Questions tagged [money]
Use for questions related to the history of money and methods of payment. The tag could be also used for asking for a particular system or currency (e.g. the British pre-decimal system before 1971).
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Why wouldn't debtors simply destroy their tally sticks?
I understand that the distinctive way the two pieces of a tally stick and the markings on them fit together prevented altering records. But that system only works if you can bring the pieces of a ...
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How did people trade for food and drink in Bronze age cities?
The time period I’m specifically interested in is Mesopotamian civilizations in the early to middle bronze age, but I don’t mind examples from other comparable cultures.
I’m curious how people in ...
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How did ancient Greek city-states secure mines to mint coins?
I have a basic question about mines and coinage.
I have read that different cities minted their own coins. The Athenians were lucky with the Laurion mines which contained silver. But what did cities ...
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When did the cost of living differences between Switzerland and neighboring countries became noticeable?
Today it is widely known that prices of general goods in Switzerland are somewhat double those of Europe (rough generalization). There are a number of factors that contribute to this, notably the ...
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What was Bess of Hardwick’s net worth?
Bess of Hardwick was said to be one of England’s wealthiest women of her time, perhaps second only to Queen Elizabeth I. Do we know how wealthy she was? How does her wealth compare to the richest ...
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Was there a tax in the fifties for British citizens traveling abroad?
I have found a dialog in Roberto Rossellini's 1954 film Journey to Italy where the character played by George Sanders says it's expensive to stay abroad too much. That would seem natural, only the ...
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What does Tuchman mean by transition to a "money economy" in the Middle Ages?
In A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Chapter 4, Barbara W. Tuchman writes:
The governing fact was that medieval organization by this time [i.e.,
the 14th century] had passed to a ...
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How much would 300 pounds (money value) weigh in Medieval England?
I remember reading a Robin Hood story as a child where the Sheriff of Nottingham rode though Sherwood forest, as I remember foolishly going alone, and Robin Hood robbed him of 300 pounds. And I ...
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What does CONOB mean on ancient Roman coins?
I have stumbled across many depictions of Roman coins with the abbreviation CONOB on it, such as this one.
What does it stand for?
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Is there validity to the claim of a scavenger hunting barter economy in the history of money?
I've read in economics textbooks, and seen in videos like this, saying that before money, there was a barter economy was based on a coincidence of wants, and people would have to go on basically a ...
user49058
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How much did Didius Julianus pay to become emperor of Rome?
According to Wikipedia, Didius Julianus was proclaimed Roman Emperor in AD 193 by the Praetorian Guard after offering them 25,000 sesterces per soldier (outbidding Sulpicianus's offer of 20,000 ...
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What did medical treatments for fractured or broken bones cost in 1900-1915?
Let's say that you are in the year 1915, living in rural Eastern Europe, and you just got badly injured in an earthquake (not a huge earthquake, just big enough to crumble a small and poorly built ...
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How did bank transactions (or "data" transactions) work when it took people weeks to travel vast distances?
I am designing a prototype for a distributed database that could work across vast distances of space, like the goals behind IPFS working at planetary, or galactic, scale. I want to solve the problem, ...
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Are there examples of marking coins to know how they are used?
I've seen in a video game (Empire: Dawn of the modern world) that the king of Korea was putting mark on some coins to have a better idea of how this money is spent (in this story, it is used to ...
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In the 19th century were paintings and collectibles worth, inflation adjusted, anything like today's prices?
My sense is that collectibles in general, including coins and comic books (not sure the analog of comic books existed in the 19th century) are worth far more by any measure, even taking inflation into ...
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How did the Bolsheviks fund their government?
I came across this from a telegram sent by a Mr. Lindley in Russia to Mr. Balfour in London.—
(Received November 28.)
(Telegraphic.)
Archangel, November 27, 1918.
Principal reason why Bolsheviks have ...
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Was Mansa Musa's gold as serious an inflationary problem in Mamluk Egypt as is portrayed, and, if so, how did the Mamluks recover from it?
There are numerous sources claiming that Mansa Musa, King of Mali, was one of the richest people alive (#1, #2). Essentially, these claim that Musa was one of the richest people in the history of the ...
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When did the first electronic money transfer / digital transaction happen using computers?
I tried to find out when the first digital transaction using computers happened, but could not find a specific date. By digital transaction I mean a money transfer between two banks (I assume it was ...
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Was Byzantine land incredibly cheap compared to bread?
I am reading the fascinating THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF BYZANTIUM, available here.
I gather that 1 modios of land was something less than 3000 square metres and for the best land was worth about 1 ...
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What was the value of a thousand talents in Roman Palestine about AD 33?
My question is simple, "what was the value of a thousand talents in Roman Palestine about AD 33?"
It is my impression that a thousand talents would have been a vast amount of wealth for that ...
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Are there any examples of recurring payments in ancient times?
I'm interested in the history of recurring payments. The farthest I could get to is the feudal system, where peasants paid rent to knights once every so often. Obviously the banking system in the late ...
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Did any country ever suppress the value of money?
I am thinking of events such as massive disease, starvation of war, during which physical resources and manpower were so important that it did not make sense anymore to count them with money.
As a ...
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How was the reichmarks to deutschmarks supported?
I saw on a TV show that the West Germany, during the Cold War, faced an explosion of Reichmarks which became inflation. The Americans were making the Marshall plan in favour of West Germany.
During ...
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At what point after the war did Confederate money begin to attain value again?
At the start of the U.S. Civil War, the Confederate States of America began to print their own money. Almost immediately it began to lose value due to inflation (except in 1864). By the end of the ...
