1.
Counting board
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The counting board is the precursor of the abacus, and the earliest known form of a counting device. Counting boards were made of stone or wood, and the counting was done on the board with beads, not many boards survive because of the perishable materials used in their construction. The oldest known counting board, the Salamis Tablet was discovered on the Greek island of Salamis in 1899 and it is thought to have been used by the Babylonians in about 300 BC and is more of a gaming board than a calculating device. It is marble, about 150 x 75 x 4.5 cm and it has carved Greek letters and parallel grooves. The German mathematicican Adam Ries described the use of counting boards in Rechenbuch auf Linien und Ziphren in allerlei Handthierung / geschäfften und Kaufmanschafft, in the novel Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel refers to Thomas Cromwell using a counting board in 16th-century England
2.
Woodcut
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Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print, the block is cut along the wood grain. The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with a roller, leaving ink upon the flat surface. Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks, single-leaf woodcut is a term for a woodcut presented as a single image or print, as opposed to a book illustration. Among these the best known are the 16th century Hieronymus Andreae, Hans Lützelburger and Jost de Negker, all of whom ran workshops, the formschneider in turn handed the block on to specialist printers. There were further specialists who made the blank blocks and this is why woodcuts are sometimes described by museums or books as designed by rather than by an artist, but most authorities do not use this distinction. The division of labour had the advantage that a trained artist could adapt to the medium relatively easily, there were various methods of transferring the artists drawn design onto the block for the cutter to follow. Either the drawing would be made directly onto the block, or a drawing on paper was glued to the block, either way, the artists drawing was destroyed during the cutting process. Other methods were used, including tracing, in both Europe and the Far East in the early 20th century, some artists began to do the whole process themselves. In Japan, this movement was called sōsaku-hanga, as opposed to shin-hanga, in the West, many artists used the easier technique of linocut instead. Compared to intaglio techniques like etching and engraving, only low pressure is required to print, as a relief method, it is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. In Europe a variety of woods including boxwood and several nut and fruit woods like pear or cherry were commonly used, in Japan, there are three methods of printing to consider, Stamping, Used for many fabrics and most early European woodcuts. Used for European woodcuts and block-books later in the fifteenth century, also used for many Western woodcuts from about 1910 to the present. The block goes face up on a table, with the paper or fabric on top, the back is rubbed with a hard pad, a flat piece of wood, a burnisher, or a leather frotton. A traditional Japanese tool used for this is called a baren, later in Japan, complex wooden mechanisms were used to help hold the woodblock perfectly still and to apply proper pressure in the printing process. This was especially helpful once multiple colors were introduced and had to be applied with precision atop previous ink layers, printing in a press, presses only seem to have been used in Asia in relatively recent times. Printing-presses were used from about 1480 for European prints and block-books, simple weighted presses may have been used in Europe before the print-press, but firm evidence is lacking
3.
Abacus
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The exact origin of the abacus is still unknown. Today, abaci are often constructed as a frame with beads sliding on wires. The use of the word abacus dates before 1387 AD, when a Middle English work borrowed the word from Latin to describe a sandboard abacus, the Latin word came from Greek ἄβαξ abax which means something without base, and improperly, any piece of rectangular board or plank. Alternatively, without reference to ancient texts on etymology, it has suggested that it means a square tablet strewn with dust. Whereas the table strewn with dust definition is popular, there are those that do not place credence in this at all, Greek ἄβαξ itself is probably a borrowing of a Northwest Semitic, perhaps Phoenician, word akin to Hebrew ʾābāq, dust. The preferred plural of abacus is a subject of disagreement, with both abacuses and abaci in use, the user of an abacus is called an abacist. The period 2700–2300 BC saw the first appearance of the Sumerian abacus, some scholars point to a character from the Babylonian cuneiform which may have been derived from a representation of the abacus. Archaeologists have found ancient disks of various sizes that are thought to have used as counters. However, wall depictions of this instrument have not been discovered, during the Achaemenid Empire, around 600 BC the Persians first began to use the abacus. The earliest archaeological evidence for the use of the Greek abacus dates to the 5th century BC, also Demosthenes talked of the need to use pebbles for calculations too difficult for your head. The Greek abacus was a table of wood or marble, pre-set with small counters in wood or metal for mathematical calculations and this Greek abacus saw use in Achaemenid Persia, the Etruscan civilization, Ancient Rome and, until the French Revolution, the Western Christian world. A tablet found on the Greek island Salamis in 1846 AD, dates back to 300 BC and it is a slab of white marble 149 cm long,75 cm wide, and 4.5 cm thick, on which are 5 groups of markings. Below these lines is a space with a horizontal crack dividing it. Also from this frame the Darius Vase was unearthed in 1851. It was covered with pictures including a holding a wax tablet in one hand while manipulating counters on a table with the other. The earliest known documentation of the Chinese abacus dates to the 2nd century BC. The Chinese abacus, known as the suanpan, is typically 20 cm tall and it usually has more than seven rods. There are two beads on each rod in the deck and five beads each in the bottom for both decimal and hexadecimal computation
4.
Positional notation
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Positional notation or place-value notation is a method of representing or encoding numbers. Positional notation is distinguished from other notations for its use of the symbol for the different orders of magnitude. This greatly simplified arithmetic, leading to the spread of the notation across the world. With the use of a point, the notation can be extended to include fractions. The Hindu–Arabic numeral system, base-10, is the most commonly used system in the world today for most calculations, today, the base-10 system, which is likely motivated by counting with the ten fingers, is ubiquitous. Other bases have been used in the past however, and some continue to be used today, for example, the Babylonian numeral system, credited as the first positional numeral system, was base-60, but it lacked a real 0 value. Zero was indicated by a space between sexagesimal numerals, by 300 BC, a punctuation symbol was co-opted as a placeholder in the same Babylonian system. In a tablet unearthed at Kish, the scribe Bêl-bân-aplu wrote his zeros with three hooks, rather than two slanted wedges, the Babylonian placeholder was not a true zero because it was not used alone. Nor was it used at the end of a number, thus numbers like 2 and 120,3 and 180,4 and 240, looked the same because the larger numbers lacked a final sexagesimal placeholder. Counting rods and most abacuses have been used to represent numbers in a numeral system. This approach required no memorization of tables and could produce practical results quickly, for four centuries there was strong disagreement between those who believed in adopting the positional system in writing numbers and those who wanted to stay with the additive-system-plus-abacus. Although electronic calculators have largely replaced the abacus, the continues to be used in Japan. After the French Revolution, the new French government promoted the extension of the decimal system, some of those pro-decimal efforts—such as decimal time and the decimal calendar—were unsuccessful. Other French pro-decimal efforts—currency decimalisation and the metrication of weights and measures—spread widely out of France to almost the whole world. According to Joseph Needham and Lam Lay Yong, decimal fractions were first developed and used by the Chinese in the 1st century BC, the written Chinese decimal fractions were non-positional. However, counting rod fractions were positional, the Jewish mathematician Immanuel Bonfils used decimal fractions around 1350, anticipating Simon Stevin, but did not develop any notation to represent them. A forerunner of modern European decimal notation was introduced by Simon Stevin in the 16th century. A key argument against the system was its susceptibility to easy fraud by simply putting a number at the beginning or end of a quantity, thereby changing 100 into 5100
5.
Numismatics
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Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. Early money used by people is referred to as Odd and Curious, the Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit and gave small change in lambskins, the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horse is not. Many objects have been used for centuries, such as shells, precious metals, cocoa beans, large stones. Today, most transactions take place by a form of payment with either inherent, standardized, Numismatic value may be used to refer to the value in excess of the monetary value conferred by law, which is known as the collector value. Economic and historical studies of use and development are an integral part of the numismatists study of moneys physical embodiment. First attested in English 1829, the word comes from the adjective numismatic. It was borrowed in 1792 from French numismatiques, itself a derivation from Late Latin numismatis, genitive of numisma, throughout its history, money itself has been made to be a scarce good, although it does not have to be. Many materials have been used to form money, from naturally scarce precious metals and cowry shells through cigarettes to entirely artificial money, called fiat money, many complementary currencies use time as a unit of measure, using mutual credit accounting that keeps the balance of money intact. Modern money is essentially a token – an abstraction, paper currency is perhaps the most common type of physical money today. However, goods such as gold or silver retain many of the properties of money, such as volatility. However, these goods are not controlled by one single authority, coin collecting may have existed in ancient times. Caesar Augustus gave coins of every device, including old pieces of the kings, petrarch, who wrote in a letter that he was often approached by vinediggers with old coins asking him to buy or to identify the ruler, is credited as the first Renaissance collector. Petrarch presented a collection of Roman coins to Emperor Charles IV in 1355, the first book on coins was De Asse et Partibus by Guillaume Budé. During the early Renaissance ancient coins were collected by European royalty and nobility, Numismatics is called the Hobby of Kings, due to its most esteemed founders. Professional societies organized in the 19th century, the Royal Numismatic Society was founded in 1836 and immediately began publishing the journal that became the Numismatic Chronicle. The American Numismatic Society was founded in 1858 and began publishing the American Journal of Numismatics in 1866, in 1931 the British Academy launched the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum publishing collections of Ancient Greek coinage. The first volume of Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles was published in 1958, after World War II in Germany a project, Fundmünzen der Antike was launched, to register every coin found within Germany. This idea found successors in many countries, in the United States, the US mint established a coin Cabinet in 1838 when chief coiner Adam Eckfeldt donated his personal collection
6.
Currency
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A currency in the most specific use of the word refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a medium of exchange, especially circulating banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use, under this definition, US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, and European euros are examples of currency. These various currencies are recognized stores of value and are traded between nations in exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are defined by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance, other definitions of the term currency are discussed in their respective synonymous articles banknote, coin, and money. The latter definition, pertaining to the systems of nations, is the topic of this article. Currencies can be classified into two systems, fiat money and commodity money, depending on what guarantees the value. Some currencies are legal tender in certain jurisdictions, which means they cannot be refused as payment for debt. Others are simply traded for their economic value, digital currency has arisen with the popularity of computers and the Internet. Currency evolved from two basic innovations, both of which had occurred by 2000 BC, originally money was a form of receipt, representing grain stored in temple granaries in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia, then Ancient Egypt. In this first stage of currency, metals were used as symbols to represent value stored in the form of commodities and this formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. Trade could only reach as far as the credibility of that military and it is not known what was used as a currency for these exchanges, but it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of copper, produced in Cyprus, may have functioned as a currency. It is thought that the increase in piracy and raiding associated with the Bronze Age collapse, possibly produced by the Peoples of the Sea, brought the trading system of oxhide ingots to an end. In Africa, many forms of value store have been used, including beads, ingots, ivory, various forms of weapons, livestock, the manilla currency, the manilla rings of West Africa were one of the currencies used from the 15th century onwards to sell slaves. African currency is still notable for its variety, and in many various forms of barter still apply. These factors led to the metal itself being the store of value, first silver, now we have copper coins and other non-precious metals as coins. Metals were mined, weighed, and stamped into coins and this was to assure the individual taking the coin that he was getting a certain known weight of precious metal. Coins could be counterfeited, but they created a new unit of account. Most major economies using coinage had several tiers of coins, using a mix of copper, silver, gold coins were used for large purchases, payment of the military and backing of state activities, they were more often used as measures of account than physical coins
7.
