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The History of Gold Coins
From Gold Nugget to Coin One of the oldest forms of money, the first appearance of the gold coin as currency is often disputed. One thing historians can agree on, though, is the fact that gold pieces were an integral part of the trade industry along the Mediterranean dating as far back as the 2nd millennium BC. These gold pieces weren't common currency, however; they were mostly used by accountants or for taxes paid to rulers. It wasn't until the 6th century BC that the first coins were struck, or minted, in western Turkey, and comprised of natural alloy of gold gleaned from the rivers of that area. One side of the coins was stamped with a bull's or lion's head, with the other displaying a seal or simply a punch mark. The Traveling Gold Coin With western Turkey's Lydian king Croesus leading the pack, use of coins quickly spread to the burgeoning Greek cities located across the Aegean Sea. Although the silver coin was initially used, the gold coin soon followed once Philip II of Macedon acquired gold mines in what is now Bulgaria. After Philip II's famous son, Alexander the Great, merged the Greek Empire with the conquered Persian Empire, he obtained a reported 22 metric tonnes of gold coins which had been accumulated by the Persians and who had created the coins using gold sources found on the Oxus river. Once looted by Alexander, gold coins became the primary method of paying armies. The Romans soon adopted this method of paying their legions, as well as Alexander's practice of stamping the Emperor's head on the coin rather than an animal's. Once the Romans adapted the gold coin, it was minted on a scale unsurpassed until modern times, with hundreds of millions of gold coins struck from 200 to 400 AD, or until the fall of the Roman Empire. Almost 1000 years spanned before the gold coin was once again used widely. Byzantine emperors of Constantinople began minting them as the bezant, which then became the famous ducat from Venice. The end of an Era By 1933, the world had stopped minting gold coins as currency. Today, many countries keep the tradition of gold coins alive by minting gold-colored coins to be used as common currency. Legal tender is still created in the form of gold coins, but these are meant for collectors as well as used for investment purposes rather than circulation.
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This intel was contributed by taxman
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May, 2012
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