Gold coin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gold coins are coins that are largely made of gold . They used to serve as a means of payment and were mostly currency coins , but are now only minted for collectors and investors ( investment coins ). Gold coins owe their popularity as an investment also to their classification as investment gold, which is why trading in them in the European Union is exempt from VAT under certain conditions .

Aureus of Septimius Severus (around 200 AD)
Solidus of Constantius Gallus (around 353 AD)

history

Emergence

In order to simplify the direct exchange of goods for goods, gold and silver pieces were increasingly used as currency . You first had to weigh each piece to determine the value, which was still relatively difficult with gold dust or granules. In the 6th century BC In Asia Minor the Lydian king Kroisos had gold coins of a uniform size and value stamped for the first time , which at the same time - in addition to a propaganda function - also represented a certain quality standard for the precious metal. The first silver coins, however, were already around 620 BC. Used. The early gold and silver coins, from which the original bar shape could still be recognized, were the first Kurant coins . The emergence of gold and silver coins can be traced over time via the physical "forms of money", such as gold dust, granules, cast reguluse, unminted (small) bars, minted (i.e. marked) bars up to the now common round coin shape.

In the various human cultures of the external shape of the coin change took money different time periods to complete, for example. B. in Indochina was paid with weighed gold and silver dust until the beginning of the 20th century. This is why many coin names can still be traced back to the weight units that were once and are still used today.

antiquity

Persian Empire

The Persian Empire was known as the "gold empire ". The respective rulers had already from the 6th century BC. Mint gold stater . From 515 BC Darius I. Other coins ( Dareike ) were also increasingly minted .

Greece

The Hellenes took over coinage shortly after the Asians Minor. Each city-state had its own coins with its own standard . The most important mints were in Athens , Miletus and Rhodes .

Celts

The Celts owned a lot of gold from rivers and mountains. You learned the stamping work probably around 300 BC. By the Greeks and developed their own coinage . The Celts in Bohemia minted gold coins probably from the 3rd century BC. The western Celts (Gauls) have from the 2nd century BC Gold coins made. There were mints e.g. B. in Parisii. At first Greek motifs were used. Later simple motifs were coined, such as B. small crosses or points that formed a circle. These coins were relatively small and often had a slightly curved edge.

Old Egypt

The ancient Egyptians did not originally mint any coins. It was not until the troops of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. BC invaded Egypt, gold coins were also minted in Egypt. Before that there was only one exception: Egypt took part in the war against the Persians around 360 BC. Chr. Mercenaries from Sparta and Athens recruited. After the war these wanted to be paid for with gold coins and so the Pharaoh Nectanebos III. Mint coins (presumably from Greeks). On the front is in hieroglyphic script nbw nefer or nefer nub , which translates as "fine gold". On the back was a jumping horse, which the Greeks had also shown. This Egyptian coin, like that of the Athenians, weighed approx. 8.5 g.

Roman Empire

Around 225 BC The first gold coins were struck in the Roman Empire ; the Romans took over the coinage from the Greeks. Towards the end of the Roman Republic (from the time of Julius Caesar ) gold coins were increasingly minted, as prices rose in Rome and larger sums had to be postponed. With the transition to the empire since Emperor Augustus , gold coins with the image of the emperor were put into circulation. With the coin reform of Emperor Constantine the Great , the gold standard became binding in the Roman Empire, gold coins alone were stable in value and widespread.

India

The minting of gold coins was occasionally known in India in ancient times. It flourished in the coinage of the Gupta Empire (approx. 350–450). Gold coins were also minted again in the Mughal Empire ; those of Jahangir are among the most beautiful and valuable gold coins of all.

middle Ages

With the fall of West Rome , the standard of coinage was continued by Byzantium ; the subsequent empires of Western Rome , such as the Merovingians , continued the minting of Roman gold coins in the 6th century without major changes and followed changes from Byzantium without their own coinage policy. By exploiting new silver finds in the 7th century , people switched to silver, as gold was rarer and more expensive than silver. With the creation of the pound, Charlemagne made the change to the silver currency; see also Schilling . With the crusades and the increasingly pronounced long-distance trade, gold coins were taken up again, such as B. the gold guilders and the ducats . Spain in particular owned in the 16./17. Century many gold coins, for which they used the gold from Latin America , which in Spain even triggered a decline in the gold value compared to silver at times.

Modern times

In the course of the gradual transition from bimetalism to the pure gold standard in the 19th century, gold coins experienced their greatest use in money circulation to this day. In the course of the historical gold standard, for example, gold marks , sovereigns , vrenelis and other representatives of the Latin Monetary Union were brought into circulation as curant coins . Banknotes could be exchanged for gold coins at any time.