Coin
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A coin is a small, flat, round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government, Coins are usually metal or alloy, or sometimes made of synthetic materials. Coins made of metal are stored in large quantities as bullion coins. Other coins are used as money in transactions, circulating alongside banknotes. Usually the highest value coin in circulation is less than the lowest-value note. In the last hundred years, the value of circulation coins has occasionally been lower than the value of the metal they contain. Exceptions to the rule of face value being higher than content value also occur for some bullion coins made of copper, silver, or gold, while the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Sovereign coins have nominal face values, the Krugerrand does not. The first coins were developed independently in Iron Age Anatolia and Archaic Greece, India, Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the Balkans. Standardized Roman currency was used throughout the Roman Empire, important Roman gold and silver coins were continued into the Middle Ages. Fiat money first arose in medieval China, with the paper money. Early paper money was introduced in Europe in the later Middle Ages, the penny was minted as a silver coin until the 17th century. The first circulating United States coins were cents, produced in 1793, Coins were an evolution of currency systems of the Late Bronze Age, where standard-sized ingots, and tokens such as knife money, were used to store and transfer value. In the late Chinese Bronze Age, standardized cast tokens were made and these were replicas in bronze of earlier Chinese currency, cowrie shells, so they were named Bronze Shell. According to Aristotle and Pollux, the first issuer of coins was Hermodike of Kyme The earliest coins are associated with Iron Age Anatolia. Early electrum coins were not standardized in weight, and in their earliest stage may have been ritual objects, such as badges or medals, issued by priests. The first Lydian coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of silver, most of the early Lydian coins include no writing, only an image of a symbolic animal. Anatolian Artemis was the Πὀτνια Θηρῶν, whose symbol was the stag, a small percentage of early Lydian/Greek coins have a legend
8.
Banknote
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A banknote is a type of negotiable instrument known as a promissory note, made by a bank, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by banks, who were legally required to redeem the notes for legal tender when presented to the chief cashier of the originating bank. These commercial banknotes only traded at face value in the served by the issuing bank. Commercial banknotes have primarily been replaced by national banknotes issued by central banks, national banknotes are generally legal tender, meaning that medium of payment is allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Historically, banks sought to ensure that they could always pay customers in coins when they presented banknotes for payment and this practice of backing notes with something of substance is the basis for the history of central banks backing their currencies in gold or silver. Today, most national currencies have no backing in precious metals or commodities and have value only by fiat, with the exception of non-circulating high-value or precious metal issues, coins are used for lower valued monetary units, while banknotes are used for higher values. The idea of using a durable light-weight substance as evidence of a promise to pay a bearer on demand originated in China during the Han Dynasty in 118 BC, the first known banknote was first developed in China during the Tang and Song dynasties, starting in the 7th century. Its roots were in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty, as merchants, during the Yuan Dynasty, banknotes were adopted by the Mongol Empire. In Europe, the concept of banknotes was first introduced during the 13th century by such as Marco Polo. Counterfeiting, the forgery of banknotes, is an inherent challenge in issuing currency and it is countered by anticounterfeiting measures in the printing of banknotes. Fighting the counterfeiting of banknotes and cheques has been a driver of security printing methods development in recent centuries. Paper currency first developed in the Tang Dynasty China during the 7th century, although true paper money did not appear until the 11th century, the usage of paper currency later spread throughout the Mongol Empire. European explorers like Marco Polo introduced the concept in Europe during the 13th century, napoleon issued paper banknotes in the early 1800s. Paper money originated in two forms, drafts, which are receipts for value held on account, and bills, the perception of banknotes as money has evolved over time. Originally, money was based on precious metals, Banknotes were seen as essentially an I. O. U. or promissory note, a promise to pay someone in precious metal on presentation. With the gradual removal of precious metals from the system, banknotes evolved to represent credit money. Notes or bills were referred to in 18th century novels and were often a key part of the plot such as a note drawn by Lord X for £100 which becomes due in 3 months time. Its roots were in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty, as merchants, before the use of paper, the Chinese used coins that were circular, with a rectangular hole in the middle
9.
Counterfeit money
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Counterfeit money is imitation currency produced without the legal sanction of the state or government. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery, counterfeiting is almost as old as money itself. Plated copies have found of Lydian coins which are thought to be among the first western coins. Before the introduction of money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver. A form of counterfeiting is the production of documents by legitimate printers in response to fraudulent instructions, during World War II, the Nazis forged British pounds and American dollars. Today some of the finest counterfeit banknotes are called Superdollars because of their high quality, there has been significant counterfeiting of Euro banknotes and coins since the launch of the currency in 2002, but considerably less than for the US dollar. Traditionally, anti-counterfeiting measures involved including fine detail with raised intaglio printing on bills which allows non-experts to easily spot forgeries, on coins, milled or reeded edges are used to show that none of the valuable metal has been scraped off. Counterfeiting is as old as money itself, and is prevalent throughout history that it has been called the worlds second oldest profession. Coinage of money began in the Greek city of Lydia around 600 B. C, before the introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver. A common practice was to shave the edges of a coin, precious metals collected in this way could be used to produce counterfeit coinage. A fourrée is an ancient type of coin, in which a base metal core has been plated with a precious metal to resemble its solid metal counterpart. When paper money was introduced in China in the 13th century, to control access to the paper, guards were stationed around mulberry forests, while counterfeiters were punished by death. In the 13th century Mastro Adamo was mentioned by Dante Alighieri as a counterfeiter of the Florentine fiorino, the English couple Thomas and Anne Rogers were convicted on 15 October 1690 for Clipping 40 pieces of Silver. Thomas Rogers was hanged, drawn and quartered while Anne Rogers was burnt alive, evidence supplied by an informant led to the arrest of the last of the English Coiners King David Hartley, who was executed by hanging in 1770. The extreme forms of punishment were meted out for acts of treason against state or Crown and these include producing the false money and selling it wholesale. Similarly, in America, Colonial paper currency printed by Benjamin Franklin, the theory behind such harsh punishments was that one who had the skills to counterfeit currency was considered a threat to the safety of the State, and had to be eliminated. Far more fortunate was a practitioner of the same art. Rather than executing Alexander the Barber, the Emperor chose to employ his talents in the governments own service, nations have used counterfeiting as a means of warfare
10.
ISO 4217
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The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
11.
Local currency
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In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, a local currency acts as a complementary currency to a national currency, rather than replacing it, and aims to encourage spending within a local community, especially with locally-owned businesses. The currency may not be backed by a government or be legal tender. About 300 complementary currencies, including local currencies, are listed in the Complementary Currency Resource Center worldwide database, local currency - a complementary currency used in a locality. Regional currency - a local currency where the locality is a larger region, auxiliary currency, microcurrency, Eco-Money - less common synonyms for community or local currency. Private currency - a currency issued by an individual, business or non-governmental organization, Complementary currencies are a type of private currency. Sectoral currency - a complementary currency used within one economic sector, the Wörgl experiment illustrates some of the common characteristics and major benefits of local currencies. Local currencies with negative interest rate or demurrage tend to much more rapidly than national currencies. The same amount of currency in circulation is employed more times and it produces greater benefit per unit. The higher velocity of money is a result of the negative interest rate which encourages people to spend the more quickly. Local currencies enable the community to fully utilize its existing productive resources, especially unemployed labor. They are based on the premise that the community is not fully utilizing its productive capacities, the alternative currency is utilized to increase demand, resulting in a greater exploitation of productive resources. Since local currencies are accepted within the community, their usage encourages the purchase of locally produced and locally-available goods. Thus, for any level of activity, more of the benefit accrues to the local community. For instance, construction work undertaken with local currencies employs local labor, the enhanced local effect becomes an incentive for the local population to accept and utilize the scrips. Some forms of currency can promote fuller utilization of resources over a much wider geographic area. The Fureai kippu system in Japan issues credits in exchange for assistance to senior citizens, family members living far from their parents can earn credits by offering assistance to the elderly in their local community. The credits can then be transferred to their parents and redeemed by them for local assistance, airline frequent flyer miles are a form of complementary currency that promotes customer-loyalty in exchange for free travel
12.
Company scrip
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Company scrip is scrip issued by a company to pay its employees. It can only be exchanged in company owned by the employers. In the UK, such systems have long been formally outlawed under the Truck Acts. In the United States, mining and logging camps were created, owned and operated by a single company. With this economic monopoly, the employer could place large markups on goods, making workers dependent on the company, in 19th century United States forested areas, cash was often hard to come by. This was particularly true in lumber camps, where workers were paid in company-issued scrip rather than government issued currency. In Wisconsin, for example, forest-products and lumber companies were exempted from the state law requiring employers to pay workers wages in cash. Lumber and timber companies paid their workers in scrip which was redeemable at the company store. Company-run stores served as a convenience for workers and their families, in certain cases, employers included contract provisions requiring employees to patronize the company stores. Employees who wanted to change their scrip to cash generally had to do so at a discount, lumber company scrip was redeemable in lumber as well as other merchandise. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, such an option may have appealed to new settlers in the region, taking some of their wages in lumber may have helped them build a much-needed house or barn. Coal scrip is tokens or paper with a monetary value issued to workers as an advance on wages by the company or its designated representative. As such, coal scrip could only be used at the locality or coal town of the company named. As there were no other retail establishments, this constituted a monopoly, the country musician Merle Travis makes a reference to coal scrip in the song, Sixteen Tons on the Folk Songs of the Hills album. The practice has been documented as recently as September,2008, Truck system Private currency Disney dollar Harte, C. J. Coal mine scrip collectors to meet, cawood, Steve, past president National Scrip Collectors AssociationScrip Definition
13.
Local exchange trading system
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LETS allow people to negotiate the value of their own hours or services. Michael Linton originated the term Local Exchange Trading System in 1983 and for a time ran the Comox Valley LETSystems in Courtenay, the system he designed was intended as an adjunct to the national currency, rather than a replacement for it. LETS networks facilitate exchange between members by providing a directory of offers and by allowing a line of credit to each. Members IOUs are logged in an accounting system which publishes a directory. In case of a default, the loss of value or units is absorbed equally by all members, which makes it a mutual credit exchange. For instance, a member may earn credit by doing childcare for one person and spend it later on carpentry with another person in the network, or they may spend first. Many people have difficulty adjusting to different kind of money system. A conventional national currency which yields interest to savers and costs interest to borrowers incentivises different behaviours to mutual credit which has no commodity value, most groups range from 50-150 members with a small core who use the system as a way of life. After flourishing in the 1990s, the LETS movement is now populated by the same aging people. Interest in local currency has moved on to other such as Time-based currency. In many countries apart from Canada, USA and UK, the distinction between LETS and timebanking is much less clear, as most LETS now use time as their unit of account. On the whole, the movement has been slow to adapt to the internet, reluctance to engage with technology, a belief in decentralisation/localisation and lack of funds all contributed to this. Michael Linton has stated that such systems are personal money networks rather than LETS, the first LETS required nothing more than a telephone, an answering machine and a notebook. Since then there have been attempts to improve the process with software, printed notes. Members whose balances exceed specified limits are obliged to move their balance back towards zero by spending or earning, LETS is a full-fledged monetary or exchange system, unlike direct barter. LETS members are able to earn credits from any member and spend them with anyone else on the scheme, since the details are worked out by the users, there is much variation between schemes. In a number of countries, various government taxation authorities have examined LETS along with forms of counter trade. Generally for personal arrangements, social arrangements, hobbies or pastimes and this generally covers the vast majority of LETS transactions
14.
