Silver currency

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A silver currency was a silver based currency . Circulating paper and book money (deposit money) could be exchanged for silver at a fixed exchange rate at any time . Since the gold backing of the US dollar was lifted in 1971, there are no longer any precious metal-backed currencies that are legally required to be exchanged.

history

Chinese sycee silver

The Empire of China owned one of the oldest silver currencies. Instead of coins, bars usually weighing 1–50 tael were common. In the Song and Tang dynasties, the so-called "ax" type (shape of a double ax) dominated; later drum, silk shoe, saddle-shaped and more classic bar shapes dominated. The marking was done by manual lettering (especially early and heavy Sycees) or stamps.

A period of dominance in silver-based currency was the early Middle Ages , when the silver denarius the still from the Roman period acquired gold solidus replaced and in the European area, a value ratio of both of 12: set first

In the German Empire , the Reichstaler - the successor to the Joachimstaler and all other guldengroschen (silver guilders) - was the official currency coin from 1566 to 1750. In the 18th century Austria coined the Maria Theresa Thaler , also known as the "Levantine Thaler", which in oriental countries was an unofficial but recognized means of payment and unchallenged value store until well into the 20th century. The United States of America, founded in 1776, chose the US dollar as a silver coin with a low gold content as its currency based on the taler, until the silver cover was abandoned in 1873 and switched to a "gold dollar", which was never issued. Until 1933 the government could set the gold price for this fine gold equivalent at its own discretion. See also: US dollar → gold standard and gold ban

The Joachimstaler (Bohemian silver coin, also known as “Guldengroschen” for the first time in 1519) was - in this respect comparable to other sovereign silver coins - still determined in its value by the relative scarcity of silver as a coin metal. But then - in the decades after America's discovery in 1492 , the precious metal treasures of the Aztecs , Incas and other ancient empires were brought to Europe. The exploitation of gold and silver and copper deposits led to a significantly increased supply of these coin metals . See also: Spanish Conquest of Mexico

In the case of silver in particular, this led to a decrease in value, which had an effect on the long-term fixed value ratio of gold to silver of 15 1/2: 1. Silver became cheap and the purchasing power of the silver currency fell. As a result, most nations abandoned the silver currency by the middle of the 19th century. In the USA, silver was demonetized in 1873, the free minting of silver coins was no longer permitted, although silver coins remained in circulation for a few decades - and not only in the USA - to give the owner a sense of value rather than real value embody, especially since pure silver was no longer used, but silver and copper were alloyed together .

The Latin Monetary Union followed the example in 1874. After that, all major nations switched to gold . Germany in 1871, followed by Austria-Hungary , Imperial Russia , Empire of Japan and finally in 1900 the United States with the Gold Standards Act . The value of the gold coins now in circulation corresponded exactly to the value of the gold required for their production.

England held a special position as the center of the sterling zone. The pound sterling , originally a silver value ( sterling silver ), was only a silver currency that could be exchanged for gold until 1717, as gold coins ( sovereign , guinee ) had been in circulation since 1489 . In 1816 a pure gold currency was put into effect; this lasted until 1931.

China was the last of the great nations to abandon the silver currency in 1934 and switch to paper money after the US manipulated the world market price for silver upwards.

See also

literature

  • Günther Ludwig / Günther Wermusch: Silver. The path of silver from the beginnings of civilization to the present . Verlag die Wirtschaft, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-349-00387-7 . (In-depth.)
  • The new Brockhaus . FA Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1975, ISBN 3-7653-0025-X
  • Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig and Vienna 1897

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephen Tai: Chinese Silver Sycee
  2. ↑ Günther Ludwig / Günther Wermusch: Silver, from the history of the precious metal . Berlin 1988 (see literature )
  3. ↑ Thorsten Polleit: Eine Kurz Geldgeschichte , FAZ No. 37 of December 13, 2012, p. 16