   #copyright

Coin

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Currency

            Numismatics
   Numismatic terminology
   Currency

          Coins, Banknotes,
          Forgery

   Circulating currencies
   Community currencies

          Company scrip, LETS,
          Time dollars

   Fictional currencies
   Ancient currencies

          Greek, Roman,
          Byzantine

   Medieval currencies
   Modern currencies

          Africa, The Americas,
          Europe, Asia and Pacific

   Production

          Mint, Designers
          Coining, Milling,
          Hammering

   Exonumia

          Credit cards, Medals,
          Tokens

   Notaphily

          Banknotes

   Scripophily

          Stocks, Bonds

   A coin is usually a piece of hard material, generally metal, usually in
   the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government, to be used
   as a form of money in transactions. Along with banknotes, coins make up
   the cash forms of all modern money systems. Coins are usually used for
   lower-valued units, and banknotes are usually used for the higher
   values; also, in most money systems, the highest value coin is worth
   less than the lowest-value note.

Collecting coins

   See Coin collecting and Numismatics for more information on the
   collecting of coins, bank notes, token coins and Exonumia.

The value of a coin

   The market exchange value of a coin comes from its historic value,
   and/or the intrinsic value of the component metal (for example gold
   coins, silver coins or platinum coins).

   However, in modern times, most coins are made of a base metal and their
   value comes strictly from their status as fiat money. This means that
   the value of the coin is decreed by government fiat rather than agreed
   by the people, which really makes it less a coin and more a token in
   the strictest sense.

   To distinguish between these two types of coins, as well as from other
   forms of tokens which have been used as money, monetary scholars have
   defined three criteria that an object must meet to be a "true coin".
   These criteria are:
    1. It must be made of a valuable material, and trade for close to the
       market value of that material.
    2. It must be of a standardized weight and purity.
    3. It must be marked to identify the authority that guarantees the
       content.

   By the above definition, the invention and first known usage of coins
   comes from the Kingdom of Lydia circa 643-630 B.C. Under three
   generations of Lydian kings, the money of Lydia gradually moved from
   being lumps of electrum (a naturally occurring alloy of silver and
   gold) to coins of a guaranteed weight and purity, marked with the seal
   of the King. True coins also developed very close to this time frame in
   both India and China.

   In 1979 and 1980, a Chinese architectural team excavating the region
   surrounding the ancient kingdom of Loulan discovered some Mesolithic
   stone tools and coins (see Loulan: Modern Chinese Expeditions).

Coin debasement

   US price levels, 1800–2000Red line marks leaving silver standard
   US price levels, 1800–2000
   Red line marks leaving silver standard

   Throughout history, governments have been known to create more coinage
   than their supply of precious metals would allow. By replacing some
   fraction of a coin's precious metal content with a base metal (often
   copper or nickel), the intrinsic value of each individual coin was
   reduced (thereby "debasing" their money), allowing the coining
   authority to produce more coins than would otherwise be possible.
   Debasement of money almost always leads to price inflation unless price
   controls are also instituted by the governing authority. Some consider
   a classic example of this phenomenon to be the behaviour of price
   levels in the United States since 1964 (the last year circulating
   United States Coins were minted of 90 percent silver). Such debasement
   and inflation were not unique to the U.S. Virtually every other country
   debased their coinage too. The United Kingdom and other countries saw
   similar inflation during the same era. Furthermore, the silver coinage
   current in the first half of the 20th century was not necessarily "true
   coinage" by the definition above. For example, in 1960, the silver in a
   U.S. dime was worth less than four cents. Many countries have
   redenominated their currency as a means of making a currency system
   impacted by inflation more practical. A recent, but extreme example of
   this is Turkey, which redenominated its currency on January 1st, 2005.
   One new Turkish Lira is worth one million of the old Turkish Lira.

   Most countries which have not been subject to extreme inflation have
   still modified their coinage system to ensure that coins continue to be
   a practical means of exchange. Generally this occurs in three ways:

   1) Reducing the size of the coins or using cheaper metals, such as New
   Zealand's change from copper-nickel coins to smaller, plated coins.

   2) Removing lower-valued coins from circulation. New Zealand has
   removed its one, two and five cent coins from circulation. Many other
   countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom, have also taken
   a similar approach.

