Portal:Numismatics/Selected article

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The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. Under the gold standard, currency issuers guarantee to redeem notes in that amount of gold. Governments that employ such a fixed unit of account, and which will redeem their notes to other governments in gold, share a fixed-currency relationship. Supporters of the gold standard claim it is more resistant to credit and debt expansion. Unlike a fiat currency, the money backed by gold cannot be created arbitrarily by government action. This restraint prevents artificial inflation by the devaluation of currency. This is supposed to remove "currency uncertainty," keep the credit of the issuing monetary authority sound, and encourage lending. Nevertheless, countries under the gold standard, like countries with fiat currencies, underwent debt crises and depressions throughout the history of its use.

The gold standard is no longer used in any nation, having been replaced completely by fiat currency. It still is in use by private institutions in the supply of digital gold currency, which uses gold grams as money. Due to its rarity, durability, and the general ease of identification through its unique color, weight, ductility and acoustic properties, gold is a commodity that merchants and traders came to select as a common unit of account - thus it has long been used as a form of money and store of wealth.

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In economics, fiat currency or fiat money is money whose purchasing power derives from a declaratory fiat or an authoritative order of the government issuing it. It is often associated with paper money unbacked by fixed assets, issued without the promise of redemption in some other form, and accepted by tradition or social convention. Fiat money is called fiduciary money in many languages.

The widespread acceptance of a fiat currency is enhanced by a central authority mandating its acceptance under penalty of law and demanding it in payment of taxes or tribute. Fiat money can be contrasted with alternative forms of currency such as commodity money and private currency. Most currencies in the world have been fiat money since the end of the international gold standard of the Bretton Woods system in 1971.

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The Peace Dollar is a silver United States dollar coin minted from 1921 to 1928, then again in 1934 and 1935. Early proposals for the coin called for a commemorative issue to coincide with the end of World War I, but the Peace Dollar was issued as a circulating coin.

Designed by Anthony de Francisci, the Peace Dollar was so named because the word PEACE appears on the bottom of the coin's reverse. It contains 0.77344 troy ounces of silver, and was the successor to the Morgan Dollar, which had not been regularly minted since 1904. With the passage of the Pittman Act in 1918, the mintage of dollar coins was enabled to start again. Prior to the design and acceptance of the Peace Dollar, the Morgan Dollar was minted again in 1921. After a six-year pause in minting, the Peace Dollar was again minted in 1934 and 1935. It was minted briefly in 1965 (dated 1964), but all examples of this issue were never released to the public and were melted. The Peace Dollar is the last silver dollar minted for circulation in the United States.

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Civil War token are token coins that were privately minted and distributed in the United States between 1862 and 1864. They were used mainly in the Northeast and Midwest. The widespread use of the tokens was a result of the scarcity of government-issued cents during the Civil War.

Civil War tokens became illegal after the United States Congress passed a law on April 22, 1864 prohibiting the issue of any one or two-cent coins, tokens or devices for use as currency. On June 8, 1864 an additional law was passed that forbade all private coinage. Civil War tokens are divided into three types—store cards, patriotic tokens, and sutler tokens. All three types were utilized as currency, and are differentiated by their designs.

Patriotic Civil War tokens typically displayed a patriotic slogan or image on one or both sides. Since the majority of these tokens were minted in Union states, the slogans and images were decidedly pro-Union.

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The hobo nickel is a sculptural art form involving the creative modification of small-denomination coins, essentially resulting in miniature bas reliefs. The nickel, because of its size, thickness, and relative softness, was a favored coin for this purpose. However, the term "hobo nickel" is generic, and carvings have been made from many different denominations.

Due to its low cost and portability, this medium was particularly popular among hobos, hence the name. The altering of coins dates to the 18th century or earlier. Beginning in the 1850s, the most common form of coin alteration was the "potty coin," engraved on Seated Liberty coins (half dime through trade dollar). This time period was also the heyday of the love token, which was made by machine-smoothing a coin (usually silver) on one or both sides, then engraving it with initials, monograms, names, scenes, etc., often with an ornate border.

