Gold and Silver Coin World History

Themajor commercial center linking the Asian kingdoms of the east with thecoastal Greek cities of Iionia was Sardis, the capital city of ancientLydia. So it was only natural that the first coins ever madewould start here. Around 650 BC, give or take 10 years either way,coins with the head of a Lion first appeared and was used as the firstsystem of bimetallic currency. These first coins were made of a metalcalled electrum, an uneven mixture of gold and silver, and sometimeshad small traces of copper and or other metals in it.

In Lydia, the most used coins was minted into the weight 4.76 grams,These were called the trites and valued at 1/3rd a stater. Three ofthese coins weighted about 14.1 grams, and equaled one stater. A staterbeing about one month’s pay for a soldier. One stater size coins aswell as smaller fractions were minted also: the trite 1/3rd, the aforementioned coin, the hekte 1/6th, 1/12th, 1/24th, 1/48th and down to1/96th of a stater.

It didn’t take long for the Greek cities of Ionia to start usingelectrum to start making their own coins. Widespread trading ofelectrum made coins was somewhat hampered however. Because of theuneven mixture of gold and silver, it was rather difficult to determinethe exact worth of each coin. For this reason a foreign merchant wouldoffer very low undervalued rates on local electrum coins. In 570 BCpure silver coins were introduced in parts of Greece making thesedifficulties less and less a problem.

By 560 BC, the Lydians came up with a process to separatethe gold from silver, bringing about the minting of the first goldcoins. Now gold coins were being produced along with silvercoins. Electrum coins did remain a fairly popular form of currencyuntil around 350 BC. Gold and silver coins however quickly became theworld standard for currency used in trade. What helped to bring thisabout so quickly was in 547 BC, when after 13 days of the siege thePersians scaled a lightly defended part of the wall and captured thecity of Sardis. Cyrus, being amazed with the gold coins found in theLydian kingdom, decided he wanted to make these gold coins for himself.The Persians learned to mint gold coins and began to use them for trade.

The Greek’s liked the use of silver coins as currency and helped tomake silver coins excepted as a world standard for currency. Unlike theGreeks, the Persians preferred gold coins over silver, and helped tomake gold coins excepted as a world standard for currency. Between thetwo, gold and silver coins become the money excepted throughout theknown world. From that time gold and silver coins has been the onlytrue form of money to this very day.

At this point you may be saying what about the paper dollars, or yens, or euros I have in my pocket?Around 100 AD the Chinese were the first to invent paper. Sometime inthe early 7th century they also become the first to invent paper money.This paper money was called flying money. These first bank notescarried a guarantee that it could be traded at any time for coinage.The paper was not the real money, it was the coinage that it could betraded for that was the real money. The paper was just a form of apromissory note, a promise to trade for real money.

In 1292 when Marco Polo came back from his travels in Chinatelling people about this paper money they used there the people inEurope didn’t believe it. It seemed as a joke that the Chineseused paper for money. Paper money in Europe wouldn’t come about untilthe 1600s. In the mid 1600s paper money began to appear throughoutEurope, some accepted, some not. The Goldsmith notes printed by theBank of England founded in 1694, were again a type of promissory note.These notes were printed as a promise from English gold smiths foraccount deposits. The clause “(I) promise to pay the bearer on demandthe sum of — pounds” in gold. Again the paper was not the money, thegold it could be traded in for was the money.

Article 1 section 8 paragraph 5 of The United States Constitutionstates that Congress has the power “To coin Money, regulate the Valuethereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights andMeasures;”

Article 1 section 10 paragraph 1 of The United States Constitution states that “No State shall … make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts;”

From these 2 sections of The United States Constitution it is clear that our founders did not want paper moneyas a form of tender in this country, and for good reason. They knewthat gold and silver coins have and keep value, and paper always comesto problems. Many of our founders seeing the problems Europe had withtheir tries at using paper money, plus the early tries of the coloniesto use paper money.

In 1836 the first bank notes were printed, with over 30,000 designsand colors, they were easily counterfeited, and along with bankfailures, became almost as poison to most people. In 1861 Congressauthorized the United States Treasury to issue paper money for thefirst time in the form of non-interest bearing Treasury Notes calledDemand Notes. In 1862 these notes were replaced with United StatesNotes. Commonly called Greenbacks. In 1865 Gold Certificates wereissued. In 1868 National Bank Notes, backed by U.S. governmentsecurities were printed. In 1878 Silver Certificates in exchange forsilver dollars were printed. In 1913 the Federal Reserve Act was passed, then everything changed.

Until this point the paper money printed could be traded in for goldor silver coins – real money. For a while federal reserve notes couldbe also. From 1913 to 1963 the federal reserve note went from a notethat could be traded in for real money to nothing but a piece of paperthat is not backed by anything, a debt instrument. Federal reservenotes no longer says it is redeemable for gold or silver, it only says“This Note Is Legal Tender For All Debts Public And Private.” In factthe words lawful money is nowhere on the note at all anymore.

Today’s federal reserve note is what is called fiat currency.Fiat currency does not have any intrinsic value or any guarantee thatit can be converted into gold or another currency. Fiat currency isnothing but a government’s order (fiat) that it must be accepted as ameans of payment, back by nothing at all. The founders of the UnitedStates knew that is what would happen if paper money became accepted.That is why they made gold and silver coins the only form of lawfulmoney in our Constitution.

Paper money never has been and never will be real money.Gold and silver coins has been and still is the only true real money.You hear that gold and silver is going up in value, when in reality itis the paper money going down in value, meaning it takes more paper tobuy the same amount of gold. Back when quarters were still made ofsilver you could buy a loaf of bread with one of them. Today that samequarter made of silver would still buy you a loaf of bread.

Gold and silver coins is the safest place to invest your paper dollars.It is the one thing you can invest in that will never go broke. Stocksand bonds may crash, paper money may become worthless, banks may fail,but all through history gold and silver retains value. It is well knownthat Gold coins are the safest and most risk free place to invest onessavings. As the news informs us of the failing economy, and we seeprices of everything go through the roof we need to find a safe placeto put our hard earned federal reserve notes. At the decay rate of thedollar, if you can survive on $20.000.00 a year today, in about 10years it will take you over $50,000.00 a year to live the same lifestyle. That same $20,000.00 in gold coins in 10 years will last longerthan a year.

Paper currencies offer you no protection in your investments, it only loses more and more value with each passing year.There is nothing that offsets the shrinking value of currencies likegold coins. When you save gold and silver bullion coins, such as theAmerican Eagles, you build yourself a fortress of investment security.

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