Metal value

Metal value is in the Coin and the monetary theory of the value of the metal of a coin or other metal-containing article . With the inclusion of minting costs, strike treasure and remedium , the nominal value of coins results .

General

Coins as legal tender are made of metal because of their high circulation speed and therefore the need for better material properties. Most often, an alloy of copper , iron , brass or nickel is used for coins today (see Nordic gold ). In the past there were also silver coins or gold coins with a silver or gold content of at least 50% of the gross weight . Changes in the price of gold or silver have a direct effect on the value of the metal. Metals have their own market value called the metal value . The nominal value imprinted on a coin, which represents the official exchange value of the means of payment , is independent of this . The metal value of a coin depends on the type of metal used ( coin material ) and the weight . When using precious metals , coins have two weights, namely the rough weight and the fine weight . The ratio of rough and fine weight is the fineness .

history

In the past, metals such as iron ( Spartians ), tin ( Syracuse ), copper ( Romans ), silver , gold or platinum were used for minting coins . The Roman coin system - and almost all coin systems up to modern times - was based on the metal value; Coins were made of as much metal as the face value on them. A coin could therefore be exchanged for its metal value. The most important metals for antique coins were gold and silver, for small money they used copper and brass. In the 3rd century, the Romans used bronze coins in addition to gold, silver and brass .

The metal value later no longer represented the exchange value, but the monetary value depended on the printed face value. It was important to ensure that the metal value never exceeded the nominal value, otherwise there was a risk of hoarding . If the metal value of the metal used increases, there is a risk that it will exceed the nominal value. This development occurred in the year 215 AD , when a double denarius was issued in Rome in addition to the denarius , but it weighed only 1½ times as much as a simple denarius. This meant that from the amount of silver previously 3 denarii, 4 denarii could now be minted, with 50% copper being added. As a result, its metal value sank considerably, which reduced the minting costs. The state had to pay its soldiers and also helped itself by constantly reducing the metal content of the coins. For the copper coin Follis , Emperor Anastasios I established a value relation to gold in 498, which the Byzantine Empire took over regardless of the metal value .

In the Middle Ages , the value of Kurant coins was based on their metal value, which should correspond to their face value. Coins were weighed to determine their metal value. This metallism based on monetary value theory placed the metal value as the monetary value of coins in the foreground. That is why the scientists were also concerned about the metal value of money. In the memorandum Monetae cudendae ratio written by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1519 he took the view that the value of money is based on the value of metal. Thomas Gresham , financial advisor to Queen Elizabeth I , came to the conclusion in his Gresham's Law that bad money (with a low metal value) ousts good money (with a high metal value) in circulation if both the nominal value is the same. The consumer will therefore first bring the coin with the lower metal value into circulation and hoard the more valuable. However, Gresham's intellectual achievement is controversial, because the findings of Gresham's law probably come from Copernicus.

In his book, published only posthumously in Paris in 1513, Johannes Buridan (us) distinguished for the first time between the imprinted face value, the metal value inherent in money and its purchasing power . During the Kipper and Wipper times between 1620 and 1623, silver coins fell into disrepute due to fraudulent coin valuation . The Florin was promoted from 1691 to Europe Kurantgeld. From 1773 the nominal value of coins in England was constantly adjusted to their metal value, whereby the slightest differences between the two values ​​in bimetallism brought Gresham's law to fruition. Until December 1871, silver coins ( thalers ) that were covered by silver ( silver standard ) continued to prevail in Germany , after which the gold standard came up.

For Karl Marx , in 1859, the circulating money was at the normal level if its quantity ( amount of money ) - given the exchange value of the goods - was determined by its own metal value. This metallistic conception lost its basis around 1900 with the increasing spread of banknotes , especially since the metal value rose above the monetary value of coins and there was no longer enough precious metal available for minting. The opposite direction of nominalism spread, in which the nominal value is in the foreground and the metal value or currency depreciation play no role. The co-founder Georg Friedrich Knapp first expressed his nominalistic ideas in 1905 and saw the monetary unit as a nominal one that did not need to have any intrinsic value: "The unit of value is nominal ...". The German inflation from 1914 to 1923 was a hyperinflation and questioned the basic principle of nominalism "Mark = Mark". Nominalism is therefore neither suitable for preventing inflation , nor does a departure from nominalism trigger inflation. Rather, the stability of the currency depends on the extent to which the central bank uses its monetary and interest rate policies correctly.