Time-based currency
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In economics, a time-based currency is an alternative currency or exchange system where the unit of account/value is the person-hour or some other time unit. Some time-based currencies value everyone’s contributions equally, one hour equals one service credit. In these systems, one person volunteers to work for an hour for another person, thus, they are credited with one hour, others use time units that might be fractions of an hour. Time-based currency exchanges date back to the early 19th century, the National Equitable Labour Exchange was founded by Robert Owen, a Welsh socialist and labor reformer in London, England, in 1832. It was established in Birmingham, England, before folding in 1834 and it issued Labour Notes similar to banknotes, denominated in units of 1,2,5,10,20,40, and 80 hours. John Gray, a socialist economist, worked with Owen and later with Ricardian Socialists, in 1848, the socialist and first self-designated anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon postulated a system of time chits. Josiah Warren published a book describing labor notes in 1852 and he also went on to trademark the terms Time Bank and Time Credit. Time banking is a community development tool and works by facilitating the exchange of skills and it aims to build the core economy of family and community by valuing and rewarding the work done in it. The worlds first time bank was started in Japan by Teruko Mizushima in 1973 with the idea that participants could earn credits which they could spend any time during their lives. In the 1940s, Mizushima had already foreseen the emerging problems of a society such as seen today. In the 1990s the movement took off in the USA, with Dr Edgar Cahn pioneering it there, piecemeal efforts to rebuild genuine community. In particular Cahn focused on the top-down attitude prevalent in social services and he believed that one of the major failings of many social service organizations was their unwillingness to enroll the help of those people they were trying to help. He theorized that a system like time banking could the infrastructure of trust, Time Bank members sometimes refer to this as a return to simpler times when the community was there for its individuals. An interview at a bank in the Gorbals neighbourhood of Glasgow revealed the following sentiment. The Gorbals has never — not for a long time — had a lot of community spirit. Way back, years ago, it had a lot of community spirit, thats what I think the projects doing, trying to bring that back, that community sense. Time dollars are a complementary currency used as a means of providing mutual credit in Time Banking. They are typically called time credits or service credits outside the United States, Time Bank members exchange services for Time Dollars
15.
Ancient Greek coinage
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The history of Ancient Greek coinage can be divided into four periods, the Archaic, the Classical, the Hellenistic and the Roman. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek world during the 7th century BC until the Persian Wars in about 480 BC, the Greek cities continued to produce their own coins for several more centuries under Roman rule. The coins produced during this period are called Roman provincial coins or Greek Imperial Coins, the word drachm means a handful, literally a grasp. Drachmae were divided into six obols, and six spits made a handful and this suggests that before coinage came to be used in Greece, spits in prehistoric times were used as measures in daily transactions. Because of this aspect, Spartan legislation famously forbade issuance of Spartan coin, and enforced the continued use of iron spits so as to discourage avarice. In addition to its meaning, the word obol was retained as a Greek word for coins of small value. The obol was further subdivided into tetartemorioi which represented 1/4 of an obol and this coin is mentioned by Aristotle as the smallest silver coin. Various multiples of this denomination were also struck, including the trihemitetartemorion valued at 3/8 of an obol and these coins were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver that was highly prized and abundant in that area. By the middle of the 6th century BC, technology had advanced, making the production of pure gold, accordingly, King Croesus introduced a bi-metallic standard that allowed for coins of pure gold and pure silver to be struck and traded in the marketplace. The Greek world was divided more than two thousand self-governing city-states, and more than half of them issued their own coins. As such coins circulated widely, other cities began to mint coins to this Aeginetan weight standard of. Athenian coins, however, were struck on the Attic standard, over time, Athens plentiful supply of silver from the mines at Laurion and its increasing dominance in trade made this the pre-eminent standard. These coins, known as owls because of their central design feature, were minted to an extremely tight standard of purity. This contributed to their success as the premier trade coin of their era, tetradrachms on this weight standard continued to be a widely used coin through the classical period. By the time of Alexander the Great and his Hellenistic successors, the Classical period saw Greek coinage reach a high level of technical and aesthetic quality. Larger cities now produced a range of silver and gold coins, most bearing a portrait of their patron god or goddess or a legendary hero on one side. Some coins employed a visual pun, some coins from Rhodes featured a rose, the use of inscriptions on coins also began, usually the name of the issuing city. The wealthy cities of Sicily produced some especially fine coins, the large silver decadrachm coin from Syracuse is regarded by many collectors as the finest coin produced in the ancient world, perhaps ever
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Roman currency
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Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomination, a persistent feature was the inflationary debasement and replacement of coins over the centuries. Notable examples of this followed the reforms of Diocletian and this trend continued into Byzantine times. The manufacture of coins in the Roman culture, dating from about the 4th century BC, the origin of the word mint is ascribed to the manufacture of silver coin at Rome in 269 BC at the temple of Juno Moneta. This goddess became the personification of money, and her name was applied both to money and to its place of manufacture, Roman mints were spread widely across the Empire, and were sometimes used for propaganda purposes. The populace often learned of a new Roman Emperor when coins appeared with the new Emperors portrait. The Romans cast their larger copper coins in clay moulds carrying distinctive markings, not because they knew nothing of striking, Roman adoption of metallic commodity money was a late development in monetary history. Bullion bars and ingots were used as money in Mesopotamia since the 7th millennium BC, coinage proper was only introduced by the Roman Republican government c.300 BC. For these reasons, the Romans would have known about coinage systems long before their government actually introduced them. The reason behind Romes adoption of coinage was likely cultural, the Romans had no pressing economic need, but they wanted to emulate Greek culture, and they considered the institution of minted money a significant feature of that culture. However, Roman coinage initially saw limited use. The type of money introduced by Rome was unlike that found elsewhere in the ancient Mediterranean and it combined a number of uncommon elements. One example is the large bronze bullion, the aes signatum and it measured about 160 by 90 millimetres and weighed around 1,500 to 1,600 grams, being made out of a highly leaded tin bronze. Although similar metal bars had been produced in Italy and northern Etruscan areas, these had been made of Aes grave. Along with the aes signatum, the Roman state also issued a series of bronze, produced using the manner of manufacture then utilised in Greek Naples, the designs of these early coins were also heavily influenced by Hellenic designs. The designs on the coinage of the Republican period displayed a solid conservatism, usually illustrating mythical scenes or personifications of various gods, in 27 BC, the Roman Republic came to an end as Augustus ascended to the throne as the first emperor. Taking autocratic power, it became recognized that there was a link between the emperors sovereignty and the production of coinage. The imagery on coins took an important step when Julius Caesar issued coins bearing his own portrait, while moneyers had earlier issued coins with portraits of ancestors, Caesars was the first Roman coinage to feature the portrait of a living individual
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Ancient Chinese coinage
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Ancient Chinese coinage includes some of the earliest known coins. These coins, used as early as the Spring and Autumn period, the Spring and Autumn period also saw the introduction of the first metal coins, however, they were not initially round, instead being either knife shaped or spade shaped. Round metal coins with a round, and then later square hole in the center were first introduced around 350 BCE, the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty to unify China, saw the introduction of a standardised coinage for the whole Empire. Subsequent dynasties produced variations on these round coins throughout the imperial period, ancient Chinese coins are markedly different from coins produced in the west. Chinese coins were manufactured by being cast in molds, whereas western coins were cut and hammered or, in later times. Chinese coins were made from mixtures of metals such copper, tin and lead, from bronze, brass or iron, precious metals like gold. The ratios and purity of the coin metals varied considerably, most Chinese coins were produced with a square hole in the middle. This was used to allow collections of coins to be threaded on a rod so that the rough edges could be filed smooth. Official coin production was not always centralised, but could be spread over many mint locations throughout the country, aside from officially produced coins, private coining was common during many stages of history. Various steps were taken over time to try to combat the private coining and limit its effects, at other times private coining was tolerated. The coins varied in value throughout the history, some coins were produced in very large numbers – during the Western Han, an average of 220 million coins a year were produced. Other coins were of limited circulation and are extremely rare – only six examples of Da Quan Wu Qian from the Eastern Wu Dynasty are known to exist. Occasionally, large hoards of coins have been uncovered, the earliest coinage of China was described by Sima Qian, the great historian of c. While nothing is known about the use of shells as money, gold. They are not found in hoards, and the probability is that all these are in fact funerary items. Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest use of the spade and knife money was in the Spring, as in ancient Greece, socio-economic conditions at the time were favourable to the adoption of coinage. Inscriptions and archaeological evidence shows that cowrie shells were regarded as important objects of value in the Shang Dynasty, in the Zhou period, they are frequently referred to as gifts or rewards from kings and nobles to their subjects. Later imitations in bone, stone or bronze were used as money in some instances
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Coinage of India
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Coins provide not only evidence of art and economy, but also a wisdom for understanding the history and politics of a nation. As a means of communication, they speak to the political, Coinage of India, issued by Imperial dynasties and Middle kingdoms began anywhere between 6th century BCE to 1st millennium BCE, and consisted mainly of copper and silver coins in its initial stage. Scholars remain divided over the origins of Indian coinage, cowry shells was first used in India as commodity money. In recent discoveries punched mark Mudras of stone have been found in lost city of Dwaraka, which is said to be existed at least 5,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilisation dates back between 2500 BC and 1750 BC, what is known, however, is that metal currency was minted in India well before the Mauryan Empire, and as radio carbon dating indicates, before the 5th century BCE. The practice of minted coins spread to the Indo-Gangetic Plain from West Asia, the coins of this period were called Puranas, Karshapanas or Pana. Mahajanapadas that minted their own coins included Gandhara, Kuntala, Kuru, Panchala, Shakya, Surasena, the tradition of Indian coinage was further influenced by the coming of Turkic and Mughal invaders in India. The East India Company introduced uniform coinage in the 19th century CE, and these coins were imitated by the modern nation states of Republic of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Numismatics plays a role in determining certain period of Indian history. Punch-marked coins are a type of early Coinage of India, dating to between about the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. The first coins in India were minted around the 6th century BC by the Mahajanapadas of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the coins of this period were punch-marked coins called Puranas, Karshapanas or Pana. Several of these coins had a symbol, for example, Saurashtra had a humped bull. These coins were made of silver of a weight but with an irregular shape. This was gained by cutting up silver bars and then making the weight by cutting the edges of the coin. They are mentioned in the Manu, Panini, and Buddhist Jataka stories, shurasena Surashtra Early coins of India were made of silver and copper, and bore animal and plant symbols on them. The Mauryan coins were marked with the royal standard to ascertain their authenticity. The Arthashastra, written by Kautilya, mentions minting of coins, Kautilya also seemed to advocate a theory of bimetallism for coinage, which involved the use of two metals, copper and silver, under one government. Punch marked coins were replaced at the fall of the Maurya Empire by cast, each individual coins was first cast by pouring a molten metal, usually copper or silver, into a cavity formed by two molds
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Achaemenid coinage