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When and why did round coins become a practical standard?
In the world today many countries (probably most if not all, but I don't have a reference) use round coins. It's clear that some coins of ancient times were not round, as can be seen here. At which ...
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Does any of John Sutter's tin money survive?
John Sutter was a Swiss settler and investor in the late Mexican era of California. I have only seen secondary sources on the matter, but apparently his colony New Helvetia had bespoke coinage:
... ...
user18968
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How were large monetary transactions conducted in medieval Europe?
Recently, I have read in the news about a large hoard of Norman coins in England being found. Apparently, all of these coins were silver pennies. And then it occurred to me that small silver coins ...
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Was the introduction of paper money controversial like cryptocurrency?
I dont know much about cryptocurrency, but I know it is controversial. There are people on both sides.
Is there historical evidence that paper money faced a similar thing? Were there people that ...
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How do kings secure their treasury? [closed]
What part of a King's administrative structure ensures that the Treasury functions as expected, without employees taking advantage of their position (like manipulating accounts and stealing treasure, ...
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How did redenomination prevent the Weimar Republic from further decline?
My school is currently teaching us European History in the 20th century, and we were on the topic of the Weimar Republic.
It got me thinking, how exactly did redenomination of currency save the ...
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What were the rejected designs for the Euro symbol?
The Euro symbol (€), supposedly but not certainly designed by Alain Billiet, was selected from a pool of proposals. According to a very official-looking document from europa.eu:
Some thirty drafts ...
user18968
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Where did all the money go? [closed]
If you had $1 when Caesar was assassinated 2063 years ago and had saved it with 2 % real interest rate you would have 1,02^2063 = 5,5 x 10^17 dollars today.
Even if it is difficult to translate the ...
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How much would it cost to bribe a prison warden in New England in the year 1800?
The value of money from one decade to another is a very confusing topic - in my opinion, anyway.
For instance, something called the CPI Inflation Calculator states that $1 in 1800 was the equivalent ...
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How did the debt collection of Gregorius IX work?
In Dan Jones' 'The Templars', a paragraph details in broad terms how the Templar Order assisted the reigning Pope, Gregorius IX, with his debt collection over numerous Catholic realms.
This is the ...
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How was money transferred in early 1900s' Russia?
I'm reading Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore. The book frequently quotes letters between him and fellow revolutionaries, often when he was in internal exile in some obscure corner of Siberia.
...
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Why does some Califate money feature crosses?
Why does some Muslim money feature crosses?
Like the following ones:
Was the cross an early Muslim symbol?
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What is the approximate value of a Spanish ducat in 1557?
In the text of "A narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida published at Evora in 1557" the anonymous author states that de Soto "... gathered a hundred and four score thousand ...
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Worth of an old 1/4 tanka coin when it was active 1516-1526
Can someone tell me what was the worth of a quarter tanka in India when Ibrahim Lodi's was the ruler (1516-1526 CE) or what a quarter tank could buy at that time?
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What is this Canadian Half Dollar? Cannot find it anywhere [closed]
I just found this half dollar in my house. perfect condition? is this worth anything?
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When and where were the first coins made showing the currency or a face value?
According to this article Origin and Evolution of Money, coins
...for many centuries...were guaranteed by their intrinsic value, that is to say, by the trade value of the metal used in their ...
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Do you know this variety of 1856 Flying Eagle cent?
I have seen other flying eagle cents that have United States of America around the eagle but not the stars. And on the obverse it has United States of America around the reef.
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What is a medieval symbol for money/trade/banking?
I take part in arranging a medieval fair. As part of that I have the task of creating a pair of moneyboxes for use at the counter of the main place where the visitors can buy something to eat and ...
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In 1947, how many Reichsmarks would 1 U.S. dollar buy?
What was the 1947 value of 7,200 Reichsmarks in U.S. dollars? What was the 1947 exchange rate of the U.S. dollar for the Reichsmark?
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Research on the unit "Mark" [closed]
Friends! First of all, thanks for your time and help.
I'm conducting a research on the word "Mark": it all started in a forgotten language, meaning "forest".
Since forests were natural borders, the ...
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German 10 zehn heller
This 10 zehn heller , which I believe at the top on the reverse says "Notgeld" but it is really hard to make out.
The date looks like "1827" but is probably 1923 and it seems to have a wood grain ...
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Leather 1.50 German gold mark
I have a German 1.50 gold mark that looks to be made of leather. It is about 3/16 of an inch thick. and dyed black. It has many symbols. Please if anyone can tell me about this. It looks to be dated ...
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How did Romans know if their money was debased?
In many moments of Roman imperial history coin was debased, with its silver contents being reduced over time, and in general this was linked with increasing imperial expenditures. In Harper's The Fate ...
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Were Cypriots able to pay their bills during the "bail in" of March 2013?
During the Cypriot financial crisis, it seems that a "bank holiday" was announced on March 16 and lasted until March 26, during which time ATM withdrawals were impossible or at least tightly ...
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Before modern banking, how did government-issued coins get into everyone's hands?
At first, this question sounded basic to me, but I couldn't find easy answer in Wikipedia. Since this SE prefers restricted scope, let's limit it to the empires of the 9th-10th century, e.g. the ...
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Why did Indonesia use a separate currency for West Irian before 1973?
In 1963, Indonesia took control of Western New Guinea (formerly a Dutch colony whose status was separated from the rest of Indonesia/Dutch East Indies since 1949), and renamed it West Irian. One ...
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