Can I read The Origin of Electrum Coinage on EtoBox?

The Origin of Electrum Coinage by Robert W. Wallace is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Origin of Electrum Coinage about?

Explanations for the introduction of electrum coinage are of two main types: arguments of practical convenience, based on the premise that the standardized weights of coins eliminated the need for weighing bullion at each transaction; and metallurgical arguments that the manufacture of coins only from electrum, with its variable gold content, was a means either for the state to deceive the public and make a profit, or for private issuers to guarantee the value they placed on particular coins. Recently, it has also been proposed that early coins were bonus payments to employees at the end of service. None of these explanations for the origin of coinage proves satisfactory, and current theories that coinage had some political or ideological purpose pertain only to the diffusion of coinage in Greece. The explanation put forth here proceeds from the variable alloy (and susceptibility to dilution) of natural electrum, and the difficulty of determining that alloy in any given case. Since the inconsistent and largely indeterminable gold content of electrum made its value uncertain, that metal must have been difficult to use as a means of exchange; presumably its market value would also ha

Who reads The Origin of Electrum Coinage?

Author

Robert W. Wallace

Published

1987

Language

EN

Field

Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)