In the 20th century, however, the era of gold coins as a means of payment ended: Immediately after the beginning of the First World War , most central banks suspended the redemption obligation for banknotes, including the German Reichsbank on August 4, 1914. At the latest when the war began, gold coins were due to Gresham's law disappeared from payment transactions in most European countries.

The attempt to re-establish the gold standard after the First World War failed due to excessive imbalances in the balance of payments: for example, Great Britain reinstated the pre-war gold peg of the pound sterling in 1925 (and the last sovereign coins actually used in payment transactions were put into circulation ), but was only able to hold out for a few years, because export goods became so much more expensive for foreign countries, so that economic output collapsed. Due to its reparation obligations, Germany simply had too little gold: although the gold coins of the empire officially remained a means of payment until 1938, in fact only on paper.

In the 1930s, the last countries in which gold coins still had a monetary function put them out of circulation: Sweden, for example, in 1931 as a result of the Great Depression. To overcome the crisis, US President Roosevelt ended the era of the gold dollar in 1933 with a sudden ban on gold ownership . The last European countries that still used gold coins in payment transactions were the Netherlands and Austria until 1937.

Today's gold coins

Today gold coins are no longer used in payment transactions. They are only minted as commemorative coins for collectors or as bullion coins for investors.

Germany

The first commemorative gold coin was minted in 2001 : a German mark made of pure gold to mark goodbye to the DM currency.

Since the introduction of the euro , a 100 euro gold coin with a weight of 1/2 ounce has been minted every year for collectors and investors and sold at its current gold price plus an initial charge for production and distribution costs. In 2002 a one-time 200 euro gold coin with a weight of 1 ounce was issued.

Since 2010, various series of 20 euro gold coins with a weight of 1/8 ounce have been issued. Until 2015 the topic was trees of the German forest and then native birds .

For the 500th anniversary of the Reformation , a 50 euro gold coin with a weight of 1/4 ounce with the motif Luther rose was issued on May 24, 2017 .

Austria

There are ongoing official replicas of ducats , guilders and crown coins from Austria , which are traded at their gold value. As a better-known investment coin, the series of the Vienna Philharmonic has been produced from pure gold since 1989 .

A commemorative gold coin (face value 1000 schillings) was first issued in 1976. Further editions of 500 and 1000 schillings followed relatively regularly from 1991; Corresponding 50 and 100 euro coins have been minted since 2002.

Purity and weight

The purity of precious metal coins is divided as follows:

In the past, the fineness was often given in carats (1 carat = 1/24 fine; 24 carat = pure gold).

Today the numbers are more often converted to thousandths or parts per thousand , e.g. B. fineness of the Krugerrand 916⅔ / 1000 = 916⅔ ‰ (22 carats), fineness of the Vienna Philharmonic 999.9 / 1000 = 999.9 ‰ (practically 24 carats).

In terms of processing technology, a maximum fineness of 999.99 thousandths of a »five-nine« can be achieved. From Maple Leaf few commemorative coins were made in this delicacy.

Falsification by filing

A historical problem with the binding of certain amounts of gold to coins was fraudsters who repeatedly filed off a small amount of gold dust at the edge and thus enriched themselves. The coin became lighter and thus devalued after each filing.

This problem could be contained by the edge corrugation that is typical of most modern gold coins, because the corrugated edge of the coin is easy to recognize.

