money are worth 30, 7 1/2, and 3 3/4 stuiver. Usually the Siamese make their accounts in catties of silver, each of which is worth 20 tayls of 6 guilders, or 48 reals of 50 stuiver each. Each tayl is worth 4 ticals, each tical 4 maas or 8 foeangs. Only these coins are used in trade and for payment."
[1]
[1]: (Van Ravenswaay 1910, pp. 95-96) |
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"Phoenicians developed minting of coinage relatively late, at least later than the Lydians and the Greeks. Sometime in the middle of the fifth century BCE, four cities abandoned the use of weights as monetary units and started minting coinage: Byblos (ca. 460 BCE), Tyre (ca. 450 BCE), Sidon (ca. 440 BCE), and Arwad (ca. 430 BCE)."
[1]
[1]: Jigoulov (2016:73), cf. Altmann (2016:137). |
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|
"no trace of a die or mint has been found south of the desert."
[1]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[2]
Currency included blocks of salt of different sizes.
[2]
According to Leo Africanus cowries used as currency for trading came from the Indian Ocean, via Persia.
[3]
According to al Bakri (11th century) ’The dinars they used were of pure gold and were called sola [bald] because they bore no imprints.’ ... Thus these documents allow us to be sure of the use in Black Africa of imprinted gold coins, without, however, being able to know whether such imprints were effiges of local emperors or kings, or to know whether there was any generalized imperial currency minited apart from the mitkal standard."
[4]
[1]: (Devisse 1988, 387) Devisse, J "Trade and Trade Routes in West Africa" in El Fasi, M and Hrbek, I. eds. 1988. General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Heinemann. California.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184282eo.pdf [2]: (Diop 1987, 133) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [3]: (Diop 1987, 134) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [4]: (Diop 1987, 135) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
"no trace of a die or mint has been found south of the desert."
[1]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[2]
Currency included blocks of salt of different sizes.
[2]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[2]
According to Leo Africanus cowries used as currency for trading came from the Indian Ocean, via Persia.
[3]
According to al Bakri (11th century) ’The dinars they used were of pure gold and were called sola [bald] because they bore no imprints.’ ... Thus these documents allow us to be sure of the use in Black Africa of imprinted gold coins, without, however, being able to know whether such imprints were effiges of local emperors or kings, or to know whether there was any generalized imperial currency minited apart from the mitkal standard."
[4]
[1]: (Devisse 1988, 387) Devisse, J "Trade and Trade Routes in West Africa" in El Fasi, M and Hrbek, I. eds. 1988. General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Heinemann. California.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184282eo.pdf [2]: (Diop 1987, 133) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [3]: (Diop 1987, 134) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [4]: (Diop 1987, 135) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
Surprisingly the state probably did not mint coins: ’no trace of a die or mint has been found south of the desert.’
[1]
There were coins of gold, but they were not minted.
[2]
There were also rings of iron that were used to purchase cheap items.
[3]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[4]
According to Leo Africanus cowries used as currency for trading came from the Indian Ocean, via Persia.
[5]
According to al Bakri (11th century) ’The dinars they used were of pure gold and were called sola [bald] because they bore no imprints.’ ... Thus these documents allow us to be sure of the use in Black Africa of imprinted gold coins, without, however, being able to know whether such imprints were effiges of local emperors or kings, or to know whether there was any generalized imperial currency minited apart from the mitkal standard."
[6]
[1]: (Devisse 1988, 387) Devisse, J "Trade and Trade Routes in West Africa" in El Fasi, M and Hrbek, I. eds. 1988. General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Heinemann. California.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184282eo.pdf [2]: (Niane 1975, 176) [3]: (Niane 1975, 177) [4]: (Diop 1987, 133) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [5]: (Diop 1987, 134) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [6]: (Diop 1987, 135) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
[1]
"The Khitan had made copper cash even before the time of A-pao-chi, and sometime in T’ai-tsung’s reign (927—47) an official was appointed to control the minting of cash and iron production. Shih Ching-t’ang, founder of the puppet Chin regime (936-46) and a loyal vassal of the Khitan, had supplied large amounts of copper cash to help the Liao economy. But during Shih-tsung’s reign, the Sung captive Hu Chiao reported that silk, rather than cash, was the main form of currency even at the capital."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2015, personal communication) [2]: (Twitchett, D.C. and K. Tietze. 1994. The Liao. In Franke, H. and D.C. Twitchett (eds) The Cambridge History of China Volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368 pp. 43-153. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 96) |
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|
Gold not used for coinage: "no trace of a die or mint has been found south of the desert."