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The main Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including: the aureus (gold), the denarius (silver), the sestertius (bronze), the dupondius (bronze), and the as (copper).These were used from the middle of the second century BC until the middle of the third century, a remarkably long time. They were still accepted as payment in Greek influenced territories, even though these regions issued their own base coinage. Either called Greek Imperial or Roman provincial coins.

During the third century, the denarius was replaced by the double denarius, now usually known as the antoninianus or radiate, which was then itself replaced during the monetary reform of Diocletian which created denominations such as the argenteus (silver) and the follis (silvered bronze). After the reforms Roman coinage consisted mainly of the gold solidus and small bronze denominations. This trend continued to the end of the Empire in the West.

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The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used for electronic payment in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. Launched in September 1997 as a fare collection system for the city's mass transit system, the Octopus card system has grown into a widely used electronic cash system used not only for virtually all public transport in Hong Kong, but also for making payment at convenience stores, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meters, car parks and many other point-of-sale applications. In addition the system is used for access control to offices, schools and apartments. It can even be used to donate money to charities.

Octopus has become one of the world's most successful electronic cash systems, with over 13 million Octopus cards in circulation and over nine million transactions per day. The operator of the Octopus system, Octopus Cards Limited, a joint venture between MTR Corporation and other transport companies in Hong Kong. Octopus's international arm, Octopus Knowledge Limited has won a contract to extend Octopus-style systems to the Netherlands.

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A Demand Note is a type of United States paper money that was issued between August 1861 and April 1862 during the American Civil War in denominations of 5, 10, and 20 dollars. Original legislation referred to the currency as "treasury notes". The term Demand Note was applied retrospectively because the notes were redeemable on demand for gold coin. The notes were created to serve as a means of monetary exchange in place of gold and silver coins. The U.S. government used Demand Notes to pay expenses and salaries. Once the public learned the notes were redeemable in gold coin, the notes began to circulate as widely as gold and silver coins previously did.

Because of the distinctive green ink used on the reverse of all Demand Notes, the notes were nicknamed "greenbacks".The obverse of the notes contained familiar elements such as a Bald Eagle, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton; however, the portraits used on Demand Notes are different than the ones seen on U.S. currency today.

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€2 commemorative coins are special euro coins minted and issued by member states of the Eurozone since 2004 as legal tender. The coins typically commemorate the anniversaries of historical events or draw attention to current events of special importance. Eighteen variations of €2 commemorative coins have been minted. €2 commemorative coins have become collectibles.

The basis for the commemorative coins derived from a decision of the European Council, which repealed the prohibition of changing the national obverse sides of euro coins from 1 January 2004 onwards.

The face value of the coins, typically is less than their intrinsic value of between €3 and €12. The exceptions are San Marino and the Vatican City, where coins from the former are regularly sold for between €30 and €40, while coins from the latter are very rarely obtained for less than €100. Issued designs are made public in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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The Virtuti Militari is Poland's highest military decoration for valor in the face of the enemy. Foreign decorations equivalent to the Virtuti Militari include Britain's Victoria Cross and the U.S. Medal of Honor. It is awarded either for personal heroism or sometimes to commanders representing their units.

Awarded in five classes, the order was created in 1792 by Poland's King Stanisław August Poniatowski. It has been reintroduced, renamed and banned several times, with its fate closely reflecting the vicissitudes of the Polish people. Throughout the decoration's existence, thousands of soldiers and officers, Polish and foreign, several cities and one ship have been awarded the Virtuti Militari for valor or outstanding leadership in war. There have been no new awards since 1989.

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The Royal Canadian Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures circulation coins on behalf of other nations. The Mint designs and manufactures: collector coins; gold, silver, palladium and platinum bullion coins; customized medals, tokens and trade dollars; and watches and jewellery featuring coin designs. It also offers gold and silver refinery and assay services.

The President and Master of the Mint is the senior executive officer of the organization. The Mint operates under the legislative basis of the Royal Canadian Mint Act. Among the Mint's technical innovations are its plating process, and the world's first coloured circulation coin, the 2004 Remembrance Day 25 cent piece. Further innovation was achieved with the adaptation of the Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) technology to coat its dies, extending the life of the die beyond that of past chrome coated dies.

