Coin Denomination

This paper is based upon the complete metrology chapter from my book "Early World Coins" published in 2009.  It is however a third revised version -  with just a new preface added to the version of May 2020.  It remains a holistic set of best guesses, concerning how important early metrological systems were linked through time.  Copies of the complete 2009 work on paper are still available.  Please write to info@earlyworldcoins.com for further details if interested.

This fifth installment of the SCP project catalogue includes coins of two Wei dynasties in China; the Mahakshatrapa, the Gupta Empire and some successors, the Kidarites, two different Alchon Hun states, and the Pallava, in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan; the Aksumite Empire centered on northern Ethiopia and Eritrea; and the Ostrogoths in Italy and the Vandals in Tunisia. Most of all, there are late Roman and early Romaion (Byzantine) coins, a few billon but mostly bronze or copper: from Egypt, perhaps, and from Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, and France; unofficial imitation probably from Israel; and uncertain mint, unknown provenance—all too many coins.

Details of attribution were provided for coins first produced prior to 375 BCE: copper and bronze from China, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, and Italy; and silver fractions from Pakistan, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Al marco production of silver fractions seems to have been more common than previously thought, which may have been a factor in the initial acceptance of al marco, fiduciary bronze coinage in the Greek and Hindu worlds. For Greek bronze, size and weight in proportion to denomination—dichalkon is about twice as heavy as chalkous—has been advanced by several numismatists as a key to attributing denomination, though exceptions exist and type (obverse and reverse design) must be considered as well.

Small Change for the Poor (SCP) is a catalogue of a collection of several hundred mostly inexpensive coins acquired in trade over the course of several decades. These coins are mostly struck rather than cast coins, mostly copper or one of its alloys. This paper covers the " Ancient Indian " coins already published in the first two installments of the SCP catalogue, but with many revisions thereto, plus a draft for coins from 25 BCE to 200 CE. Though some silver coins of mostly high value are included, the focus is on possible attributions of denomination for the base-metal coins; the last two centuries of period analyzed are remarkable for the proliferation of copper coins of putatively large denomination. Your comments are welcome.

"An overview of the physical coinages issued world wide in the ancient and medieval period, focusing upon 1000 + commoner or more representative types.  Special attention is paid to associated weight standards.  Hypotheses are advanced and defended:

1)  The first and greatest enlightenment, occurring almost simultaneously in Greece, N India and China, (mid 1st millennium BC) was primarily the consequence of the introduction of coin use in these three zones immediately beforehand

2)  the denomination structure of coinage gives us a objective measure of class advantage through time and place

3)  Concerning weight standards, that the association between weight standards and seigniorage charges is widely and wrongly being written out of the historical record at the present time.

Copies of the complete work are still available. Please write to ewc@onetel.net for further details if interested

Details of attribution were provided for copper coins, usually bronze, that were first struck in mainland Greece prior to Alexandros the Great: from Amphipolis, the Makedonian Kingdom, and Arkadikon. More data for weight, diameter, type, and sub-type are needed before evidence is unambiguous, but likely possibilities for denomination were found to be within the hypothesized range for base metal to silver ratio, from  about 10 to 30 copper or alloy to one. Some states used the same type for two or more denominations. Weight ratios should not be seen as the definitive factor for attributing denomination: a coin double the weight of a chalkous wasn’t necessarily a dichalkon.

This seventh installment of the SCP project catalogue includes coins of the Song and Western Xia, plus copies of Song types cast in Japan, one specifically for trade to Viet Nam; a probably modern copy of a Gangaveda fanam; the Venad Chera and Tomara Rajas in India; anonymous Bull and Horse-rider types from uncertain mints and regimes in India or Pakistan; a Gadhaiya paisa probably issued by Jain merchants, in India; Kathmandu in Nepal; the Kashmir Kingdom in India or Pakistan; the Yaminid (Ghaznavid) Sultanate in Pakistan and Afghanistan; the Shansabanid (Ghurid) Sultanate in Afghanistan; Qarakhanids, the Eastern Qaghanate of the Qarakhanids, probably in China, and the Western, in Uzbekistan; a Fatimid Imam from somewhere in Egypt or the Levant; a Zangid Atabeg in Syria; a Seljuq Sultan of Rum in Turkey; the Romaion (Byzantine) Empire in Turkey, with one specimen possibly countermarked by a Muslim regime in the Jazira; and Lucca in Italy in the name of the Holy Roman Emperor, or possibly an imitation struck in the Levant for the Crusaders.

An unpublished hemidrachm (1.85g) in the name of king Lysimachus recently appeared on the market. With this coin, we may not only add a new silver denomination to the coinage of Lysimachus but also an entirely new type. On the reverse, we see an image of Athena Parthenos, standing left, with a Nike in her extended right hand. From what we see in the inner left field of the reverse (letter M or the monogram MY and, possibly, a chelys or lyre in diagonal), it is tempting to attribute this unique hemidrachm to the mint of Mytilene. Except from Pamphylia and Cilicia, this is the first monetary occurrence for the Phidian Athena Parthenos. The most likely explanation for such a choice leads not to Athens but to the wish to emphasize peace after victory (we are not too long after Ipsus, 301 BC).

Though many studies address the role of religion in predicting social attitudes over time, none has examined this relationship specifically for euthanasia. Using a large, nationally representative data source, this study seeks to address this void. Our findings indicate that considerable differences exist among religious denominations regarding the legalization of euthanasia. Specifically, we note a liberalizing trend for all included denominations. We also demonstrate substantial differences in the rates of liberalization, particularly in comparison to conservative Protestants. We conclude with an assessment of our findings relative to previous studies on religion and public opinion.

For many Europeans and North Americans, five thousand is a fairly large sum in everyday life. In euros, dollars or pounds sterling, it buys a well-maintained used car. This quantity no longer exists as a denomination for United States dollars, and never existed as such in Euros or pounds. But in Moscow, 5 000 rubles is an everyday quantity: a bar fridge bought in an informal market; a brand name food processor purchased in an electronics store; or a light weekly grocery shop for middle class Moscovites. Through qualitative interviews and grocery shopping expeditions with recently arrived, affluent migrants, this paper traces the trajectory of 5 000 as a number, materiality and quantity.

As expatriates adapt to different price scales for everyday subsistence goods, this quantity changes from being '5 000 is a used car', to 'five thousand is my grocery bill' or '5 000 is an impossible denomination, five 1 000s is better'. New residents struggle with quantity divisions using different multiples – .01, .05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 100, 500, 1 000, 5 000 – and orders of magnitude that conversion to 'familiar' currency does little to remedy. Currency redundancy also causes confusion; the quantity of 10 rubles exists as both coins and notes. Rarely, old 5 ruble notes supposedly withdrawn from circulation crop up alongside the same denomination in coin. Adjusting to life in rubles involves using different quantities divided into even smaller notional amounts than at 'home' – ten kopeks (0.1 rubles) is less than one cent or one pence – and managing a larger number of denominations as well.