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Coins of the Achaemenid Empire were issued from 520 BCE-450 BCE to 330 BCE. It seems that before then, a continuation of Lydian coinage under Persian rule was highly likely, Achaemenid coinage includes the official imperial issues, as well as coins issued by the Achaemenid governors, such as those stationed in ancient Asia Minor. Darius first introduced a currency system at about 520-480, the precise period is debatable. The rate of exchange was 1 Daric =20 Siglos and it consisted of a Daric of between 8. 10-8.50 grams in weight and based on the Babylonian shekel of 8.33 grams. The purity was between 98-99% gold, after the capture of Babylon by Alexander, the Satrap Mazaeus issued the double Daric of 16.65 grams in weight whose image was based on the Daric coin and bore his name until his death in 328 BCE. 1 Daric =25 Attic Drachmae, Siglos is 5. 40-5.60 grams each, but is based on the 0.5 Lydian Siglos of 10. 73-10.92 grams for the full unit. Purity was at first issue 97-98% but by the middle 4th century was 94-95%,1 Siglos =7.5 Attic Obols Daric coins have been found in Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia and Italy
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Historical money of Tibet
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The use of historical money in Tibet started in ancient times, when Tibet had no coined currency of its own. Bartering was common, gold was a medium of exchange, and shell money, a few coins from other countries were also occasionally in use. Coins were first used in an extensive way in the 17th century. There were however various difficulties with this system, in 1763/64 and 1785 the first silver coins were struck in Tibet. In 1792 the first mass-produced silver coins were created under joint Chinese, coins bearing Tibetan inscriptions only were subsequently replaced by issues which had Chinese and Tibetan legends. In 1840 purely Tibetan coinage was struck under Tibetan authority, in 1910 the Tibetan government started producing a large range of copper and silver coins of different denominations, and in 1918 to 1921, gold coins were struck. Tibetan banknotes were first issued in 1913, from 1955 to 1959 no more Tibetan coins were created, although banknotes were still being printed, and by 1959 all of the money was gradually being replaced with renminbi yuan. In ancient Tibet, the use of coins was insignificant, tibet’s main neighbours, India, Nepal and China had had their own coinage since time immemorial. Tibet had the biggest trade volume with China, the main items being horses from north-eastern Tibet. Tibet also exported medicinal herbs, stag antlers, musk and gold to China, and apart from tea, the trade volume with Tibets southern neighbours, India, Nepal and Bhutan, was much smaller. The Tibetan traders mainly exchanged salt and wool for grain with these countries, traditionally one measure of salt was traded for one measure of grain at the border with Nepal and India. Other, less important export goods were yak tails, musk, for the 17th century, the export of falcons to India is also recorded. For large transactions within Tibet, gold dust and Chinese silver ingots were used and these ingots came in different shapes, the most common kind resembled horseshoes or donkey shoes, and were named rta rmig ma in Tibetan. For small transactions, various consumer goods could be used, among others, these were areca nuts, tobacco, ceremonial scarves and tea Tea was usually traded in the form of tea bricks. This developed into the most important medium of exchange in the 19th century, so far there exists no consent whether these pieces could be regarded as coins. The officials had to convert these into the current monetary standard, lastly a form of gold currency named Sertam is mentioned which had a gold weight of 2 sewas. Fifteen Sertam corresponded to one standard Changsho, the currency unit Gursho was already mentioned by Sarat Chandra Das in his Tibetan-English Dictionary. According to this author 1 Gursho =24 sewas, Chinese silver ingots were used until the 20th century for larger transactions
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History of Thai money
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For Thai people, money was considered as the symbol of civilization. Money itself, reflected belief, faith in religion, culture, customs and traditions of each era and also act as a significant record in the development, the land which is now Thailand was once inhabited by various pre-historic communities. Therefore, these groups of people left a heritage of social culture, in the ancient days of Thai society, before money was created to serve as a medium of exchange, humans traded goods by bartering for products of similar value. However, many products differed in quality, and buyers and sellers differed in their assessments of value, to facilitate product sales, several mutually-agreed commodities came into use as mediums for exchange. The Indo-China Peninsula or “Suvarnabhumi” which means “Golden Peninsula” was the area on which Thailand is presently situated. These ancient kingdoms were a homeland for a variety of diverse races and tribes. They were the regions that were later on known as the Funan Kingdom, Dvaravati Kingdom, Srivijaya Kingdom and they used money as a “medium of exchange” which evolved into different forms of money. Funan was the most important region of Indo–China and became successful in trade during the 1st through 6th centuries. The Funan Kingdom was influenced by India, through trading and religion, the coinage used during that period bears marks symbolizing the monarchy and the religion, these were mostly flat and round coins made from silver. These coins display, on one side, a sun spreading rays between two rows of fish eggs. At the top of each coin the sign of the sun, with the decline of the Funan Kingdom, several kingdoms declared their freedom and independence. They alternated at being the dominant power in the area, including, the regions around the central Chao Phya River basin such as Nakhon Pathom, Rajburi, Supanburi etc. They had become the important cities and formed themselves into the kingdom known as the Kingdom of Dvaravati in the 6th century AD. The Dvaravati Kingdom produced many types of coins as a medium in trade and they revealed, through the designs on the coins, symbols of monarchy and the power of the state, the beliefs of Buddhism and the Bhramin religion. Samples are coins inscribed with the conch, the small conch, the rabbit on a lily leaf. On the reverse side is the Sriwatsa symbol flanked by mohout’s hooks, with the sun and moon on the top, in addition, there are flat coins on one side. On some of these coins appeared the features of Buranaklod, the Dhama wheel, on the reverse side of the coins are the ancient Sanskrit script. Around the 8th century, the Srivijaya Kingdom was “The land of Sea-faring Traders”, merchant ships stopped to seek shelter from the southern monsoons of the Malaysian Peninsula
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Mint (facility)
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A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins that can be used in currency. The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins, in the beginning, hammered coinage or cast coinage were the chief means of coin minting, with resulting production runs numbering as little as the hundreds or thousands. In modern mints, coin dies are manufactured in large numbers, with the mass production of currency, the production cost is weighed when minting coins. For example, it costs the United States Mint much less than 25 cents to make a quarter, metals were well suited to represent wealth, owing to their great intrinsic value and their durability, divisibility and rarity. The first mint was established in Lydia in the 7th century BC, for coining gold, silver. The Lydian innovation of manufacturing coins under the authority of the spread to neighboring Greece. Some of the earliest Greek mints were within city-states on Greek islands such as Crete, at about the same time, coins and mints appeared independently in China and spread to Korea and Japan. The manufacture of coins in the Roman Empire, dating from about the 4th century BC, the origin of the word mint is ascribed to the manufacture of silver coin at Rome in 269 BC at the temple of Juno Moneta. This goddess became the personification of money, and her name was applied both to money and to its place of manufacture, Roman mints were spread widely across the Empire, and were sometimes used for propaganda purposes. The populace often learned of a new Roman Emperor when coins appeared with the new Emperors portrait, Ancient coins were made by casting in moulds or by striking between engraved dies. The Romans cast their larger copper coins in clay moulds carrying distinctive markings, not because they knew nothing of striking, casting is now used only by counterfeiters. The most ancient coins were cast in bulletshaped or conical moulds, the blank or unmarked piece of metal was placed on a small anvil, and the die was held in position with tongs. The reverse or lower side of the received a rectangular mark made by the sharp edges of the little anvil. Subsequently the anvil was marked in ways, and decorated with letters and figures of beasts. The spherical blanks soon gave place to lenticular-shaped ones, the blank was made red-hot and struck between cold dies. One blow was usually insufficient, and the method was similar to that used in striking medals in high relief. With the substitution of iron for bronze as the material for dies, about 300 AD, in the Middle Ages bars of metal were cast and hammered out on an anvil. Portions of the sheets were then cut out with shears
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Coining (mint)
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In minting, coining or coinage is the process of manufacturing coins using a kind of stamping which is now generically known in metalworking as coining. This process is different from cast coinage, and can be classified in hammered coinage or hammering, a coin die is one of the two metallic pieces that are used to strike a coin, one per each side of the coin. A die contains a version of the image to be struck on the coin. Modern dies made out of hardened steel are capable of producing hundreds of thousands of coins before they are retired and defaced. Prior to the era, coin dies were manufactured individually by hand by artisans known as engravers. In demanding times, such as the crisis of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century, the die that was on the hammer side, usually the reverse, tended to wear out first. The planchets were usually hot prior to striking, on some Roman provincial coins, some believe the tongs used to move the heated planchet left permanent center indentations on the finished coins. Others attribute these marks to surfacing tools used as a part of planchet preparation, experimental archeology suggests that a lower die could be expected to last for up to 10,000 strikes depending on the level of wear deemed acceptable. Upper dies seem to have a far greater range of lives with usable lives ranging from just over 100 strikes to nearly 8000 being reported, combining archaeological evidence with historic records suggests ancient coin producers could get as many as 47,000 strikes out of an individual die. Medieval engravers were guild members who created coins, the vast majority of medieval coins were cold struck, the planchets were not heated. While medieval coin dies were made of iron, some dies have been discovered with a small region at the face of the die which is made of steel. As technology and the economy changed over the course of the Middle Ages, while most ancient coin dies used engraving very heavily, early medieval coinage was dominated by dies created mostly from punches, which displace the metal of the die instead of removing it. There is evidence of medieval die cutters using engraving tools to lay out designs, however, engraving on the face of the die did not become commonplace until the early Renaissance. Very detailed records exist for the Venetian mint, in the late Middle Ages, the dies used to create tornesellos lasted as follows, hammer die, ~17,000 strikes, anvil die,36,000 strikes. The mint made an average of 20,000 coins per day, so they were making one hammer die a day, the hammer dies wore out quicker because they tended to be smaller and were hit directly with a hammer, leading to severe mushrooming on the tops. First, an artist creates a large model of the coin. The plaster model is then coated with rubber, the rubber mold is then used to make an epoxy galvano. All of this place on a scale of around eight inches
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Milled coinage
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In numismatics, the term milled coinage is used to describe coins which are produced by some form of machine, rather than by manually hammering coin blanks between two dies or casting coins from dies. Until 1550, coinage techniques used in European mints had not progressed from the coinage of Ancient Greece. This was problematic because an increase in the supply of bullion from central Europe and that led to low quality coins which were easily forged or clipped, i. e. precious metal was shaved from the edges of the coins. In accordance with Greshams law, the clipped and forged coins drove good coins out of circulation and this technology was significantly more advanced than the general manufacturing processes of the sixteenth century making the coins difficult to counterfeit. The negotiations which obtained rights to the process for France were so secret that the inventor was identified with a codename, but he was most likely Marx Schwab. Aubin Olivier went to Augsburg to learn the technique and Henry II of France made him chief engineer of a mint in Paris, called the Moulin des Étuves. This mint produced well-struck and perfectly round gold and silver coins, in England, a 1560 proclamation of Elizabeth I exchanged old debased coins for new pure coins. The Tower Mint added machinery to its hammering for this “great recoinage”, eloy Mestrelle did the technology transfer from France but when the great recoinage ended mint authorities found him redundant and in 1578 he was hanged for counterfeiting. Yet another Frenchman, Peter Blondeau, provided machinery for a proposed coinage designed by Thomas Simon with Oliver Cromwell’s portrait, the restoration of 1660 ended that, but in 1662 Charles II recalled Blondeau to establish a permanent machine made coinage. He employed a secret process for placing lettering or other designs on the edges of coins, the inscription chosen for the edge—DECVS ET TVTAMEN, meaning an ornament and a safeguard—refers to the protection against clipping which the lettered edge provided. In accordance with Gresham’s law, however, the inferior hammered coins limited the circulation of his coins until the coins were demonetized in 1695. Meanwhile, in continental Europe, France readopted machine made coins in 1639, both machine made and hammered coins continued through the recoinage of French silver in 1641, but this time machine made coinage’s time had come and hammered French coinage ended in 1645. Zurich and Heidelberg experimented with coinage machinery in 1558 and 1567 respectively, unlike the screw press used in France and England, Hall used a roller press. Here two cylindrical dies impressed designs on bullion which rolled between them, coins were then cut from the rolled and impressed metal. This technique spread from Hall to Cologne in 1568, Dresden in 1574, Kremnica in 1577, Danzig in 1577, and other small mints. Its most significant impact occurred when Philip II of Spain used his funds to build a mint at Segovia which used this technique to convert silver from the Americas to coins efficiently. This allowed the king to pay his debts at a better rate than he otherwise could, the Segovia mint was owned by the King’s Royal House but other Spanish mints, which were run by the National Treasury, continued hammered coinage for decades. The Industrial Revolution shifted the focus of the economy from a rural to an urban, money based, the main technology of the Industrial Revolution, the Watt steam engine, also increased the overall level of economic activity
