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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How was financial profit viewed in Medieval Europe?

What was the attitude of people in Medieval Europe towards earning money, making a profit etc. I know that in some places Jews were well established as merchants because, from the point of the view of ...
cris14's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
244 views

Which tools were available in 1933 for the Chinese government to intervene in the money market?

I do not have profound knowledge of the Chinese banking sector in the 1930s, but, for instance, Tamagna, Frank M. Banking and finance in China. International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific ...
Stefan Voigt's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
4k views

How could the Roman sestertii/sesterces be converted into modern terms (say 2017 US$)? [closed]

Of course, the value of the sesterti must itself have fluctuated over the centuries it was in use. And so if I must narrow it down, I am particularly interested in its value during the time of ...
user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
2k views

What was the "Brakteaten" medieval monetary system?

I am reading "Interest and inflation free money" by Margrit Kennedy. I have only found this book online (here). It is not in my local libraries or bookshops. The author states (page 39 of ...
luchonacho's user avatar
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-3 votes
2 answers
353 views

Who is on the Nazi 2 Reichsmark coin?

There is a long haired figure on the 1934 2 Reichsmark coin. Who is it?
Null_Error's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
184 views

Were metal purities in coins well known and standardized by the 1500s?

I'm curious how pure metals (such as in coins) were by the mid 1500s in Europe. I know that in some cases metal purities are purposely less than what they could be, such as with WWII era US coins, but ...
Hack-R's user avatar
  • 807
7 votes
1 answer
371 views

Jewish Money Lenders in England: What happened to Money Lendings after Expulsion?

When the Jews left England in 1290 by edict of Edward 1, who took over the role of Jews? My understanding is that the primary economic function was loaning money against future sales of farm produce --...
Jeff's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
168 views

Did "loan sharks" arise after debtors' prison was eliminated?

One reads about loaning money in the past and the subtext is, if you were not repaid according to the terms of a note you held, you could get the debtor arrested. Eventually, debtors' prisons and ...
Jeff's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Can you tell me about this coin? श्री महेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाहदेव 2012. i.e in English Sri Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev 2012

This is a photo of both sides of the coin.
B.Rowan's user avatar
  • 61
5 votes
1 answer
502 views

In modern terms (for example the 2017 US dollar), how much purchasing power is 50,000 (French) Francs in 1829?

Not simply a conversion of money, as even independent of inflation, the value of basics like bread and such change over time. I am reading "The Count of Monte Cristo" and a character has just remarked ...
iammax's user avatar
  • 153
8 votes
2 answers
386 views

Did anyone in Alta California pay in cash?

In the Spanish and Mexican eras, California was an economy very cut off from its mother countries. Most trade was by bartering goods [Josiah Belden by Doyce Nunis, Jr., 1962]. Is there evidence of ...
Aaron Brick's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
193 views

To which age this currency belong?

My freind sent me thise picture and he is asking to which age this currency belong
Mr.lock's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
2k views

Was Smedley Butler right when he said 21,000 million/billionaires were created from World War I?

In his book entitled "War is a Racket" Smedley Butler argues that the profit of war is counted in bodies and money spent. He also wrote that 21,000 millionaires/billionaires were made from World War I....
Ella's user avatar
  • 63
8 votes
1 answer
474 views

Was there ever a case where *physically* exporting fiat money caused severe damage to an economy?

For those people who did not experience it: During the Cold War most countries of the Warsaw Pact had ridiculously high sentences for exporting their own money. That means that if you have some coins/...
Thorsten S.'s user avatar
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6 votes
5 answers
1k views

When have salaries been paid in kind, not cash? [closed]

Formal jobs of the present day pay primarily cash wages, but a great number of historical employees earned primarily food, housing, goods from a company store, scrip, or debt repayment. These non-...
Aaron Brick's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
694 views

How were large sums of money carried/transmitted prior to the 1940s or so?

I visualize that expensive items were literally paid for in cash and people going to Europe, for example, wanting to spend the season in style, brought stacks of thousand and five thousand dollar ...
Jeff's user avatar
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30 votes
3 answers
23k views

How much did it cost to attend events at the ancient Roman colosseum?

I recently visited the Colosseum in Rome, where a tour guide explained about the different seating sections for the elite (senators and the like), nobles, ordinary citizens, and slaves/women. He also ...
Monica Cellio's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
224 views

Value of commodity money outside of the place it was minted

How was the exchange rate determined between different commodity currencies? E.g., country X mints gold Zorkmids, each weighing 5g, and country Y mints gold Zennys, each weighting 8 grams. When Ms.XX ...
sds's user avatar
  • 27k
-1 votes
1 answer
231 views

What was the first electronic creation of money?

What was the first electronic creation of money? There seems to be some confusion as to what I'm asking. I read about quantitative easing and as far as I can tell that's something different. I'm not ...
DrZ214's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
3k views

How important was currency inflation in Fall of Roman Empire?