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The dime is a United States ten-cent coin equaling one-tenth of a United States dollar. The dime has the smallest diameter and smallest thickness of all United States coins currently minted for circulation. Mintage of the dime was authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792, and production began in 1796. A feminine head representing Liberty was used on the front and an eagle was used on the back. From 1837-1891 'Seated Liberty' dimes were issued which featured Liberty seated next to a shield. In 1892 a feminine head of Liberty returned to the dime and was known as a 'Barber dime'. In 1916, the head of a winged-capped Liberty was put on the dime and is commonly known by the misnomer of 'Mercury dime'. The last design change to the dime occurred in 1946 when the dime was changed to its current design with Franklin Roosevelt.

The term 'dime' comes from the French word disme, meaning "tithe" or "tenth part," from the Latin decima [pars]. This term appeared on early pattern coins, but was not used on any dimes until 1837.

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The dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. It is normally abbreviated to the dollar sign $, or alternatively US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The U.S. dollar is divided into 100 (equal) cents.

Adopted by the Congress of the Confederation of the United States on July 6, 1785, the U.S. dollar today is the most-used currency in the world. Several countries use the U.S. dollar as their official currency, and many others allow it to be used in a de facto capacity. In 1995, over US$380 billion were in circulation, of which two-thirds was outside the United States. By 2005 that figure had doubled to nearly $760 billion with an estimated half to two-thirds being held overseas, which is an annual growth of about 6.6%.

When currently issued in circulating form, denominations equal to or less than a dollar are emitted as U.S. coins while denominations equal to or greater than a dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve notes. In the past, paper money was occasionally issued in denominations less than a dollar and gold coins were issued for circulation up to the value of 20 dollars.

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The history of Ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms), into three periods, the Archaic, the Classical and the Hellenistic. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek world in about 600 BCE until the Persian Wars in about 480 BCE. The Classical period then began, and lasted until the conquests of Alexander the Great in about 330 BC, which began the Hellenistic period, extending until the Roman absorption of the Greek world in the 1st century BCE. The Greeks cities continued to produce their own coins for several more centuries under Roman rule, called Roman provincial coins.

All Greek coins were hand-made, rather than milled as modern coins are. The design for the obverse was carved (in reverse) into a block of stone or iron. The design of the reverse was carved into another. The blank gold or silver disk, heated to make it soft, was then placed between these two blocks and the upper block struck hard with a hammer, "punching" the design onto both sides of the coin. This is a fairly crude technique and produces a high failure rate, so the high technical standards achieved by the best Greek coins – perfect centering of the image on the disk, even relief all over the coin, sharpness of edges – is a remarkable testament to Greek perfectionism.

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The U.S. Mint in New Orleans operated as a branch of the United States Mint from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million gold and silver coins of nearly every American denomination, with a total face value of over $307 million. It was closed during most of the American Civil War and the period called Reconstruction. After its decommissioning as a mint, the building served a variety of purposes, including as an assay office, a United States Coast Guard storage facility, and a fallout shelter. Since 1981 it has served as a branch of the Louisiana State Museum. As of August 2006 it is closed to the public pending repairs following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The New Orleans Mint has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and is currently the oldest surviving structure to have served as a U.S. Mint. Along with the Charlotte Mint, it is one of two former mint facilities in the United States to house an art gallery.

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Polymer banknotes were developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and were first issued as currency in Australia in 1988. These banknotes are made from the polymer biaxially-oriented polypropylene which greatly enhances durability of the banknotes. Polymer banknotes also incorporate many security features not available to paper banknotes, making counterfeiting much more difficult.

An alternative polymer of polyethylene fibres marketed as Tyvek by DuPont was developed for use as currency by the American Bank Note Company in the early 1980s. Tyvek did not perform well in trials, smudging of ink and fragility were reported problems. Only Costa Rica and Haiti issued Tyvek banknotes; additionally, English printers Bradbury Wilkinson and Company produced a version on Tyvek but marketed as Bradvek for the Isle of Man in 1983; however, they are no longer produced and have become collectors' items.