[1]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[2]
According to Leo Africanus cowries used as currency for trading came from the Indian Ocean, via Persia.
[3]
According to al Bakri (11th century) ’The dinars they used were of pure gold and were called sola [bald] because they bore no imprints.’ ... Thus these documents allow us to be sure of the use in Black Africa of imprinted gold coins, without, however, being able to know whether such imprints were effiges of local emperors or kings, or to know whether there was any generalized imperial currency minited apart from the mitkal standard."
[4]
According to al Bakri (11th century) square textile currency called chigguiya used at Silla.
[5]
Other currencies copper rings, and a cereal called dora.
[5]
[1]: (Devisse 1988, 387) Devisse, J "Trade and Trade Routes in West Africa" in El Fasi, M and Hrbek, I. eds. 1988. General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Heinemann. California.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184282eo.pdf [2]: (Diop 1987, 133) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [3]: (Diop 1987, 134) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [4]: (Diop 1987, 135) [5]: (Diop 1987, 135) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
Gold not used for coinage: "no trace of a die or mint has been found south of the desert."
[1]
Currency "consisted of salt, cowries, or gold in either dust or pieces (of foreign or local mintage)."
[2]
According to Leo Africanus cowries used as currency for trading came from the Indian Ocean, via Persia.
[3]
According to al Bakri (11th century) ’The dinars they used were of pure gold and were called sola [bald] because they bore no imprints.’ ... Thus these documents allow us to be sure of the use in Black Africa of imprinted gold coins, without, however, being able to know whether such imprints were effiges of local emperors or kings, or to know whether there was any generalized imperial currency minited apart from the mitkal standard."
[4]
[1]: (Devisse 1988, 387) Devisse, J "Trade and Trade Routes in West Africa" in El Fasi, M and Hrbek, I. eds. 1988. General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Heinemann. California.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184282eo.pdf [2]: (Diop 1987, 133) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [3]: (Diop 1987, 134) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [4]: (Diop 1987, 135) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
"Kebek Khan (who succeeded his brother and ruled from 1318 to 1326) holds a special place in the history of the Chaghatay ulus. For example, his name is linked to the currency and administrative reforms which played an important role in the development of feudal statehood in Central Asia. [...] As for the monetary reforms, the systems of Il Khanid Iran and the Golden Horde were utilized as models. The weight of 1 kebek dinar was 2 mithqa ̄ls and 1 kebek dirham was equal to 1/3 of a mitbqa ̄l. The administrative and currency reforms of Kebek Khan were only superficial, however, and internal problems remained. The new monetary unit became known as kebek, a term that survives in the Russian word kopek."
[1]
[1]: (Akhmedov and Sinor 1998, 269) |
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"The documentary (wasiqa and waqfnama) descriptions of tangas can be divided into two groups. Nine wasiqas from the reigns of the Janid khans Wali Muhammad (1605-11), Imam Quli (1611-41), Nadr Muhammad (1641-5) and cAbdu’l cAz ̄ız (1645-80) dating from 1606 to the last quarter of the seventeenth century refer to the tanga as equal to 30 copper dinars. In other words, the tanga exchange rate was equal to that of the ‘new’ tanga of the last of the Shaybanids. The words ‘new’ and ‘pure’ crop up only rarely in the descriptions, however. It is interesting that the mints had stopped issuing copper dinars by that stage (they had turned into units of account). As units of account these were not subject to the exchange-rate fluctuations of real copper coins, and so were a more stable peg against which to fix the exchange rate for silver coins."
[1]
[1]: (Davidovich 2003, 443) |
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"Samanid culture rested on solid monetary policy, as reflected in its gold dinars ... and silver dirhams, which served as a reserve currency from India to Scandinavia" and "... at the bazaar level, either a more debased coin of the same size or small coins of bronze."
[1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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“In the sixth century the minting of coins with the image of an archer, which had continued for many centuries, ceased; this marked the end of the stage of ‘Barbarian imitations’ and the beginning of a new stage in the development of trading and monetary relations."
[1]
"The new stage in the development of trading and monetary relations was associated with the wide circulation in Sogdiana of a cast bronze coin with a square hole in the middle (Fig. 3).15 The coins of Samarkand, Panjikent, Paikent and certain other centres are well known."
[2]
"The Sogdian coins were simple tokens of account issued by city-states with feeble political power and were intended solely for economic exchange in Sogdiana, in contrast to the Sassanid coins, which were instruments of dynastic prestige whose value remained more or less accurate over the long term."