Under Roman Republic one unskilled worker typically made one sestertius a day, and it was enough to keep up a modest life in ancient Rome back in the day. But I found data about Rome started to ...
CsBalazsHungary's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
2k views

What coin is this? Arabic: 10 Fulus, over crossed wheat and lead

Years ago (maybe 15), my grandfather gave me this coin and I have no idea what it is or where it came from. Can anyone help? I'm pretty sure it came from the Middle East (he did a lot of work there ...
Kyle Roode's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
96 views

Paying for something in Revolutionary Times

If someone were paying a bill or for a debt in 1790, did they pay with cash or a note of some sort?
KDierking's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
464 views

What time period did these notes come from?

This may be a bit broad of a question, but as I was going through some old things I found some Japanese monitary bills in varying currencies from I'm guessing around WWII, but I'm not sure. I cannt ...
Morella Almånd's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
322 views

How much would votes sell for in early America?

I am reading an essay by Alfred F. Young right now in which the author mentions that Gouverneur Morris said of enfranchising those without property: Give the vote to people who have no property and ...
nosyarg's user avatar
  • 183
30 votes
1 answer
4k views

How much were telegraphists in the 1950s paid?

I'm doing some research for a small project, and am having some difficulty finding information on telegraphists as a whole. The information I'm trying to find is rather specific, and I can't seem to ...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
910 views

How can the value of older currencies be expressed in modern units? How is the conversion rate calculated? [duplicate]

We can pretty often read something like.. "He owned this sum of silver/gold which is equal to this sum of dollars in our time." But how is this calculated? How can you know what a 1000 dollars was in ...
Uk rain troll's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
471 views

How much money did the participating nations spend in the Napoleonic Wars? [closed]

How much money did Great Britain, Russia and France collect per year during Napoleonic wars as total revenue, and how much money did each one spend in total on that war?
Vinicius Toyohashi's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
821 views

What was used to pay taxes in Medieval England [closed]

Was coinage issued by the Kings (Queen) used to pay taxes in Medieval England? If so were these silver or gold coins or base metal ? And how did the use of tally sticks fit into the tax system
Peter Bourne's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

What did the paper money of the Ilkhanate look like?

In the 1200s the Mongols conquered Persia (and a few other places). The portion of the empire in Persia was known as the Ilkhanate, ruled over by the ilkhan. Influenced by Chinese paper money, the ...
Joe's user avatar
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11 votes
0 answers
431 views

Does Patonce Cross symbol have any record of use in Hungary?

Hungary introduced new 10000 HUF notes that contain a symbol I couldn't relate to Hungary's history. There were no official notes known to me why they use Patonce Cross on Hungarian notes. And here ...
CsBalazsHungary's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
2k views

How can prices be compared over time?

I've just asked a question where Tyler Durden wrote in his answer that paper was expensive at Euclids time. So I wanted to ask the question: How did the price of paper / papyrus develop over time?...
Martin Thoma's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
3k views

Purpose of Guinea in British monetary history

I read about Guinea itself, how it was made, but I don't really understand why would anybody keep a money worth 5% more than an existing denomination like Pound. I can accept the 1/20 and 1/12 ...
CsBalazsHungary's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
653 views

Why did overestimated coins led to inflation and well-estimated coins to deflation?

It is said in Debt, the first 5,000 years by David Graeber (chapter 4, note 2) that when the value of metal coins represented exactly their weight, the result was deflation. The author says that when ...
fyusuf-a's user avatar
  • 175
17 votes
4 answers
2k views

What were the factors that caused the world to move away from the Gold Standard in the 20th century?

For most of the world's history for thousands of years, gold was used as the medium of exchange for money. The world gradually moved off the gold standard in the 20th century. What were the factors ...
curious's user avatar
  • 4,544
12 votes
4 answers
2k views

What happened to the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church accumulated over the ages?

At one point in history, the Roman Catholic Church was the largest land owner in Europe. Given the power of compounding, the length of time for the compounding to take effect plus the huge principal ...
curious's user avatar
  • 4,544
4 votes
1 answer
299 views

When did Germany begin to store it's gold deposits abroad? [closed]

I just learned from this question that Germany is storing it's gold reserves around the globe. When did this practice start? What was occurring at that time that drove the decision? And an ...
Vorac's user avatar
  • 1,087
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Until 1600, was it legal to counterfeit money?

Forging money or currency is more often called counterfeiting and, as is well known, the counterfeiting of money is usually attacked aggressively by today's governments. But, generally speaking, was ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
385 views

How was money transferred before digital transactions?

Take, for example, the late 18th century and pre-French Revolution. The American War of Independence (1775 - '83) and the Seven Years War (1754 - '63) were financially ruinous for Louis XVI's France, ...
ODP's user avatar
  • 355
52 votes
7 answers
4k views

Has a state ever "attacked" another one by printing fake money?

Has any state ever performed an "economic attack" against another state, by printing fake money of the victim's currency? Or, is it known if someone ever considered doing it, and which were the ...
o0'.'s user avatar
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