The world's first coins were started to produce in around 600 B.C. by the Lydians. These coins were made of a naturally occuring mixture of gold and silver called electrum.
By about 560 B.C. it was learned how to separate gold from silver, and so the world's first bi-metallic coinage was created.
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| Silver Denarius |
During most of the Roman Repuplic the Roman coinage consisted of the aureus (gold), the denarius (silver), the sestertius (brass), the dupondius (brass), and the as (copper). The silver denarius coins was used as the main coin with a few gold coins. After Julius Ceasar's death gold coins took over the Roman coinage system made it have mainly gold coins and some small bronze coins.
886 the Royal Mint was founded and in 1279 it moved to the Tower of London, where it remained for 500 years. Producing coins of the realm in the 16th century. In 1717 they moved the silver Pound to gold standard. In 1816 The Royal Mint acquired a powerful new steam powered coin presses and the modern sovereign was created.
During the first world war banknotes were brought to regular circulation and soon the use of gold coins stopped. By 1933, almost all gold coin production had stopped in the world, only a few coins were issued and most of those were commemorative, historical, or Medallic issues. After the first wolrd war, some countries started to issue gold coins again. These coins were created for the purchase of investors and for the citizens to offer a safety from the currency fluctuations.
Presently many countries issue gold and silver coins for sale to collectors and now with the plummeting value of dollar, gold and silver coins are starting to come back to circulation. Lawmakers in United States are starting to pass bills to make gold and silver a legal form of currency. Just last year Utah legalized gold and silver coins as a legal tender. Recently South Carolina was given the green light to use silver and gold as real money, a bill was passed to legalize it. The 12 other states are also looking at gold and silver as an option for new currency.PS. Want to start your own collection of coins? Check these out!