[3]
[1]: (Marshak 1996, 238) [2]: (Marshak 1996, 243) [3]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 173) |
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|
Few gold, mostly silver (tanka), copper (dangi) in Transoxania.
[1]
"The unit of account throughout the Timurid period was the dinar kebeki (kebeki dinar) ... The physical coin, the tanka, was valued against the kebeki dinar."
[1]
[1]: (Album 2001, xiv) Album, Stephen. 2001. Iran After the Mongol Invasion, Volume 10. Ashmolean Museum. |
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"Himyarite kings minted coins bearing their images".
[1]
Silver coins.
[2]
Coins in South Arabia at least from 200 BCE.
[3]
"In south Arabia the earliest coins (fourth/third century BC) are imitations of Athenian tetradrachms".
[4]
Referring to Aksum’s period of rule in South Arabia, Kobishanov says "coins did not exist in vassal states such as Himyar or ’Alva.
[5]
[1]: (Friedman 2006, 106) Saul S. Friedman. 2006. A History of the Middle East. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson. [2]: (Hitti 2002, 56) Philip K Hitti. 2002 (1937). History of the Arabs. 10th Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke. [3]: (Hitti 2002, 568 Philip K Hitti. 2002 (1937). History of the Arabs. 10th Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke. [4]: (Hoyland 2001, 194) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. [5]: (Kobishanov 1981, 386) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. |
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|
"Himyarite kings minted coins bearing their images".
[1]
Silver coins.
[2]
Coins in South Arabia at least from 200 BCE.
[3]
"In south Arabia the earliest coins (fourth/third century BC) are imitations of Athenian tetradrachms".
[4]
[1]: (Friedman 2006, 106) Saul S. Friedman. 2006. A History of the Middle East. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson. [2]: (Hitti 2002, 56) Philip K Hitti. 2002 (1937). History of the Arabs. 10th Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke. [3]: (Hitti 2002, 568 Philip K Hitti. 2002 (1937). History of the Arabs. 10th Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke. [4]: (Hoyland 2001, 194) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. |
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‘The currency system of the Yemen during the Tahirid period was silver based as it had been under the Rasulids.’
[1]
mint present for producing coins
[2]
[1]: Porter, Venetia Ann (1992) The history and monuments of the Tahirid dynasty of the Yemen 858-923/1454-1517, Durham theses, Durham University, p. 153, Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5867/ [2]: Porter, Venetia Ann (1992) The history and monuments of the Tahirid dynasty of the Yemen 858-923/1454-1517, Durham theses, Durham University, p. 166, Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5867/ |
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|
"Whether specimens of the 438 Rayy issue could have reached the Yemen by the following year, there to serve as models for the Najahid coinage, seems to me highly questionable, although there is evidence, architectural and epigraphic, to support the theory of a strong cultural link between Iran and the Yemen in the 11th century a.d."
[1]
[1]: (? 1990, 190) Nicholas M Lowick. Joe Cribb. ed. 1990. Coinage and History of the Islamic World. Variorum Reprints. |
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Daric.
[1]
Darius I was probably the first Achaemenid king to mint coins. Created a single currency monetary system. Standard coin was the gold Daric which was maintained at 97% purity. 3,000 darics made one talent. Silver coins were called shekels and were at least 90% pure. Twenty shekels to one daric, for a 40:3 silver-gold ratio. The currency system was maintained from 515 BCE until 330 BCE. The reluctance of the Persian kings to release their treasure to be minted hampered the empire’s economy.
[2]
Royal coinage encouraged trade. Before Darius trade was in barter or Lydian gold coins. Satraps could coin money but only King of Kings could coin in gold. Coin potraits first appeared in Persia.
[3]
[1]: (Farazmand 2002) [3]: (Shahbazi 2012, 133) Shahbazi, A Shapour. The Archaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. |
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" The chronic shortages of silver coins in Freetown then provided a very early opportunity for the directors of the Sierra Leone Company to commission their own new currency for the settlement. They argued in a despatch to the superintendent and Council for the Settlement (circa 1791) that the community required a more ‘exact’ and ‘portable’ medium of value that would contribute to increasing commercial transactions and improve the circulation of goods. Thedirectors recognised the powerful potential of territorial currencies in claiming that introducing a Sierra Leone Company money medium would help to promote their views of ‘commerce, cultivation and civilisation’. The specific designs on the coins (see below) were intended to spread their moral messages more widely as they circulated. In 1792 the Soho Mint of Birmingham received an order for one-dollar silver pieces and one-penny copper pieces. Eight hundred dollar pieces and 200,000 one-penny pieces were coined. The amount of one-penny pieces commissioned was ambitious though, considering that the colony’s population numbered just under 2,000 inhabitants and that the coins’ value was too high to be used in local market transactions. Within two months of the coins’ arrival in Freetown in 1793 a new order was placed for a token coinage of one dollar (100 cents), half a dollar (50 cents), 20 cents, tencent and one-cent pieces."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 200) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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“One of the most notable features in the economic history of the period extending from the ninth century to the end of the Polonnaruva kingdom was the expansion of trade within the country. The date available at is present is too meagre for an analysis of the development of this trade, or indeed for a detailed description of its special characteristics, but there is evidence of the emergence of merchant ‘corporations’, the growth of market towns linked by well-known trade routes, and the development of a local, that is to say, regional coinage.”