Well-known gold coins

Gold coin country introduction abolition comment
Dareikos Persia 515 BC Chr. 348 BC Chr. 8.4 g
Stater several 390 BC Chr. around 320 BC Chr. 8.2-8.6 g
Aureus Roman Empire approx. 1st century BC Chr. 324 8.19 g
Solidus Roman Empire , Byzantine Empire 312 1092 about 4.55 g; Emperor Constantine introduced
Tremissis Roman Empire and successor empires Western Rome , Byzantine Empire 312 up to 9th century in Byzantium about 1.51 g; Third of the solidus, from the 5th century far more common than the solidus
dinar Islam. rich 696 1543 4 g of Calif Abdel-Malik introduced
Augustalis southern Italy 1231 1250 only in the years mentioned, one of the noblest in the MA
Florin Republic of Florence 1252 1531 Model for the ducat and the zecchino
Dobla Spain 1252 1516 4.53 g (varies), most important Spanish gold coin in the late Middle Ages
Écu d'or France 1266 1654 4 g, the oldest gold coin in France, see also Écu
Ducats Europe 1284 1938 3.49 g fineness 986/1000 = 3.44 g, originally in Venice, 1559–1857 also in Germany, special feature: river gold ducats
Zechine Republic of Venice 1284 1797 Zecchino ; Original form of the ducats
Gold guilders Europe 1325 1867 Spread all over Europe, modeled on the florin
Noble England 1344 1470 Second gold coin of England
Crown England 1526 1663 about 3 g; Predecessor of the Guinea
gun Spain 1556 1833 introduced by King Philip II .
Doubloon Spain 1556 1833 corresponds to the value of 2 escudos
Louisdor France 1640 1793 The model was a pistol, see also Sonnenlouisdor .
Guinea Great Britain 1663 1816 8.35 g fineness 916⅔ / 1000
Friedrichsdor Prussia 1740 1850 The model was also a pistol, worth 5 thalers
eagle United States 1792 1933 $ 10 = 16.718 g fineness 900/1000 = 15.046 g gold
Sovereign England 1817 til today 1 £ = 7.988 g fineness 916⅔ / 1000 = 7.322 g gold
Gold mark Germany 1871 1915 20 M = 7.965 g fineness 900/1000 = 7.168 g gold
Gold yen Japan 1870 1932 made of 90% fine gold
Vreneli Switzerland 1887 1949 10, 20 and 100 franc coins (mostly 20 francs, 6.452 g fineness 900 = 5.806 g)
Crown Austria 1892 1924 10, 20 and 100 gold crown coins, (100 Kr: 33.875 g fineness 900 = 30.487 g)
Chervonets Russia / USSR 1923 1982 8.603 g, fineness 900/1000 = 7.742 g (official reprints 1975 to 1982)
Krugerrand South Africa 1967 til today 33.93 g, fineness 916.67 / 1000 = 31.1035 g / 1 oz gold
Maple Leaf Canada 1979 til today 1 oz = 31.1035 g, fineness 999.9 / 1000
Gold panda China 1982 til today 1 oz = 31.1035 g, fineness 999/1000
Gold eagle United States 1986 til today 33.93 g, fineness 916.67 / 1000 = 31.1035 g / 1 oz gold
(Kangaroo nugget) Australia 1987 til today 1 oz = 31.1035 g, fineness 999.9 / 1000
Britannia England 1987 til today 34.05 g, fineness 916.67 / 1000 = 31.1035 g / 1 oz gold
Wiener Philharmoniker Austria 1989 til today 1 oz = 31.1035 g, fineness 999.9 / 1000
  • gallery

  • English gold sovereign 1966 - Avers (Elisabeth II.)

  • English Gold Sovereign, 1871 - Avers (Victoria)

  • English Gold Sovereign, 1871 - Revers (Victoria)

  • Sardinian gold coin from 1851 - Obverse (Viktor Emanuel)

  • Swiss gold coin, 20 francs (Vreneli)

  • English gold sovereign, 1927 - obverse (George V.)

  • 20 crowns (Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary)

  • America 1900 gold coin, 5 dollars

  • 20 francs (Napoleon)

  • 20 francs (Leopold I, King of Belgium)

  • 20 lire (Umberto I, King of Italy)

  • 5-mark gold coin German Empire

  • German Empire 10 Mark gold coin

  • 20-mark gold coin German Empire

Records

In 2004 the world's largest coin appeared in Austria: Big Phil is legal tender with a face value of 100,000 euros, has a mintage of 15 and weighs 31.103 kg (1000 ounces). Their material value is about 11 times the face value.

It was surpassed in May 2007 by the Canadian gold coin Big Maple Leaf of the Royal Canadian Mint . This coin has a face value of one million Canadian dollars and weighs 100 kilograms.

Currently, and since October 2011, the record holder is an edition of the Australian kangaroo from the Perth Mint , with a face value of one million Australian dollars and a weight of one ton (1000 kg), which corresponds to a gold value of 53.2 million euros.

The most expensive US gold coin is the Double Eagle from 1849. It is on display in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC . The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) estimated the coin to have a collector's value of $ 20 million in 2011.

See also

literature

  • Gold coins of Europe from 1800 to today by Hans Schlumberger ISBN 3-89441-342-5
  • Standard Catalog Of World Gold Coins by Krause Mishler ISBN 0-87349-799-6 (≈1200 pages of gold coins and illustrations)
  • René Frank : Gold coins of Europe: An overview of the different coins according to the norms of the Latin Monetary Union . In: moneytrend magazine (Vienna), 06/2005, pp. 180–185
  • Arthur L. Friedberg, Ira S. Friedberg, Robert Friedberg: Gold Coins of the World . 9th edition. The Coin and Currency Institute, 2017, ISBN 978-0-87184-309-8 (English, 800 pages).

Web links

Wiktionary: gold coin  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Gold coin  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Value-added tax-exempt investment coins europa.eu
  2. ↑ youtube.com
  3. ↑ The 30 million euro coin, the largest piece of gold in the world, comes to Germany
  4. ↑ goldreporter.de