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Debasement - Manipulation of Coin Standards in Pre-Modern Monetary Systems (Hardcover)
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Debasement - Manipulation of Coin Standards in Pre-Modern Monetary Systems (Hardcover)
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The debasement of coinage, particularly of silver, was a common
feature of pre-modern monetary systems. Most coinages were issued
by state authorities and the condition of a coinage is often seen
(rightly or wrongly) as an indicator of the broader fiscal health
of the state that produced it. While in some cases the motives
behind the debasements or reductions in standards are clear, in
many cases the intentions of the issuing authorities are uncertain.
Various explanations have been advanced: fiscal motives (such as a
desire to profit or a to cover a deficit caused by the failure to
balance expenditure and revenues); monetary motives (such as
changing demand for coined money or a desire to maintain monetary
stability in the face of changing values of raw materials or labour
costs); pressure from groups within society that would profit from
debasement; misconduct at the mint; or the decline of existing
monetary standards due to circulation and wear of the coinage in
circulation. Certain explanations have tended to gain favour with
monetary historians of specific periods, partly reflecting the
compartmentalization of scholarship. Thus the study of Roman
debasements emphasizes fiscal deficits, whereas medievalists are
often more prepared to consider monetary factors as contributing to
debasements. To some extent these different approaches are a
reflection of discrepancies in the amount of documentary evidence
available for the respective periods, but the divide also
underlines fundamentally different approaches to the function of
coinage: Romanists have preferred to see coins as a medium for
state payments; whereas medievalists have often emphasized exchange
as an important function of currency. The volume is
inter-disciplinary in scope. Apart from bringing together monetary
historians of different periods, it also contains contributions
from archaeometallurgists who have experience with the chemical and
physical composition of coins and technical aspects of production
of base alloys.
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