[1]
[1]: (De Silva 1981, 71-72) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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|
"The country inherited the monetary system from the Burgundy–Habsburg administration in the Low Countries. The national parliament attempted to regulate the money circulation by supervising the minting of coins, by deciding which foreign coins were admitted in the country and by setting the rate at which the coins would circulate."
[1]
[1]: (Wolters 2008: 39) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/UT69DCSD/collection. |
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“Purchases of land, slaves, and major commodities were made using a single or combination of currencies such as kola nuts, stamped gold coins (mithqal), and cowry shells. The mithqal was made from gold imported from Bonduku (in present-day Ivory Coast) and minted. It was used extensively along trade routes between central Nigerian kingdoms and the Hausa Kingdoms.”
[1]
[1]: Falola, Toyin, and Ann Genova. Historical Dictionary of Nigeria. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009: 90. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/search/dictionary/titleCreatorYear/items/SJAIVKDW/item-list |
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|
Copper currency: “In Bornu, where cowries were introduced as an act of state in the middle of the nineteenth century, the counting system is unique, having some affinities with both the northern and the southern systems. Apparently it derived, in part, from a pre-existing system of counting copper coinage. Bornu cowries were counted in groups of four, and in so-called ’rotl’ (pounds) of 32 cowries. The Ibo, on the lower Niger, also had a unique system of counting cowries, with a basic unit of six cowries which is not found elsewhere.”
[1]
“In Bornu, where cowries were introduced in the middle of the nineteenth century along with the Maria Theresa dollar, a different system of counting was in use. The unit of count was the rotl, an Arabic word meaning a pound weight; this unit is believed to have belonged to the copper coinage which was minted in Bornu in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. […] The actual counting of cowries in Bornu was done in groups of four, not in fives as elsewhere in northern West Africa; it is probable that this method of counting goes back to the small copper coins of Bornu.”
[2]
[1]: Johnson, M. (1970). The Cowrie Currencies of West Africa. Part I. The Journal of African History, 11(1), 17–49: 37. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/XZMB8INB/collection [2]: Johnson, M. (1970). The Cowrie Currencies of West Africa. Part I. The Journal of African History, 11(1), 17–49: 42. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/XZMB8INB/collection |
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“Coins current in the Chola territory during this period have been discovered at Kaveripattinam. They are big sized square copper coins with the Chola emblem of tiger on one side and an elephant on the other.”
[1]
[1]: (Raman 1976, 55) Raman, K.V. 1976. ‘Archaeology of the Sangam Age’. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Vol 37. Pp 50-56. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/M3ZPI56I/collection |
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|
“With a payment of 700,000 rupees Pratap Singh was able to make the Nawab lift the siege.”
[1]
[1]: (Lieban 2018, 57) Lieban, Heike. 2018. Cultural Encounters in India: The Local Co-workers of Tranquebar Mission, 18th to 19th Centuries. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/32CRNR7U/collection |
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“Most people bartered for goods although government-issued coins circulated in the later Pallava period. Merchants exported goods such as spices, cotton cloth and clothing, and gemstones to other Asian countries.”
[1]
[1]: (Bush Trevino 2012, 46) Bush Travino, Macella. 2012. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Vol.4 Edited by Carolyn M. Elliot. Los Angeles: Sage. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4RPCX448/collection |
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“The Kalabhras who ruled in the far South including Kerala and South Mysore, minted and circulated a large quantity of copper coins from about 250 A.D. to the middle of the sixth century A.D. On early issues of the tribe we have the figures of tiger, elephant, horse and the fish. In rare specimens a seated Jain Muni or a swastika sign or the short sword or the symbol of Manjusri are seen. The Prakrit inscription on the other side of the coin in Brahmi script reads invariably Acuvikanta Kalabhra.”