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Hammered coinage
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Hammered coins were produced by placing a blank piece of metal of the correct weight between two dies, and then striking the upper die with a hammer to produce the required image on both sides. The planchet was usually cast from a mold, the bottom die was usually counter sunk in a log or other sturdy surface and was called a pile. One of the held the die for the other side. Experimental archeology suggests that a lower die could be expected to last for up to 10,000 strikes depending on the level of wear deemed acceptable. Upper dies seem to have a far greater range of lives with usable lives ranging from just over 100 strikes to nearly 8000 being reported, combining archaeological evidence with historic records suggests ancient coin producers could get as many as 47,000 strikes out of an individual die. In later history, in order to increase the production of coins, hammered coins were produced from strips of metal of the correct thickness. Both methods of producing hammered coins meant that it was difficult to produce coins of a regular diameter, coins were liable to suffer from clipping where unscrupulous people would remove slivers of precious metal since it was difficult to determine the correct diameter of the coin. Coins were also vulnerable to sweating, which is silver coins would be placed in a bag that would be vigorously shaken. This would produce silver dust, which could later be removed from the bag, the ability to fashion coins from machines caused hammered coins to become gradually obsolete during the 17th century. They were still made in Venice until the 1770s, france became the first country to adopt a full machine-made coin in 1643. An alternative method of producing early coins, particularly found in Asia and this method of coin production continued in China into the nineteenth century. Up to a couple of coins could be produced at one time from a single mold, when a tree of coins would be produced
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Cast coinage
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Cast coinage refers to coins made by pouring melted metal into a mold, i. e. casting. It has been used for coins, particularly in the Far East. The method differs from the current mode of production, which is done by striking coin blanks that have been cut out of metal sheets. The method has also used by forgers. Traditional Far Eastern cast coins—so-called cash coins—are the most famous example of cast coinage, and were issued from the 4th century BC until circa 1912, predominantly in bronze, brass or iron. Traditional Far Eastern coins were generally cast base metal coins, although silver and gold bars were manufactured, e. g. Chinese sycee, Japanese obans and kobans. Cast potins circulated in Kent from around 100 BC to around 50 BC, at a point during the first century of the Christian era, cast bronze coins were produced in Dorset with archaeological evidence pointing towards Hengistbury Head as the source. By AD200, cast copies of silver denarii were being produced in a number of areas of Britain, while these may have been straightforward forgeries the context in which some of the moulds have been found suggest there may have been at least some elements of semi officialdom
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Exonumia
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Exonumia are numismatic items other than coins and paper money. This includes Good For tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and it is related to numismatics, and many coin collectors are also exonumists. Besides the above definition, others extend it to include non-coins which may or may not be legal tenders such as cheques, credit cards. These can also be considered notaphily or scripophily, the noun exonumia is derived from two classical roots, exo, meaning out-of in Greek, and nummus, meaning coin in Latin, thus, out-of-coins. Usually, the term exonumia is applied to objects in the United States. The words exonumist and exonumia were coined in July 1960 by Russell Rulau, an authority and author on the subject. Chronologically, in the United States many Exonumia items were used as currency when actual money was not easily available in the economy, a notable exception to this definition are Medals, which were generally not used as currency or exchange. See the for clarification section below for distinctions between various branches of exonumia, Tokens were used both to advertise and to facilitate commerce. Token authority Russell Rulau offers a definition for exonumia. For example, an advertising token may also be considered a medal, Good For tokens may also advertise. Counterstamped coins have been called “little billboards. ”Strictly, exonumia is anything not a governmental issue coin and this could almost mean anything coin-like. The English term Para-numismatica, or alongside currency, appears more limiting, hinting that tokens must have some sort of “value” or monetary usage, one definition of Para-numismatica is anything coin-like but not a coin. In America this is not the accepted usage, rulaus 1040 page tome, UNITED STATES TOKENS, 1700-1900 includes many tokens without any monetary value depicted on the token. While he included many items, some types of exonumia were not included just so the book would not get any bigger, the following groupings of categories are continually expanding. One way of parsing tokens is into three general categories, Has a ‘value, ’ facilitating commerce, such as Good For Something. Commemoration, remembrance, dedication, or the like, for person, place. Typically catalogs of tokens are organized by location, time period and/or type of item, historically the need for tokens grew out of the need for currency. In America some tokens legally circulated alongside or instead of currency up until recently, hard Times Tokens and Civil War Tokens each were the size of the contemporary cent
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Credit card
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The card issuer creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance. A credit card is different from a card, where it requires the balance to be repaid in full each month. In contrast, credit cards allow the consumers a continuing balance of debt, a credit card also differs from a cash card, which can be used like currency by the owner of the card. Credit cards have a printed or embossed bank card number complying with the ISO/IEC7812 numbering standard, the card numbers prefix, called the Bank Identification Number, is the sequence of digits at the beginning of the number that determine the bank to which a credit card number belongs. This is the first six digits for MasterCard and Visa cards, the next nine digits are the individual account number, and the final digit is a validity check code. Both of these standards are maintained and further developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17/WG1, Credit cards have a magnetic stripe conforming to the ISO/IEC7813. Many modern credit cards have a chip embedded in them as a security feature. In addition to the credit card number, credit cards also carry issue and expiration dates, as well as extra codes such as issue numbers. Not all credit cards have the sets of extra codes nor do they use the same number of digits. The concept of using a card for purchases was described in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward. Bellamy used the credit card eleven times in this novel, although this referred to a card for spending a citizens dividend from the government. Charge coins and other items were used from the late 19th century to the 1930s. They came in various shapes and sizes, with materials made out of celluloid, copper, aluminum, steel, each charge coin usually had a little hole, enabling it to be put in a key ring, like a key. These charge coins were given to customers who had charge accounts in department stores, hotels. A charge coin usually had the account number along with the merchants name. The charge coin offered a simple and fast way to copy a charge account number to the sales slip and this sped the process of copying, previously done by handwriting. It also reduced the number of errors, by having a form of numbers on the sales slip. Because the customers name was not on the coin, almost anyone could use it
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Medal
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A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for sporting, military, scientific, academic, or various other achievements. Military awards and decorations are more precise terms for types of state decoration. Medals may also be created for sale to commemorate particular individuals or events, an artist who creates medals or medallions is called a medallist or medalist. There are also devotional medals which may be worn for religious reasons, Medals have long been popular collectible items either as a variety of exonumia or of militaria. Medallions may also be called table medals because they are too large to be worn and can only be displayed on a wall, table top, desk, the word medallion has the same ultimate derivation, but this time through the Italian medaglione, meaning large medal. The main or front surface of a medal is termed the obverse, the reverse, or back surface of the medal, is not always used and may be left blank or may contain a secondary design. It is not uncommon to only an artistic rendering on the obverse, while all details. The rim is only occasionally employed to display an inscription such as a motto, privy mark, engraver symbol, assayer’s marking. Medals that are intended to be hung from a ribbon also include a suspension piece at the crest with which to loop a suspension ring through. It is through the ring that a ribbon is run or folded so the medal may hang pendent, Medals pinned to the breast use only a small cut of ribbon that is attached to a top bar where the brooch pin is affixed. Top bars may be hidden under the ribbon so they are not visible, be a device from which the ribbon attaches. Some top bars are elaborate and contain a whole design unto themselves, Medals that are made with inexpensive material might be gilded, silver-plated, chased, or finished in a variety of other ways to improve their appearance. Medals have also made of rock, gemstone, ivory, glass, porcelain, terra cotta, coal, wood, paper, enamel, lacquerware. Honorary awards, as a button, which it is custom to give the kings kinsmen. Roman emperors used both military awards of medals, and political gifts of medallions that were very large coins, usually in gold or silver. Both these and actual golden coins were often set as pieces of jewellery, the bracteate is a type of thin gold medal, usually plain on the reverse, found in Northern Europe from the so-called Dark Ages or Migration Period. They often have suspension loops and were intended to be worn on a chain as jewellery. They imitate, at a distance, Roman imperial coins and medallions, the surviving example is mounted for wearing as jewellery
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Token coin
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In the study of numismatics, token coins or trade tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of tokens is part of exonumia and token coins are token money, Tokens either have a denomination shown or implied by size, color or shape. Tokens are often made of metals, copper, pewter, aluminium, brass and tin were commonly used, while bakelite, leather, porcelain. In the case of currency issued by a company but also recognized by the state there is a convergence between tokens and currency. In their purest form, currency tokens issued by a crossed the boundary of merely being trade tokens when they were sanctioned by the local government authority. This was sometimes a measure resulting from a shortage of money or the governments inability to issue its own coinage. In effect, the organization behind the tokens became the regional bank, a classic example of this is the Strachan and Co trade tokens of East Griqualand in South Africa which were used as currency by the indigenous people in the region from 1874. Their initial success resulted from the scarcity of small change in this region from that time. Similarly, in times of inflation, tokens have sometimes taken on a currency role. An example of this is Italian or Israeli telephone tokens, which were good for the same service even as prices increased. New York City Subway tokens were also accepted sometimes in trade, or even in parking meters, coin-like objects from the Roman Empire called spintria have been interpreted as a form of early tokens. Their functions are not known from history, but they appear to have been brothel tokens or possibly gaming tokens. Medieval English monasteries issued tokens to pay for services from outsiders and these tokens circulated in nearby villages where they were called Abbots money. Also, counters called jetons were used as small change without official blessing, the token was in effect a pledge redeemable in goods but not necessarily for currency. These tokens never received official sanction from government but were accepted and circulated quite widely and this shortage was felt more keenly because of the rapid growth of trade in the towns and cities, and this in turn prompted both local authorities and merchants to issue tokens. These tokens were most commonly made of copper or brass, but pewter, lead, most were not given a specific denomination and were intended to pass as farthings, but there are also a large number of halfpenny and sometimes penny tokens. Halfpenny and penny tokens usually, but not always, bear the denomination on their face, most such tokens indicate the name of their issuer, which might either be his or her full name or initials. Where initials were provided, it was practice to provide three—one for the surname
