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Show The Paper That Dares To Take A Stand January 4, 1973 The UTAH INDEPENDENT lier Latin word for money, developed from pecus, meancase of the ing cattle. Teutonic languages, the German word for cattle, Vieh, is a cognate of English fee. American Indian civilizations never developed a gold coinage as did the Europeans, but gold was used as a medium of exchange in the form of quills filled with gold dust. Undoubtedly, too, the many gold ornaments, often of considerable artistic merit, played some sort of monepe-cun- ia, In-th- an Continued from Page 1 large cities have been rotting at an accelerated pace and the problem of overpopulation has begun to threaten the very quality of life to which we had become accustomed. Prior to 1934 the use of gold as a monetary medium had been deeply rooted in our economic and legal traditions. Undoubtedly as a reaction to the chaos caused by excessive issues of paper money1 before and during the Revolution, the Constitution provided in Article I, Section 10, that No state shall make any Thing but and Coin a Tender in silver gold Payment of Debts.2 A handsome U.S. gold coinage was commenced in 1795 to supplement the foreign gold in circulation, which continued to have the status of legal tender until 1857 on the basis of laws of 1793, 1816, 1834 and 1843. It was this sort of legal precedent that was the basis for the monetary stability of the country (and probably its economic progress) down to recent years. ... Fiat Monty in Franca There is an interesting parallel in French monetary history. When the revolutionary government of France at the end of the 18th century tried to substitute paper money (assignats) supposedly based on the value of confiscated church properties, economic chaos resulted.2 Later on, Napoleon I saw the need of a reform to overcome the paralysis and reinstated the use of the precious metals. His introduction of the twenty franc piece (the napoleon) in 1803 was an act of con- - . sequences, as we shall see below. Russia had also tried paper money, likewise designated by a similar word, assignaehii .4 Although a number of governments make every desperate attempt to suppress the monetary use of gold, faith in the sun metal as a store of value is deeply ingrained in the economic common sense of human beings all over the world. When I was in Russia in the summer of 1970, a young man explained to me that the old five rouble pieces struck on the standard used beginning with 1897 are now fetching about 90 paper roubles, nearly a typical months wages in the present Soviet State. The grimly strict monetary laws and energetic propaganda of the Soviet State5 had not been able, to eradicate a desire for and a trust in gold. During and immediately after World War II many a family was able to avoid starvation by gradually giving up one gold piece after the other to purchase food that could otherwise not be obtained in economies paralyzed by war and postwar controls. far-reachi- ng i A Co in at Work Let us contemplate a half eagle K I 1 For thorough, lavishly illustrated, history of the paper money issues of our land from 1690 to 1789 see the brilliant volume by Eric P. Newman, The Early Paper Money of America. Racine, 1967. 2 In defending this provision, James Madison (The Federaliet Papere, No. 10) speaks of A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other imIn No. 44 proper or wicked project. . . he continues in the same vein : . . . the pestilent effects of paper money on the necessary confidence between man and man, on the necessary confidence in the morpublic councils, on the industry and als of the people, and on the character of republican government ... i struck by the young United States in 1800. As in the case of the vast majority of gold coins struck in the world before 1800, there is tary role. Coinage in Ancient Greece also no designation of. value or weight on this piece. Gold coins need no designation of value or legal tender status to function well. The piece we are contemplating is worn, so badly worn that its designs are only slightly above the level of the fields, but its weight is 8.50 grams, only about 3 per cent below its legal weight of 135 The very beginnings of Greek gold (or more specifically, elec-trucoinage are nebulous. One m) around 46 B.C. At that time it had a weight of 140 of a Roman pound (8.19 g). Its high purity persisted but its weight gradually sank over a period of nearly four centuries. The SoliduB The next great gold series, the solidus, got its start in the early fourth century under Constantine the Great (reigned 306-33- 7 A.D.) The solidus was one of the most remarkable and enduring of all gold coins. Its weight and fineness were maintained with only occasional variations for over. seven centuries, in spite of all the mili- - . tary, economic and political vicissitudes of the late Roman Empire and its continuation in the east (the Byzantine Empire). During this very