[1]
[1]: (Gupta 1989, 23) Gupta, Parmanand. 1989. Geography from Ancient Indian Coins and Seals. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/5Z4TFP7P/collection |
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“In this period, generally four kinds of incomes are referred to Dharmasanam, the income from charities was the first kind. Manorarthy was the second, which implied the tax on land. Karaithurai was the third one. Which means the contract money for using the ports by the foreign trading companies. The English Factory records inform that Ragunatha Nayak demanded seven thousand Rial as Karaithurai from the British. Five thousand Chakkarams were collected for Nagai [Nagaputtinam] port from the Dutch. The fourth one was ‘Sungam’ or tolls which was levied on merchandise imported into or exported from local places. Ragunathan Nayak collected eighteen thousand madai (a kind of money) as a toll tax.”
[1]
[1]: (Chinnaiyan 2005-2006, 457) Chinnaiyan, S. 2005-2006. ‘Tax Structure in Tanjore Kingdom under the Nayaks and Marathas (A.D. 1532- 1799)’ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Vol. 66. Pp 456-459. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/8WJRSDG6/collection |
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“Between 1659-1660 and 1689-1690, silver bullion was sold by the Dutch at their local factories from prices ranging from 83.25 and 94 Madurai fanams per mark (1 mark = ca. 243.5 grams), while gold bullion fetched 1, 200 to 1, 330 fanams per mark. The so-called Dutch negotiepenningen or ‘commercial coins’ such as silver leeuwendaalders, rijksdaalders, bankdaalders, and ducatons were sold for 8.62 fanams (leeuwendaalders) to 11.5-11.75 fanams (ducatons).”
[1]
[1]: (Vink 2015, 180) Vink, Markus. 2015. Encounters on the Opposite Coast: The Dutch East India Company and the Nayaka State of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/9U7MCK4E/collection |
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Umumu (minted iron money) may have been used. “It would appear that by the eighteenth century much of the commercial transactions in Igboland were done in money. Using information gathered in the nineteenth century and early this century, one would discover that many currencies were used in pre-colonial Igboland. These included salt, umumu, cowries, manillas, brass rods and copper wires. […] information available to the present writer would tend to show that as much as one or two currencies might be dominant in one part, there was no area of Igboland where any of them would not have been recognized and used as money.”
[1]
[1]: Afigbo, A. E. (1981). Economic Foundations of Pre-Colonial Igbo Society. In Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo History and Culture (pp. 124–144). University Press in association with Oxford University Press; 139. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5I5XITDA/collection |
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The following quote discusses weight measurements of gold coins during the Sangam period in Tamil Nadu suggesting that indigenous coins were likely present. “Kanam was a measure of gold (coin?), very small in size. Pons referred to perhaps the same measure as kanam.”
[1]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 355) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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The following quote states that the Funj Sultanate created their own imperial mint in the eighteenth century. “While Funj still knew no (official) coins or currencies in the early seventeenth century beyond the market of Sinnar and the harbour of Suakin, with the exception of gold in form of gold dust or braclets, (Spanish) silver coins (from American mines) increasingly entered the empire in the seventeenth century. This led to an accelerated export of gold and the establishment of silver coins in regional and even local markets in the eighteenth century, when silver replaced textiles and salt as currencies of exchange. This led to an even stronger import of small silver coins and the development of an imperial mint. In the late eighteenth century, the Spanish silver peso had become the major currency.”
[1]
[1]: (Loimeier 2013, 148) Loimeier, Roman. 2013. Muslim Societies in Africa: A Historical Anthropology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/HJTAUHA9/collection |
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“In 1810, at the beginning of his armed struggle, Miguel Hidalgo proceeded to mint coins in Guanajuato. Although the colonial government soon confiscated his minting equipment, before the end of the decade similar coinage practices—legal or illegal—were evident in various regional entities in response to the scarcity of silver money.”
[1]
“As soon as the most turbulent stages of the revolution were over, the economy began to recover. The recovery was preceded by the end of hyperinflation. A return to the gold standard in 1916 provided the basis for rapid stabilization of prices. Two factors were behind the monetary stabilization. Cárdenas and Manns (1987), following Kemmerer (1940), argue that, as notes in circulation progressively lost the functions of money, a reversion of Gresham’s law took place with notes (“bad money”) being replaced by gold and silver (“good money”)… In any case, the government’s decision meant that notes would not function as a means of payment, thus acting as a monetary reform that stabilized prices in terms of the newly circulating coins. Paper money would not circulate again in large amounts until the end of 1931.”