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Cheque
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A cheque or check is a document that orders a bank to pay a specific amount of money from a persons account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing the cheque, the drawer, has a banking account where their money is held. Cheques are a type of bill of exchange and were developed as a way to make payments without the need to carry large amounts of money, both the drawer and payee may be natural persons or legal entities. Cheques are order instruments, and are not in general payable simply to the bearer as bearer instruments are, in some countries, such as the US, the payee may endorse the cheque, allowing them to specify a third party to whom it should be paid. By the second half of the 20th century, as cheque processing became automated, billions of cheques were issued annually, since then cheque usage has fallen, being partly replaced by electronic payment systems. In an increasing number of countries cheques have either become a marginal payment system or have been phased out. The spellings check, checque, and cheque were used interchangeably from the 17th century until the 20th century, in American English, the usual spelling for both is check. The cheque had its origins in the ancient banking system, in which bankers would issue orders at the request of their customers, such an order was referred to as a bill of exchange. The use of bills of exchange facilitated trade by eliminating the need for merchants to carry large quantities of currency to purchase goods, the ancient Romans are believed to have used an early form of cheque known as praescriptiones in the 1st century BC. Muslim traders are known to have used the cheque or ṣakk system since the time of Harun al-Rashid of the Abbasid Caliphate, transporting a paper saqq was more secure than transporting money. In the 9th century, a merchant in country A could cash a saqq drawn on his bank in country B. In the 13th century in Venice the bill of exchange was developed as a device to allow international trade without the need to carry large amounts of gold. Their use subsequently spread to other European countries, in the early 1500s in the Dutch Republic, to protect large accumulations of cash, people began depositing their money with cashiers. These cashiers held the money for a fee, competition drove cashiers to offer additional services including paying money to any person bearing a written order from a depositor to do so. They kept the note as proof of payment and this concept went on to spread to England and elsewhere. By the 17th century, bills of exchange were being used for payments in England. Cheques, a type of bill of exchange, then began to evolve, initially they were called drawn notes, because they enabled a customer to draw on the funds that he or she had in the account with a bank and required immediate payment. These were handwritten, and one of the earliest known still to be in existence was drawn on Messrs Morris and Clayton, scriveners and bankers based in the City of London, in 1717, the Bank of England pioneered the first use of a pre-printed form
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Notaphily
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Notaphily is the study and collection of paper currency, and banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes or paper money, particularly as a hobby and it is believed that people have been collecting paper money for as long as it has been in use. While people began collecting paper currency more systematically in the 1940s, the term was devised in this decade by a group of employees working for the collectors and investments firm Stanley Gibbons, in a successful attempt to formalise and encourage interest in the area. In 1961, The International Bank Note Society, was formed as an association of banknote collectors. Nowadays it has thousands of members from around the world, the IBNS publishes the quarterly IBNS Journal, holds regular mail bid auctions, and promotes lectures at congresses. Almost every note of every country and many special and regional issues are cataloged following a format for each entry. An important aspect of collecting banknotes is the condition of items, banknotes in perfect condition, that usually havent circulated are rated as uncirculated and that is the highest classification for a value that a banknote can have. In addition to that, the value for a note in the world paper money catalog is listed for UNC condition. Banknotes are usually graded on a scale of grades. These grades vary somewhat internationally, and as time goes on more grades have been added. e, a light center fold, without rounded corners. Extremely fine - a banknote with one crease or up to three light folds, Paper still bright and attractive, very slight wear to corners allowed. Very Fine - Note still attractive, but possible slight dirt or smudging, no tears, but slight wear to edges and corners is allowable. Fine - Paper is now slightly soft, considerable wear due to folds from use in circulation, minor tears to note, not extending into the design. Clear but not bright in appearance, staple holes but not holes due to folding. Tears can extend into the design, hole at center caused by folding allowable. Good - Very much wear, as VG, but more so, small pieces of the note may be missing Fair - Larger pieces of note torn off/missing, compared with G. Poor - Severe damage due to wear, staining, missing pieces, may be taped together, have pieces missing. In addition to grades, it is common to indicate an in-between grade, such as AU-UNC
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Scripophily
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Scripophily is the study and collection of stock and bond certificates. A specialized field of numismatics, scripophily is an area of collecting due to both the inherent beauty of some documents as well as the interesting historical context of each document. Some stock certificates are excellent examples of engraving, occasionally, an old stock certificate will be found that still has value as a stock in a successor company. Scripophily, the collecting of old stocks and bonds, gained recognition as a hobby around 1970, the word scripophily was coined by combining words from English and Greek. The word scrip represents an ownership right and the word means to love. Today, there are thousands of collectors worldwide in search of scarce, rare, collectors who come from a variety of businesses enjoy this as a hobby, although there are many who also consider scripophily a good investment. Many collectors like the significance of old certificates. Others prefer the beauty of older stocks and bonds that were printed in colors with fancy artwork. In recent times, Dot com companies and scandals have been particularly popular issuances, a recent addition to the hobby is collecting real, live shares issued in ones name. Common companies that issue stock certificates include Walt Disney, Harley-Davidson, McDonalds, Starbucks, Google, Ford Motors, Coca-Cola, again, framing is a popular option for these shares. Many autograph collectors are found in field, looking for signed certificates from John D. A large part of scripophily is the area of financial history, over the years there have been millions of companies which needed to raise money for their business. In order to do so, the founders of these companies issued securities, generally speaking, they either issued an equity security in the form of stock or a debt security in the form of a bond. However, there are varieties of equity and debt instruments. They can be common stock, preferred stock, warrants, cumulative preferred stocks, bonds, zero-coupon bonds, long term bonds, each certificate is a piece of history about a company and its business. Some companies became major successes, while others were acquired and merged with other companies, Some companies and industries were successful until they were replaced by new technologies. Some companies have been the center of scandal or fraud, a lot of companies either were never successful or went bankrupt, so that their certificates became worthless pieces of paper until the hobby of scripophily began. Today, more stocks and bonds are issued electronically, meaning fewer paper certificates are issued as a percentage of stock issued
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Stock
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The stock of a corporation is constituted of the equity stock of its owners. A single share of the stock represents fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the number of shares. In liquidation, the stock represents the residual assets of the company that would be due to stockholders after discharge of all senior claims such as secured and unsecured debt. Stockholders equity cannot be withdrawn from the company in a way that is intended to be detrimental to the companys creditors, the stock of a corporation is partitioned into shares, the total of which are stated at the time of business formation. Additional shares may subsequently be authorized by the shareholders and issued by the company. In some jurisdictions, each share of stock has a certain declared par value, in other jurisdictions, however, shares of stock may be issued without associated par value. Shares represent a fraction of ownership in a business, a business may declare different types of shares, each having distinctive ownership rules, privileges, or share values. Ownership of shares may be documented by issuance of a stock certificate. A stock certificate is a document that specifies the amount of shares owned by the shareholder. Stock typically takes the form of shares of common stock or preferred stock. As a unit of ownership, common stock typically carries voting rights that can be exercised in corporate decisions, shares of such stock are called convertible preferred shares. New equity issue may have specific legal clauses attached that differentiate them from previous issues of the issuer. Some shares of stock may be issued without the typical voting rights, for instance, or some shares may have special rights unique to them. Often, new issues that have not been registered with a governing body may be restricted from resale for certain periods of time. Preferred stock may be hybrid by having the qualities of bonds of fixed returns and they also have preference in the payment of dividends over common stock and also have been given preference at the time of liquidation over common stock. They have other features of accumulation in dividend, Rule 144 Stock is an American term given to shares of stock subject to SEC Rule 144, Selling Restricted and Control Securities. Under Rule 144, restricted and controlled securities are acquired in unregistered form, investors either purchase or take ownership of these securities through private sales from the issuing company or from an affiliate of the issuer. Investors wishing to sell these securities are subject to different rules than those selling traditional common or preferred stock and these individuals will only be allowed to liquidate their securities after meeting the specific conditions set forth by SEC Rule 144
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Bond (finance)
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In finance, a bond is an instrument of indebtedness of the bond issuer to the holders. The most common types of bonds include municipal bonds and corporate bonds, interest is usually payable at fixed intervals. Very often the bond is negotiable, that is, the ownership of the instrument can be transferred in the secondary market and this means that once the transfer agents at the bank medallion stamp the bond, it is highly liquid on the second market. Thus, a bond is a form of loan or IOU, the holder of the bond is the lender, the issuer of the bond is the borrower, and the coupon is the interest. Bonds provide the borrower with funds to finance long-term investments, or, in the case of government bonds. Certificates of deposit or short term commercial paper are considered to be money market instruments and not bonds, the main difference is in the length of the term of the instrument. Bonds and stocks are both securities, but the difference between the two is that stockholders have an equity stake in the company, whereas bondholders have a creditor stake in the company. Being a creditor, bondholders have priority over stockholders and this means they will be repaid in advance of stockholders, but will rank behind secured creditors in the event of bankruptcy. Another difference is that usually have a defined term, or maturity, after which the bond is redeemed. An exception is a bond, such as a consol, which is a perpetuity, that is. Bonds are issued by authorities, credit institutions, companies. The most common process for issuing bonds is through underwriting, when a bond issue is underwritten, one or more securities firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy the entire issue of bonds from the issuer and re-sell them to investors. The security firm takes the risk of being unable to sell on the issue to end investors. Primary issuance is arranged by bookrunners who arrange the bond issue, have contact with investors and act as advisers to the bond issuer in terms of timing. The bookrunner is listed first among all participating in the issuance in the tombstone ads commonly used to announce bonds to the public. The bookrunners willingness to underwrite must be discussed prior to any decision on the terms of the issue as there may be limited demand for the bonds. In contrast, government bonds are issued in an auction. In some cases, both members of the public and banks may bid for bonds, in other cases, only market makers may bid for bonds
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Glossary of numismatics