long period the solidus had little competition in the world except for the gold of the Islamic dynasties whjch originally started as imitations of the Byzantine solidus during the seventh century. The Ostrogoths in Italy also imitated the solidus in great quantities during the fifth and sixth centuries, but unlike the Islamic imitations, the Ostrogothic solidi bore the name and portraits of the Byzantine emperor and can be distinguished from the Byzantine pieces only by subtle stylistic differences. So familiar was the world with the solidus that we seldom find specimens with cuts ' to test the authenticity of the pieces; forgeries of them were evidently rare. Hoards of them have been found as far away as Scandinavia.. Although we have no exact mint records from the Byzantine Empire, the mintage of the solidus was certainly enormous. As late as about 1950, common, worn solidi could be had for as little as 'about $12., not much more than twice their bullion Pace 5 lation to the huge supplies of silver flowing from Saxony and Bocoinhemia. (The first large-sca- le age of the predecessor of the silver dollar was done in Saxony, 1500 ff.) The Rhenish gold florin was struck in enormous quantities in such towns as Frankfurt, Cologne, Nuremberg and Utrecht. A quarter million of them were struck in 1418 in Frankfurt alone and Basel struck 126,020 during the years 1434-- 5. . The Gold Ducat On 31 October, 1284, the Mag-giConsiglio of Venice decided to mint the gold ducat, one of the most important gold coins of all times. It is still being struck from dies dated 1915 in the Vienna Mint nearly 700 years later. In Venice itself, the ducat was struck with the same design (St. Mark and Doge) down to the end of the 18th century. This ducat weight and fineness became a favorite in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Scandinavia and Russia. It was even crudely imitated as far away as India, where the Venetian originals were also in use. England, France, Spain and Portugal had many gold coinages in the later middle ages, but they were of great variety. An outor type with two confronted lions heads is actually inscribed "Alyas, a variant form of the name of King Alyattes, fourth of the Mermnad kings of Lydia, who B.C. Far more reigned 610-56- 1 abundantly preserved, however, are the electrum pieces of various (8.748 grains grams). Now let us reconstruct the treweights (112, 16 and 13 stamendous economic task that this ters) bearing the head of a lion gold piece performed so well and with a radiate knob on the foreso long. The wear on this piece head. The weights of these pieces would suggest that it was in cirare astonishingly consistent. Six culation at least until the weight specimens of the 13 stater prereduction of 1834 and perhaps served in the Boston Museum of quite a bit longer. If it changed Fine Arts have the narrow range standingly successful English hands on the average of just once of 4.66 grams to 4.71 grams, with coin of the late medieval period a week over a period of 50 years, fracional pieces in a close prowas the noble, which was imitated it changed hands more than 2,500 portion.7 Other very important to some extent in the Netherlands, times and was thus involved in an early series of electrum coins but the English and French kings exchange of more than $12,500. were those of Kyzikos in Mysia changed their standards too often However, the really remarkable (started before 550 B.C.) , Myti-len- e to establish gold coins of the great on the island of Lesbos (ca. aspect of this performance lies in success and influence of the solithe fact that every time it 500 B.C. if.) and Phokaia in Ionia dus and the ducat. The Spanish changed its owner, the new owner (started before 500 B.C.). These exploitation of the large deposits was guaranteed a stable value as early gold series consisted of elecin Mexico, Bolivia and Peru relong as he wished to keep the trum, a more or less natural mixsulted in the huge escudo coinage piece. What were the costs of this ture of gold and silver, such as of the 16th to 19th centuries. Its remarkable performance? About was mined in what is now westmultiple of eight is familiar to us 15 cents worth of gold lost ern Turkey.. Later on, more soas the doubloon. through wear and the very mod- phisticated refining methods were As noted above, the gold coinest cost of striking the piece. To used to prepare the planchets. The value.8 . age of the United States was have printed paper money for this huge gold coinages of the kings the of. decline the solidus started in 1795, with a modest After period of circulation would have of Macedonia, Philip II (359-33- 6 in the later medieval period it was weight decrease in 1834, after B.C.) and Alexander the Great approached or exceeded the mintsupplanted by several important which U.St gold coinage was conB.C.) , are notable for the ing and gold loss costs. Far more (336-32- 3 Italian, Hungarian and German tinued for almost exactly a