[2]
[1]: (Moreno-Brid and Ros 2009: 31) Moreno-Brid, Juan Carlos and Ros, Jaime. 2009. Development and Growth in the Mexican Economy: A Historical Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PZXKGTTV [2]: (Moreno-Brid and Ros 2009: 74-75) Moreno-Brid, Juan Carlos and Ros, Jaime. 2009. Development and Growth in the Mexican Economy: A Historical Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PZXKGTTV |
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Silver pennies were the most common coin. Halfpennies and farthings were minted by Edward I but were uncommon. Gold coins were first minted under Edward III; Florins in 1344 and Nobles in 1351.
[1]
[1]: (Prestwich 2005: xxiii) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI |
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“Kutná Hora took on this leading role from the end of the 13th century, and by the beginning of the next century it was the main mint of the country for the production of Czech groschen. Since the profit from the mining of precious metals and minting of coins was one of the ruler’s rights, the coffers of the Luxemburgs were enriched, enabling them to finance their policies, both at home and abroad, as well as undertake new construction work and cultural enterprises.”
[1]
“Royal towns were entrusted to the chamberlain or, in the case of mining towns, the master of the mint. When a rich silver lode was discovered at Kutna Hora, the town grew rapidly. German mining experts and workers arrived in great numbers, and in 1300, Vaclav II established a centralized royal mint there. Imported Italian master minters helped create an entirely new coin, with a standard purity and weight, called the Prague gros. This coin would remain the foundation of Bohemia’s currency for centuries.”
[2]
[1]: (Pánek and Oldřich 2009: 146) Pánek, Jaroslav and Oldřich, Tůma. 2009. A History of the Czech Lands. University of Chicago Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4NAX9KBJ [2]: (Agnew 2004: 21) Agnew, Hugh LeCaine. 2004. The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. California: Hoover Institution Press. http://archive.org/details/czechslandsofboh0000agne. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6LBQ5ARI |
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The adoption of the Byzantine coins as Lombard currency meant that they continued to be minted in both the Byzantium territories of Italy, and in the new Lombard territories. Tremisses, a lighter gold inferior copy of the Byzantine solidi coin, were also minted by the Lombards. Additionally the Lombard kings began minting their own silver coins from the late seventh century.
[1]
[1]: Christie 1998: 141-142. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF |
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“Tudor coinage was marked by three features—fluctuations in the value of the currency; the introduction of a great number of new coins; and the appearance of lifelike representations of the monarchs. Despite the political upheavals of the previous decades, Henry VII inherited a stable currency and bequeathed a strong position to his successor. But Henry VIII’s systematic debasement of the currency from 1526 onwards drove up prices. Elizabeth brought the situation under control with some difficulty, admitting that her recoinage of 1560 was ‘bitter medicine’. The new coins included a magnificent golden sovereign by Henry VII in 1489 and a halfsovereign; a gold Crown of the Rose at 5 shillings by Henry VIII and a half-crown which settled down later as a silver coin and ran until the 20th cent.; and a George noble in 1526 on which the patron saint made his first appearance. Edward VI introduced a treble sovereign, sixpence, and threepence; Mary a half-groat; and Elizabeth a rather strange silver 1½d. and ¾d. to facilitate change. Henry VII’s silver shilling carried a good likeness of the king, known as the testoon (from French tête). Henceforth the national coinage carried some remarkable portraits—Henry VIII aged on a Bristol groat (1544–7); Edward VI’s silver shilling (1550–3); Philip and Mary’s sixpence (1554–8); an imperious Elizabeth gold pound (1561–82); a stylish Charles I shilling (1638–9), and a saturnine Charles II crown (1663). James I celebrated the union of his two kingdoms in 1604 with a gold crown called ‘unite’ or ‘unit’, bearing the title ‘King of Great Britain’ and the legend ‘I will make them one people’. But a more important development of his reign was the introduction of copper coinage. Lord Harington in 1613 was given a patent to produce copper farthings, known colloquially as Haringtons, with an intermediate status between coins and tokens. Charles I had a keen interest in art and before 1642 his coinage was of a high standard. The Civil War produced some desperate expedients, particularly ‘siege-money’, made out of any metal to hand and cut into strange shapes. The Commonwealth issued its own coinage, with inscriptions in English: one legend ‘God with us’ prompted cavaliers to the obvious retort that ‘the Commonwealth was on one side and God on the other’. Good likenesses of Cromwell were produced but never issued. As soon as he returned from his travels in 1660, Charles II tackled the question of the currency. The following year he ordered all coins to be mechanically produced and called in the Commonwealth issues. An innovation was the use of Guinea gold from Africa, which settled at 21 shillings and was called a guinea. The need for small change remained a problem and thousands of tradesmen’s tokens circulated. To meet this, Charles introduced copper halfpennies and farthings in 1672: on the new coins, *Britannia made her appearance for the first time. But one further step, in 1684, to bring in tin coins proved disastrous, since the metal oxidized rapidly.”