   3) Replacing low-value banknotes with coins. The United Kingdom has
   one- and two-pound coins, and New Zealand has one- and two-dollar
   coins. This is generally driven by economic factors, as coins last
   substantially longer than banknotes.

   The United States is unusual in that it has only slightly modified its
   coinage system to accommodate this inflation. The one-cent coin has
   changed little since 1864 (though its composition was changed in 1982
   to remove virtually all copper from the coin) and still remains in
   circulation, despite a greatly reduced purchasing power. On the other
   end of the spectrum, the largest coin in common circulation is 25
   cents, a low value for the largest denomination coin compared to other
   countries. Attempts at introducing a one-dollar coin have met with
   limited success. As a result, coins in America today are scarcely
   regarded as "money" in any practical sense. Increasingly common are
   coin-counting machines which charge money to consumers for converting
   their "coins" into "cash".

   Interestingly, with the recent dramatic increases in the prices of
   copper, nickel, and zinc, both the US one- and five-cent coins are now
   worth more for their raw metal content than their face value. In
   particular, copper one-cent pieces (those dated prior to 1982 and some
   1982-dated coins) now contain about two cents' worth of copper.

Features of modern coinage

   A bronze coin of the Chinese Han Dynasty—circa 1st century BC. Some
   modern Japanese coins still have the characteristic hole in the coin.
   Enlarge
   A bronze coin of the Chinese Han Dynasty—circa 1st century BC. Some
   modern Japanese coins still have the characteristic hole in the coin.
   An ancient Greek coin, struck under Roman rule, circa 268 AD.
   Enlarge
   An ancient Greek coin, struck under Roman rule, circa 268 AD.

   The milled, or reeded, edges still found on many coins were originally
   designed to show that none of the valuable metal had been shaved off
   the coin. Prior to the use of milled edges, circulating coins commonly
   suffered from "shaving", by which unscrupulous persons would shave a
   small amount of precious metal from the edge. Unmilled British sterling
   silver coins were known to be shaved to almost half of their minted
   weight. This form of debasement in Tudor England led to the formulation
   of Gresham's Law. The monarch would have to periodically recall
   circulating coins, paying only bullion value of the silver, and re-mint
   them.

   Traditionally, the side of a coin carrying a bust of a monarch or other
   authority, or a national emblem, is called the obverse, or
   colloquially, heads. The other side is called the reverse, or
   colloquially, tails. However, the rule is violated in some cases.
   Another rule is that the side carrying the year of minting is the
   obverse, although some Chinese coins, most Canadian coins, the British
   20p coin, and all Japanese coins, are an exception.

   The orientation of the obverse with respect to the reverse differs
   between countries. Some coins have coin orientation, where the coin
   must be flipped vertically to see the other side; other coins, such as
   British coins, have medallic orientation, where the coin must be
   flipped horizontally to see the other side.

   Coins that are not round (British 50 pence for example) usually have an
   odd number of sides, with the edges rounded off. This is so that the
   coin has a constant diameter, and will therefore be recognised by
   vending machines whichever way it is inserted. If a coin had an even
   number of sides this would not be possible. Some such older designs
   remain, however, such as the 12-sided Australian 50 cent coin.

   Coins are popularly used as a sort of two-sided die; in order to choose
   between two options with a random possibility, one choice will be
   labeled "heads" and the other "tails," and a coin will be flipped or
   "tossed" to see whether the heads or tails side comes up on top. See
   Bernoulli trial; a fair coin is defined to have the probability of
   heads (in the parlance of Bernoulli trials, a "success") of exactly
   0.5. A widely publicized example of an asymmetrical coin is the Belgian
   one euro coin . See also coin flipping.
   Gold sovereigns and a Krugerrand
   Enlarge
   Gold sovereigns and a Krugerrand

   Coins are sometimes falsified to make one side weigh more. Such a coin
   is said to be "weighted."

   Some coins, called bracteates, are so thin they can only be struck on
   one side.

   Bi-metallic coins are sometimes used for commemorative purposes, and in
   the 1990s, France used a tri-metallic coin. In 1996 Canada adopted a
   bi-metallic two dollar coin commonly referred to as the toonie.

   Guitar-shaped coins were once issued in Somalia, Poland once issued a
   fan-shaped 10 zloty coin, but perhaps the oddest coin ever was the 2002
   $10 coin from Nauru, a Europe-shaped coin.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