cenimportant, however, is the fact fact that they consisted of nearly series. Florence, struck the fiorino tury on the same standard. About that the costs of the gold loss and pure gold, with specific gravities doro 34 of the enormous U.S. gold (gold florin) beginning with ranging around 19 (pure gold: the year 1252. It was imitated in coinage was in the form of double minting were a very trivial conwater). a land with sideration in relation to the social 19.3 times the weight-o- f eagles (1850 if.). big gold mines, Hunof the time the the autonomy and economic benefits of the gold By in the- 14th century and gary, Greek states had been extinguished piece. Modern paper money, with8 To illustrate the constancy of the later. In Germany and the Netherout a connection with the precious by the expanding Roman Empire, solidus, specimens in the authors eol- lands, in turn, large quantities of , metals, simply cannot fulfill the no less than fifty of them had florins were struck in the 15th lection weigh as follows: A solidus struck in Milan under Honorius (895-42- 8 struck gold coins. traditional capacity of gold coin16th and but weighs 4.47 grams with a specific centuries, A.D.) early they The Roman Republic and subage to function both as a medium of about 18. A lightly circulated gravity fineness in declined and weight of Constantine VIII of exchange and a store of value. sequently the Roman Empire had specimen when the German gold mines bewith an inspiring portrait of Christ Not only does gold coinage go ' as a gold unit the aureus, which to be so badly depleted that weighs 4 J7 grams with a specific gravity back to the early days of the . was first struck in quantity gan of a bit less than 19, nearly pure gold. In ' the gold became too dear in re o For a the of subsequent decades the weight and this American Republic, but it covers reproduction painting, of the solidus declined sharply, fineness see dee Heinrich Geeckichte Quiring, some twenty-seve- n centuries of 7 An excellent source for the metrobut Bysantine gold coinage persisted into Goldee Die Goldenen Zeitalter in ikrer Western Civilization. It was, in IsMlturellen und wirttekaftliehen Bedeu-taw- i. logical aspects of the earliest electrum the 14th century. For a detailed analysis the specific gravities including coinage, of the debasement of the solidus in the Ferdinand Enke Verlag, Stuttgart, of turn, antedated by an even earlier, many specimens, is the catalogue of eleventh century, see Byzantinieche 1948, page 48. This book, by the way, is specifically monetary use of gold, ' an excellent source of information on the the holdings of the Boston Museum of 1954, pp. Fine Arts published by Agnes Brett in a use that can be readily docuof use the and history mining, refining 1955. Continued On Page 8 mented. Thus, a mural painting of gold. from Thebes, Egypt, assigned to 30 OFF INVENTORY CLEARANCE the reign of Thutmosis III, 1501-144- 7 B.C., shows the weighing of JACKETS SUITS SPORT COATS gold rings and holed disks.0 Details of this painting reveal the status that gold had attained as a 148 So. Main, Bountiful (801) 295-33CLOSED SUNDAY monetary medium. The weights on the balance pan are in the SERVING THE SALT LAKE METROPOLITAN AREA form of bovine heads and sheep! i This illustrates the fact that a transition had been made from an economy in which cattle were used Or. Allen -- E Baniks as exchange to one in which the fabulous original health METER CHANGES precious metals had taken their to the nation report NEW INSTALLATIONS place, but the tradition of the catREMODELING A MAINTENANCE THE IS CHOICE tle exchange is preserved in the 220 VOLT I. HIGH VOLTAGE CLEAR". W' very shape of the weights. To WRUNG FOR HOME & INDUSTRY Fast POWER MG OR SMALL Enjoy your body more at mention a later parallel, the ear Sarvica 40 - 70 than at TWENCALL FOR QUOTATIONS- . ! (1025-102- 8) Zeit-eckri- ft, 879-89- 4. FRANKS CLOTHING 21 ON HEALTH -- For details, see Andrew D. White, Fiat Money Inflation in France (Irvington, N. Y.: Foundation for Economic 3 Education). 4 See the well illustrated volume on Russian monetary history by I. G. SpassMONETNAIA kii. RUSSKAIA Aurora Press, Leningrad, 1970, SIS-TEM- A, p. 201. 8 to say, during the early years of the Soviet State, gold coins were struck with the weights of the older pieces struck as late as 1911. The Soviet gold gieces were dated 1923 and bore the emblem of the State and a sowing peasant. There is evidence that these pieces were struck in very large quantities, but today they are very scarce. Doubtless the bulk of them were remelted. Strang ten-roub- le TY. Reversing the aging 298-37- 4141 MOMS TAYtOtSVUI 13 process. ' Send $2.00 cash or money order (no checks, pleasel), if not satisfied - money cheerfully refunded. Stewardship Hugo Witt Enterprises 560 East 7800 South, Midvale, 84047 Phone 3 Dpt.B3 Utah 255-000- SILVER BULLION 999 fine guaranteed LAVELL BUTT AGENCY 278-66- 11 SWISS OF AMERICA EP.O. Box 21194 Salt Lake City. Utah 84121 : |