[1]
[1]: (Cannon and Crowcroft 2015: 1016-1017) Cannon, John and Crowcroft, Robert. 2015. The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2PEE2ZJ5 |
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Dinar was the currency used and was produced as gold, silver and copper coins. Coins were minted in several towns and cities including the major cities of Samarqand and Bukhara.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Barthold 1968: 275, 327. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2CHVZMEB [2]: Buniyatov 2015: 90. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAEVEJFH |
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Dinars. “Following the conquest of the kingdoms of the Sudan, Mawlay Ahmad received so much gold dust that envious men were all troubled and observers absolutely stupefied. So from then on al-Mansur paid his officials in pure gold and in dinars of proper weight only. At the gate of his palace 1700 smiths were daily engaged in striking dinars. . . This superabundance of gold earned him the honorific al-Dhahabi, ’the Golden’.”
[1]
“On the economic side, he [Mawlây Rashïd] lent traders considerable sums to develop their businesses and thus create prosperity for all the people. H e ordered a reform of the coinage which took the form of devaluing the mouzouna from 48 fais to 24 fais. T h e bronze coins which were shaped, were struck in order to make them round.”
[2]
[1]: (al-Ifrànï, cited in Fage and Oliver 1975: 150-151) Fage, J. D. and Oliver, Roland Anthony. 1975. eds., The Cambridge History of Africa: Volume 4, from c. 1600 to c. 1790. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z6BCU87M [2]: (Ogot 1992: 211) Ogot, B. A. 1992. ed., General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century., vol. V, VII vols. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/24QPFDVP |
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In 1623 coins in the Habsburg Empire were valued according to the Bavarian system.
[1]
[1]: (Hillgärtner 2021: 140) Hillgärtner, Jan. 2021. ‘Newspapers and Authorities in Seventeenth-Century Germany’, in Print and Power in Early Modern Europe (1500–1800), ed. Nina Lamal, Jamie Cumby, and Helmer J. Helmers. Brill. 134–47, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctv1v7zbf2.11. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/57ZGSTKK |
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From 1776 to 1917, the Russian monetary system saw significant transformations, marked by the introduction of paper currency and a major shift to the gold standard. These changes were part of broader efforts to modernize the economy, stabilize the currency, and integrate Russia into the global financial system. The use of indigenous coins, backed by gold, became a key feature of this period, reflecting Russia’s evolving economic and financial landscape.
[1]
[1]: “Zum Russischen Geldsystem Vom Kiewer Reich Bis 1897 | Moneymuseum.Com,” Zotero link: GVG4B2EK |
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dinars. 220,000 dinars was about 1 ton of refined gold.
[1]
The value of their gold coinage "remained constant for almost two centuries."
[2]
Gold dinar from al-Mu’izz who replaced the Ikhshidid currency.
[3]
In medieval Islamic world dinars generally made of gold, dirhams of silver and fals of bronze or other base metal.
[4]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 40) [2]: (Raymond 2000, 41) [3]: (Calvert 2005, 741-742) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis. [4]: (Lindsay 2005, 112) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis. |
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A denominational system of coinage was introduced during the reign of King Menander. The system used symbols and letters to denote value.
[1]
"The Indo-Greeks were the first rulers to issue coins having the name, title and portrait of the ruler who issued them."
[2]
[1]: Srinivasan, Doris, ed. On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World, pp. 247-249 [2]: Chand, Tara. ed. 2015. General Studies Paper I for Civil Services Preliminary Examinations. McGraw-Hill Education. New Delhi. |
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The Harari minted coins during their reign.
[1]
The Habari minted their own coins in gold and silver. Copper coins have been found as well. The Soomra emirs also seemed to have made some small copper coins. The gold Dinar was a standard unit of exchange in the entire Arabian sea.
[2]
[1]: Maclean, Derryl N. Religion and society in Arab Sind, pp. 68-70 [2]: Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh p.135 |
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Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
"the solidus, later known as the nomisma, was the standard gold coin introduced by Constantine the Great in 309, which was to retain its weight and fineness well into the tenth century." 72 solidi were struck to the Byzantine pound (litra).