Economic issues

Today, the metal value of means of payment is usually lower than the nominal value of a coin, because otherwise there is a risk of hoarding. If the metal value of the metal used increases, there is a risk that it will exceed the nominal value. Then there is a loss of coin during the minting. If the metal value falls, Kurant coins become divisive coins and vice versa. Coins and banknotes are also called token money because the carrier medium has a low metal value in relation to the printed face value.

Investment coins are minted from the precious metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium and have a very high fineness of the precious metal - and thus a very high metal value. In contrast to medals , they have a nominal value in a certain currency and are the only legal tender in their currency area . Not only do they have a high metal value , they also have a price above this value . This surcharge above the metal value is called agio . Similar stamps or antiques forming a fancy price , making them legal tender would not normally be used. A prominent example is the eagle , which is official currency in the USA , but is purely a collector's item because of its much higher metal value (1 ounce of gold for the Double Eagle ) . The following applies to token coins:

${\displaystyle Nominalwert>Metallwert}$,

The following applies to Kurant coins:

${\displaystyle Nominalwert=Metallwert}$.

Coin minting by the state can result in a coin gain or loss:

${\displaystyle {\text{Münzgewinn}}={\text{Nominalwert}}>{\text{Metallwert}}+{\text{Prägungskosten}}}$.

The coin gain / loss can be influenced either by reducing the fine weight with the same nominal value or by increasing the nominal value with the same fine weight. Any coin gains / losses are offset through the state budget . If the metal value is higher than the nominal value of a coin, there is now a risk that this coin will be collected as scrap metal , melted down and the proceeds retained.

The metal value is the benchmark for determining the market value of jewelry or household items such as cutlery . Their market value is due to the small-scale processing and artistic design by 40% to 50% above the value of the metal.

Legal issues

The law prohibits at auction a squandering under the metal value of gold and silver objects. According to § 1240 Abs. 1 BGB , pledged gold and silver items may not be sold below the gold or silver value (metal value). This also applies to the foreclosure auction in accordance with Section 817a (3) ZPO .

See also

• Bullion coin

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Leopold Einsle, Systematic Compilation of the Most Excellent European Measures, Weights and Coins , 1846, p. 153
2. ↑ Guy de la Bedoyere, The Romans for Dummies , 2008, no p.
3. ↑ Reinhold Merkelbach, Hestia and Erigone: Lectures and Essays , 1996, p. 272
4. ↑ Reinhold Merkelbach, Nikaia in der Roman Kaiserzeit , 1987, p. 26
5. ↑ Reinhold Merkelbach, Hestia and Erigone: Lectures and Essays , 1996, p. 272
6. ↑ Hiram Kümper, Materials Science Medieval Studies , 2014, p. 201
7. ↑ Nikolaus Kopernikus, Monetae cudendae ratio , 1526, p. 38
8. ^ Johannes Buridan, Quaestiones super X libros Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nicomachum , 1513, p. 670
9. ^ Karl Marx, On the Critique of Political Economy , 1859, p. 188
10. ↑ Georg Friedrich Knapp, State Theory of Money , 1905, pp. 1 ff.
11. ↑ Georg Obst, Geld-, Bank- und Börsenwesen , Volume 1, 1906, p. 37
12. ↑ Hagen Rudolph, Das Edelmetall-Buch , 2013, p. 21 f.
13. ↑ Hugo G. Haller, Earning better and dealing with money , 2012, o. P.
14. ^ Alfred Grusch / Diego Melingo, Handbuch der Edelmetall-Veranlagungen , 2013, p. 1974