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This article is a collection of Numismatic and coin collecting terms with concise explanation for the beginner or professional. Numismatics is the study of money and its history in all its varied forms. While numismatists are often characterized as studying coins, the discipline includes the study of banknotes, stock certificates, medals, medallions. Sub-fields or related fields of numismatics are, Exonumia, is the study of objects such as token coins and medals. Notaphily, is the study of money or banknotes. Scripophily, is the study and collection of stocks and bonds, adjustment The filing down of a blank to the correct weight before striking, shown by file marks. File marks are still visible on the surface of a coin even after being struck. Alliance coinage Coins minted by two or more state governments in conjunction, the Euro coins would be an example of this. Alloy Homogeneous mixture of two or more elements, where the compound has metallic properties. Common coin alloys include cupro-nickel and bronze, altered Date False date put on a coin to defraud collectors, usually to make it appear more valuable. Such alterations are often spotted with the aid of a magnifying glass. Anepigraphic coin Coin without an inscription, many ancient coins used only a simple picture of an animal to show value or weight. Annealing Process of heating and cooling metal in order to relieve stresses and this is often done with coin blanks to make the metal less brittle before striking. Assay Test to ascertain the weight and purity of a coin, attribution Identifier of a coin such as date, mint, denomination, or variety. Bag Mark Surface mark, or nick, on a coin usually from contact with other coins in a mint bag, more often seen on large gold or silver coins. Bankers Mark A small countermark applied to a coin by a bank or a trader indicating that they consider the coin to be genuine and of legal weight. Most often found on ancient and medieval coins, but also on coins which circulated in China and Japan. Base metal Non-precious metal or alloy containing no gold or silver, common base metals used in coinage include nickel and copper
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Casino token
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Casino tokens are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal, injection-molded plastic or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, Casino tokens are also widely used as play money in casual or tournament games. Some casinos also use gaming plaques for high-stakes table games. Plaques differ from chips in that they are larger, usually rectangular in shape, money is exchanged for tokens in a casino at the casino cage, at the gaming tables, or at a cashier station. The tokens are interchangeable with money at the casino and they generally have no value outside of the casino, but certain businesses in gambling towns may honor them informally. Tokens are employed for several reasons, because of the uniform size, shape, and patterns of stacks of chips, they are easier to tally compared to currency. This attribute also enables the pit boss or security to quickly verify the amount being paid, the uniform weight of the casinos official tokens allows them to weigh great stacks or heaps of chips rather than tally them. Furthermore, it is observed that consumers gamble more freely with replacement currencies than with cash, lastly, the chips are considered to be an integral part of the casino environment, and replacing them with some alternate currency would be unpopular. While some casinos which installed the system had kept the $1 tokens around for use as $1 chips. Most casinos using receipts have automated machines at which customers may redeem receipts, eliminating the need for coin counting windows, Casino chip collecting is a part of numismatics, more specifically as specialized exonumia collecting. This hobby has become popular with the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club formed in 1988. Some collectors may value certain casino tokens up to $100,000, several casinos sell custom-made sets of chips and one or two decks of cards stamped with the name of the casino on them. Each set is contained in a briefcase or box. The ancestors of the modern casino token were the used to keep score in the card games Ombre. In 1752, French Quadrille sets contained a number of different counters, known as jetons, fiches, in the early history of Poker during the 19th century, players seemed to use any small valuable object imaginable. Early poker players sometimes used jagged gold pieces, gold nuggets, gold dust, or coins as well as chips primarily made of ivory, bone, wood, paper, several companies between the 1880s and the late 1930s made clay composition poker chips. There were over 1000 designs from which to choose, most chips were white, red, blue, and yellow, but they could be made in almost any color desired. The vast majority of casino chips are clay chips but can be more accurately described as compression molded chips
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Commemorative coin
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Commemorative coins are coins that were issued to commemorate some particular event or issue. Most world commemorative coins were issued from the 1960s onward, although there are examples of commemorative coins of earlier date. Such coins have a design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this serve as collectors items only, although some countries are also issuing commemorative coins for regular circulation. Vast numbers of coins are continuously being issued, highlighting ancient monuments or sites, historical personalities. While such thematic coins may or may not commemorate any event or jubilee. Circulating commemoratives are intended to be used for commerce, but the design will only be issued for a time, is intended to draw some attention to a specific event or person. Examples include the €2 commemorative coins, or U. S.50 State Quarters, non-circulating legal tender are coins which are legal tender, and thus can in theory be used to purchase goods or services, but are not intended to be used in such a manner. Rather, they are intended to be used only as souvenirs, historically, the coins issued by any state have always reflected the current political or economic situation. Many ancient and pre-modern coins certainly commemorate events in contemporary times, for instance, Roman coins often have references to military campaigns and the defeat of foreign powers. These reverse types often represent the subordination of recently conquered territories to Roman authority. Such coins are examples of ancient political propaganda, the Roman Empire may be represented by a proud warrior raising an undersized figure, representing the defeated enemy. Throughout history, coins have commonly been issued on special occasions, in some cases, emergency money have been issued under unfavourable conditions, such as a city under siege. Such emergency coins were issued in Vienna in 1529, while the city was besieged by the troops of the Ottoman Empire, due to the conditions at the time, such coins are frequently minted on square flans, rather than round ones. European square coins of this era are known by their German name klippe, coins might also be issued with the specific purpose of financing a military campaign, or for the payment of tribute or war indemnity by a feudal lord to his sovereign. During recent centuries, specially prepared coins have been issued to proclaim the coronation of a new monarch, such coins are known as largesse coins. This type of coins were issued in India during the Mughal era, in Europe, such coins were scattered from the royal chariot, to achieve attention and applause from the public. In Sweden, coins of this type were issued as late as 1873, during the era of the formation of the European nation states, the issuance of special coins explicitly commemorating various events became increasingly common
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Pebble
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A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 2 to 64 millimetres based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules and smaller than cobbles, a rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate. Pebble tools are among the earliest known man-made artifacts, dating from the Palaeolithic period of human history, a beach composed chiefly of surface pebbles is commonly termed a shingle beach. This type of beach has armoring characteristics with respect to wave erosion, as well as ecological niches that provide habitat for animals and plants. Inshore banks of shingle exist in locations, such as the entrance to the River Ore. Pebbles come in colors and textures and can have streaks, known as veins. Pebbles are mostly smooth but, dependent on how frequently they come in contact with the sea, pebbles left above the high water mark may have growths of organisms such as lichen on them, signifying the lack of contact with seawater. Pebbles are found in two locations – on the beaches of various oceans and seas, and inland where ancient seas used to cover the land, when then the seas retreated, the rocks became landlocked. They can also be found in lakes and ponds, pebbles can also form in rivers, and travel into estuaries where the smoothing continues in the sea. Beach pebbles and river pebbles are distinct in their geological formation, beach pebbles form gradually over time as the ocean water washes over loose rock particles. The result is a smooth, rounded appearance, the typical size range is from 2 mm to 50 mm. The colors range from translucent white to black, and include shades of yellow, brown, red and green. Some of the more plentiful pebble beaches are found along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, beginning in the United States and extending down to the tip of South America in Argentina. Other pebble beaches are found in northern Europe, along the coast of the U. K. and Ireland, on the shores of Australia, inland pebbles are usually found along the shores of large rivers and lakes. These pebbles form as the water washes over rock particles on the bottom. The smoothness and color of river pebbles depends on several factors, such as the composition of the soil of the banks, the chemical characteristics of the water. Because river current is gentler than the waves, river pebbles are usually not as smooth as beach pebbles. The most common colors of rock are black, grey, green, brown
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Arabic numerals
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In this numeral system, a sequence of digits such as 975 is read as a single number, using the position of the digit in the sequence to interpret its value. The symbol for zero is the key to the effectiveness of the system, the system was adopted by Arab mathematicians in Baghdad and passed on to the Arabs farther west. There is some evidence to suggest that the numerals in their current form developed from Arabic letters in the Maghreb, the current form of the numerals developed in North Africa, distinct in form from the Indian and eastern Arabic numerals. The use of Arabic numerals spread around the world through European trade, books, the term Arabic numerals is ambiguous. It most commonly refers to the widely used in Europe. Arabic numerals is also the name for the entire family of related numerals of Arabic. It may also be intended to mean the numerals used by Arabs and it would be more appropriate to refer to the Arabic numeral system, where the value of a digit in a number depends on its position. The decimal Hindu–Arabic numeral system was developed in India by AD700, the development was gradual, spanning several centuries, but the decisive step was probably provided by Brahmaguptas formulation of zero as a number in AD628. The system was revolutionary by including zero in positional notation, thereby limiting the number of digits to ten. It is considered an important milestone in the development of mathematics, one may distinguish between this positional system, which is identical throughout the family, and the precise glyphs used to write the numerals, which varied regionally. The glyphs most commonly used in conjunction with the Latin script since early modern times are 0123456789. The first universally accepted inscription containing the use of the 0 glyph in India is first recorded in the 9th century, in an inscription at Gwalior in Central India dated to 870. Numerous Indian documents on copper plates exist, with the symbol for zero in them, dated back as far as the 6th century AD. Inscriptions in Indonesia and Cambodia dating to AD683 have also been found and their work was principally responsible for the diffusion of the Indian system of numeration in the Middle East and the West. In the 10th century, Middle-Eastern mathematicians extended the decimal system to include fractions. The decimal point notation was introduced by Sind ibn Ali, who wrote the earliest treatise on Arabic numerals. Ghubar numerals themselves are probably of Roman origin, some popular myths have argued that the original forms of these symbols indicated their numeric value through the number of angles they contained, but no evidence exists of any such origin. In 825 Al-Khwārizmī wrote a treatise in Arabic, On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals, Algoritmi, the translators rendition of the authors name, gave rise to the word algorithm
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Zero (number)
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0 is both a number and the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals. The number 0 fulfills a role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers. As a digit,0 is used as a placeholder in place value systems, names for the number 0 in English include zero, nought or naught, nil, or—in contexts where at least one adjacent digit distinguishes it from the letter O—oh or o. Informal or slang terms for zero include zilch and zip, ought and aught, as well as cipher, have also been used historically. The word zero came into the English language via French zéro from Italian zero, in pre-Islamic time the word ṣifr had the meaning empty. Sifr evolved to mean zero when it was used to translate śūnya from India, the first known English use of zero was in 1598. The Italian mathematician Fibonacci, who grew up in North Africa and is credited with introducing the system to Europe. This became zefiro in Italian, and was contracted to zero in Venetian. The Italian word zefiro was already in existence and may have influenced the spelling when transcribing Arabic ṣifr, modern usage There are different words used for the number or concept of zero depending on the context. For the simple notion of lacking, the words nothing and none are often used, sometimes the words nought, naught and aught are used. Several sports have specific words for zero, such as nil in football, love in tennis and it is often called oh in the context of telephone numbers. Slang words for zero include zip, zilch, nada, duck egg and goose egg are also slang for zero. Ancient Egyptian numerals were base 10 and they used hieroglyphs for the digits and were not positional. By 1740 BC, the Egyptians had a symbol for zero in accounting texts. The symbol nfr, meaning beautiful, was used to indicate the base level in drawings of tombs and pyramids. By the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the Babylonian mathematics had a sophisticated sexagesimal positional numeral system, the lack of a positional value was indicated by a space between sexagesimal numerals. By 300 BC, a symbol was co-opted as a placeholder in the same Babylonian system. In a tablet unearthed at Kish, the scribe Bêl-bân-aplu wrote his zeros with three hooks, rather than two slanted wedges, the Babylonian placeholder was not a true zero because it was not used alone
42.