[2]
[1]: (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Entwhistle 2002, 611) Entwhistle, C. in Laiou A E eds. 2002. The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century. Dumbarton Oaks. Washington D.C. and Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. pp.38-46 |
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"the solidus, later known as the nomisma, was the standard gold coin introduced by Constantine the Great in 309, which was to retain its weight and fineness well into the tenth century." 72 solidi were struck to the Byzantine pound (litra).
[1]
[1]: (Entwhistle 2002, 611) Entwhistle, C. in Laiou A E eds. 2002. The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century. Dumbarton Oaks. Washington D.C. and Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. pp.38-46 |
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"the solidus, later known as the nomisma, was the standard gold coin introduced by Constantine the Great in 309, which was to retain its weight and fineness well into the tenth century." 72 solidi were struck to the Byzantine pound (litra).
[1]
Under Nicephorus II Botaneiates (1078-1081 CE) "Debasement of the Byzantine currency. Reduction of gold content of the solidus."
[1]: (Entwhistle 2002, 611) Entwhistle, C. in Laiou A E eds. 2002. The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century. Dumbarton Oaks. Washington D.C. and Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. pp.38-46 |
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Bronze coins were cast from the time of the early Cappadocian dynasts.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Iossif, P. P and Lorber, C. C. (2010) Hypaithros: A Numismatic Contribution to the Military History of Cappadocia. Historia, Band 59/4, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart. [2]: Simonetta, B. (1977) The Coins of the Cappadocian Kings. Fribourg: Office du Livre. |
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Lydian coinage. "True coins started to be minted with a decade or two on either side of 600 BC, by Lydia to judge by their emblem of lion’s head and paws, the first known were found alongside stamped weights at Lydia’s martime outlet of Ephesus, a city-state where Anatolian and Greek traditions mingled around a famous shrine to Artemis."
[1]
Lydia was one of a number of small kingdoms in Anatolia. It was well positioned in the riverlands of western Anatolia and had a rich supply of electrum, the natural alloy of silver and gold. Lydia is thought to be the birthplace of coinage.
[2]
[1]: (Broodbank 2015, 555-556) Broodbank, Cyprian. 2015. The Making of the Middle Sea. Thames & Hudson. London. [2]: Roosevelt, C.H. 2012. Iron Age Western Anatolia. In Potts, D.T. (ed.) A Companion to the Archaeology of the Near East. London: Blackwell. p. 897-913 |
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[1]
Lysimachus, like Seleucus and Alexander, minted coins as a form of propaganda.
[2]
[1]: Dimitrov, K. (2011) Economic, Social and Political Structures on the Territory of the Odrysian Kingdom in Thrace (5th - first half of the 3rd century BC). ORPHEUS. Journal of IndoEuropean and Thracian Studies. 18, p. 4-24. p7 [2]: Hadley, R. A. (1974) Royal Propaganda of Seleucus I and Lysimachus. The Journal of Hellenistic Studies. Vol.94. |
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Rome produced its first coin about 281 BCE, a Greek-style silver didrachma, minted in Neapolis (and twelve years later coins were minted in Rome.) Prior to end of Second Punic War (end 201 BCE) many coins were produced by communities other than Rome. Monetary and economic unity from Rome was achieved by the early 1st century BCE.
[1]
Roman coins included the silver denarius, silver Sestertius and gold aureus.
[2]
[1]: (Crawford 2001, 32, 42) |
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Silver coins minted, "of a fineness superior to other Muslim coinages in the Levant".
[1]
When they were a tribal people the Turks and the Seljuks would have accumulated coins through tribute and booty. As they settled down they began to mint their own coins under Sultan Masud I. These early coins were of copper and used in commerce. Silver began to be used under Kilic Arslan II, followed by gold in the 1200s.
[2]
[1]: Meyers, Eric M., ed., ‘Anatolia in the Islamic Period’, The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) [2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.97 |
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“Recently one gold coin was published as an issue of the early Pandyas. The coin has two fish on one side and the legend ‘Sri Varaguna’ingrantha characters on the other side. This is assigned to Varaguna II (862-880 AD).”
[1]
[1]: (Soundaram 2011, 78) Soundaram, A. 2011. ‘The Characteristic Features of Early Medieval Tamil Society: An Overview’ In History of People and Their Environs: Essays in Honour of Prof. B.S. Chanrababu Edited by S. Ganeshram and C. Bhavani. Chennai: Indian Universities Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/CISI5MVX/collection |
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