Penny
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A penny is a coin or a unit of currency in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius, it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system, presently, it is the formal name of the British penny and the informal name of one American cent as well as the informal Irish designation of 1 cent euro coin. It is the name of the cent unit of account in Canada. The name is used in reference to various historical currencies also derived from the Carolingian system, such as the French denier. It may also be used to refer to any similar smallest-denomination coin. The Carolingian penny was originally a. 940-fine silver coin weighing 1/240 pound, the British penny remained a silver coin until the expense of the Napoleonic Wars prompted the use of base metals in 1797. Despite the decimalization of currencies in the United States and, later, throughout the British Commonwealth, no penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings, halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts. Penny is first attested in a 1394 Scots text, a variant of Old English peni, a development of numerous variations including pennig, penning, and pending. The etymology of the penny is uncertain, although cognates are common across almost all Germanic languages and suggest a base *pan-, *pann-. Recently, it has proposed that it may represent an early borrowing of Punic PN. Following decimalization, the British and Irish coins were marked new penny until 1982 and 1985, the regular plural pennies fell out of use in England from the 16th century, except in reference to coins considered individually. The informal name for the American cent seems to have spread from New York, in British English, prior to decimalization, values from two to eleven pence and of twenty pence are often written and spoken as a single word, as twopence, threepence, &c. Where a single coin represented a number of pence, it was treated as a single noun, thus, a threepence would be single coin of that value whereas three pence would be its value and three pennies would be three penny coins. In British English, divisions of a penny were added to such combinations without a conjunction, as sixpence-farthing, adjectival use of such coins used the ending -penny, as sixpenny. The British abbreviation d. derived from the Latin denarius and it followed the amount after a space. It has been replaced since decimalization by p, usually written without a space or period, from this abbreviation, it is common to speak of pennies and values in pence as p. In North America, it is common to abbreviate cents with the currency symbol ¢, elsewhere, it is usually written with a simple c. The medieval silver penny was modeled on similar coins in antiquity, such as the Greek drachma, the Carthaginian shekel, forms of these seem to have reached as far as Norway and Sweden
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
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Low Countries
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Most of the Low Countries are coastal regions bounded by the North Sea or the English Channel. The countries without access to the sea have linked themselves politically and economically to those with access to one union of port. The Low Countries were the scene of the northern towns, newly built rather than developed from ancient centres. In that period, they rivaled northern Italy for the most densely populated region of Europe, all of the regions mainly depended on trade, manufacturing and the encouragement of the free flow of goods and craftsmen. Germanic languages such as Dutch and Luxembourgish were the predominant languages, secondary languages included French, Romance-speaking Belgium, the Romance Flanders, and Namur. Governor Mary of Hungary used both the expressions les pays de par deça and Pays dEmbas, which evolved to Pays-Bas or Low Countries, today the term is typically fitted to modern political boundaries and used in the same way as the term Benelux, which also includes Luxembourg. The name of the country the Netherlands has the same meaning. The same name of countries can be found in other European languages, for example German Niederlande, French, les Pays-Bas, and so on. In the Dutch language itself no plural is used for the name of the modern country, so Nederland is used for the modern nation and de Nederlanden for the 16th century domains of Charles V. In Dutch, and to an extent in English, the Low Countries colloquially means the Netherlands and Belgium, sometimes the Netherlands. For example, a Derby der Lage Landen, is an event between Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgium was renamed only in 1830, after splitting from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, politically, before the Napoleonic wars, it was referred to as the Southern, Spanish or later Austrian Netherlands. It is still referred to as part of the low countries, the region politically had its origins in Carolingian empire, more precisely, most of it was within the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia. After the disintegration of Lower Lotharingia, the Low Countries were brought under the rule of various lordships until they came to be in the hands of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Hence, a part of the low countries came to be referred to as the Burgundian Netherlands also called the Seventeen Provinces up to 1581. Even after the secession of the autonomous Dutch Republic in the north. The Low Countries were part of the Roman provinces of Gallia Belgica, Germania Inferior and they were inhabited by Belgic and Germanic tribes. In the 4th and 5th century, Frankish tribes had entered this Roman region and they came to be ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, under which dynasty the southern part was re-Christianised
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Nuremberg
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Nuremberg is a city on the river Pegnitz and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia, about 170 kilometres north of Munich. It is the second-largest city in Bavaria, and the largest in Franconia, the population as of February 2015, is 517,498, which makes it Germanys fourteenth-largest city. The urban area also includes Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a population of 763,854. The European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg has ca.3.5 million inhabitants, Nuremberg was, according to the first documentary mention of the city in 1050, the location of an Imperial castle between the East Franks and the Bavarian March of the Nordgau. From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes, Nuremberg is often referred to as having been the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly because Imperial Diet and courts met at Nuremberg Castle. The Diets of Nuremberg were an important part of the structure of the empire. The increasing demand of the court and the increasing importance of the city attracted increased trade. Nuremberg soon became, with Augsburg, one of the two great trade centers on the route from Italy to Northern Europe. In 1298, the Jews of the town were accused of having desecrated the host, behind the massacre of 1298 was also the desire to combine the northern and southern parts of the city, which were divided by the Pegnitz. The Jews of the German lands suffered many massacres during the plague years, in 1349, Nurembergs Jews were subjected to a pogrom. They were burned at the stake or expelled, and a marketplace was built over the former Jewish quarter, the plague returned to the city in 1405,1435,1437,1482,1494,1520 and 1534. Charles was the patron of the Frauenkirche, built between 1352 and 1362, where the Imperial court worshipped during its stays in Nuremberg. Charles IV conferred upon the city the right to conclude alliances independently, frequent fights took place with the burgraves without, however, inflicting lasting damage upon the city. Through these and other acquisitions the city accumulated considerable territory, the Hussite Wars, recurrence of the Black Death in 1437, and the First Margrave War led to a severe fall in population in the mid-15th century. During the Middle Ages, Nurembergs literary culture was rich, varied, the cultural flowering of Nuremberg, in the 15th and 16th centuries, made it the centre of the German Renaissance. In 1525, Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation, and in 1532, during the 1552 revolution against Charles V, Nuremberg tried to purchase its neutrality, but the city was attacked without a declaration of war and was forced into a disadvantageous peace. The state of affairs in the early 16th century, increased trade routes elsewhere, frequent quartering of Imperial, Swedish and League soldiers, the financial costs of the war and the cessation of trade caused irreparable damage to the city and a near-halving of the population. In 1632, the city, occupied by the forces of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, was besieged by the army of Imperial general Albrecht von Wallenstein, the city declined after the war and recovered its importance only in the 19th century, when it grew as an industrial centre
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Escutcheon (heraldry)
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In heraldry, an escutcheon is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word is used in two related senses, firstly, as the shield on which a coat of arms is displayed. Escutcheon shapes are derived from actual shields used by knights in combat, other shapes are in use, such as the roundel commonly used for arms granted to Aboriginal Canadians by the Canadian Heraldic Authority. Secondly, a shield can itself be a charge within a coat of arms, more often, a smaller shield is placed over the middle of the main shield as a form of marshalling. In either case, the shield is usually given the same shape as the main shield. When there is one such shield, it is sometimes called an inescutcheon. The word escutcheon is derived from Middle English escochon, from Anglo-Norman escuchon, from Vulgar Latin scūtiōn-, from Latin scūtum, from its use in heraldry, escutcheon can be a metaphor for a familys honour. The idiom a blot on the escutcheon is used to mean a stain on somebodys reputation, by about 1250 the shields used in warfare were almost triangular in shape, referred to as heater shields. That on the monument to the latters grandfather Geoffrey V. This almost equilateral shape is used as a setting for armorials from this classical age of heraldry. In the Tudor era the heraldic escutcheon took the shape of an inverted Tudor arch, continental European designs frequently use the various forms used in jousting, which incorporate mouths used as lance rests into the shields, such escutcheons are known as à bouche. The mouth is correctly shown on the side only, as jousting pitches were designed for right-handed knights. Heraldic examples of English shields à bouche can be seen in the spandrels of the timber roof of Lincolns Inn Hall. In this case the lozenge is without crest or helm, again objects of manly warfare, however, for the practical purpose of categorisation the lozenge may be treated as a variety of heraldic escutcheon. In general a female was represented by her paternal arms impaled by the arms of her husband on an escutcheon, in modern Canadian heraldry, and certain other modern heraldic jurisdictions, women may be granted their own arms and display these on an escutcheon. Life peeresses in England display their arms on a lozenge, an oval or cartouche is occasionally also used instead of the lozenge for armigerous women. Divorced women may theoretically until remarriage use their ex-husbands arms differenced with a mascle, the lozenge shape of quasi-escutcheon is also used for funerary hatchments for both men and women. Pretoria High School for Girls in South Africa is one of the few schools that was granted permission to use the lozenge as part of its coat of arms
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Dutch Revolt
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The southern provinces initially joined in the revolt, but later submitted to Spain. The religious clash of cultures built up gradually but inexorably into outbursts of violence against the repression of the Habsburg Crown. These tensions led to the formation of the independent Dutch Republic, the first leader was William of Orange, followed by several of his descendants and relations. This revolt was one of the first successful secessions in Europe, and led to one of the first European republics of the modern era, King Philip was initially successful in suppressing the rebellion. In 1572, however, the rebels captured Brielle and the rebellion resurged, the northern provinces became independent, first in 1581 de facto, and in 1648 de jure. The Southern Netherlands remained under Spanish rule, the continuous heavy-handed rule by the Habsburgs in the south caused many of its financial, intellectual, and cultural elite to flee north, contributing to the success of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch imposed a blockade on the southern provinces which prevented Baltic grain relieving famine in the southern towns. The first phase of the conflict can be considered to be the Dutch War of Independence, the focus of the latter phase was to gain official recognition of the already de facto independence of the United Provinces. This phase coincided with the rise of the Dutch Republic as a major power, in a series of marriages and conquests, a succession of Dukes of Burgundy expanded their original territory by adding to it a series of fiefdoms, including the Seventeen Provinces. Although Burgundy itself had been lost to France in 1477, the Burgundian Netherlands were still intact when Charles V was born in Ghent in 1500 and he was raised in the Netherlands and spoke fluent Dutch, French, Spanish, and some German. In 1506, he became lord of the Burgundian states, among which were the Netherlands, subsequently, in 1516, he inherited several titles, including the combined kingdoms of Aragon, and Castile and León which had become a worldwide empire with the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In 1519, he became ruler of the Habsburg empire, although Friesland and Guelders offered prolonged resistance, virtually all of the Netherlands had been incorporated into the Habsburg domains by the early 1540s. Flanders had long been a wealthy region, and had been coveted by the French kings for a long time. The other Netherlands had also grown into wealthy and entrepreneurial regions within the empire, Charles Vs empire became a worldwide empire with large American and European territories. The latter were, however, distributed throughout Europe, control and defense of these were hampered by the disparity of the territories and huge length of the empires borders. This large realm was almost continuously at war with its neighbors in its European heartlands, most notably against France in the Italian Wars, further wars were fought against Protestant princes in Germany. The Netherlands paid heavy taxes to fund these wars, but perceived them as unnecessary and sometimes downright harmful, during the 16th century, Protestantism rapidly gained ground in northern Europe. Dutch Protestants, after initial repression, were tolerated by local authorities, by the 1560s, the Protestant community had become a significant influence in the Netherlands, although it clearly formed a minority then
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Payphone
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An equipment usage fee may be charged as additional units, minutes or tariff fee to the collect/third-party, debit, credit, telephone or prepaid calling card when used at payphones. Payphones are often found in public places, by agreement with the landlord, either the phone company pays rent for the location and keeps the revenue, or the landlord pays rent for the phone and shares the revenue. Payphones in countries with unstable currencies have used token coins, available for sale at a local retailer, in some cases these have been upgraded to use magnetic cards or credit card readers. Most payphones in Canada are owned and operated by large telecom providers such as Bell, Telus, in the last 20 years customer-owned coin-operated telephones have also appeared in the market, but their numbers are smaller due to emergence of mobile phones. The cost of most local payphone calls is 50 cents CAD, Pay phones in Alberta were 35 cents for a time, but in most jurisdictions the price simply doubled. Newer phones allow users to use calling cards and credit cards, for coin-paid long distance, COCOTs are less expensive for short calls than incumbent providers. Dialing 0 for operator and 911 calls are still free, as of 2013, there were about 70,000 payphones across the country. The payphone model 23, introduced at Deutsche Bundespost Telekom in 1992, is a software controlled payphone for analog connections. It is equipped with coin, and integrated test program setting, the Payphone 23 consists of two basic units, the equipment part including all the necessary for the operation modules and the secured below the growing payphone cassettes with the coin box. The majority of payphones on the street and in buildings in Japan are installed and maintained by Nippon Telegraph, in the Soviet period different types of payphones were produced. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reform of 1991 this form of payment has become irrelevant. Some payphones have undergone modifications, coin acceptors were altered to accept coins or replace the card reader, for example, in St Petersburg payment for pay phone can be made with metro tokens. In some regions, calls from public phones are free of charge, in the UK payphones have been deregulated. The great majority of them are operated by British Telecom but there are other providers. Manchester, London, Cardiff and Glasgow at the turn of the 21st century have a concentration of non-BT payphones. Since BT has been removing payphones which are unprofitable, have few or no calls made in a financial year, kiosk adoption BT allows local communities to adopt the iconic Red K6 Kiosks due to strong opposition to their removal from the communities that the kiosks reside in. This will mean the removal of the phone, leaving the empty kiosk in-situ, cost From 1 June 2010, BT payphones have £0.60 minimum charge which is for first 30 minutes of any direct dialled national geographic call. Previously the minimum charge was £0.40 for the first 20 minutes of any direct dialled national geographic call, then before November 2006 the minimum charge was £0.30, before 2004 it was £0.20 and before 2000 it was £0.10
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