Coins, Copper, Chaos, and Cash!

Like collecting interesting info? Well, here's something you might not know...

Before we based our currencies’ value on faith in the governments that issued them, we had to make the out of valuable materials such as copper, silver and gold. Money was worth exactly what it was printed on.

However this created opportunities for financial shenanigans. Roman Emperor Nero, famous for not being very good, is one of the earliest known instances of a governing body intentionally reducing the value of their own currency. He literally debased his silver coins by mixing in 10% base metals, to save some cash. Probably for some new marble statues. This worked pretty well for a while, but the Romans got greedy and kept reducing the amount of silver, and increasing the amount of iron, until citizens were using more and more money to purchase the same amounts of olive oil. Something many of us can probably relate to right now.

And it wasn’t just emperors being unscrupulous, coins made of valuable metals, particularly soft gold, could have tiny slivers literally shaved off, or ‘washed’ - jingled in a bag until valuable metallic dust collected at the bottom. All inadvertently causing inflation as the coins were still traded at face value.

And even little old New Zealand, like Nero, also debases our currency. But not out of foolishness or greed; We sometimes print more money than we should, so our agricultural export market can stay competitive. Good for the economy overall, but maybe not so good for those holidays in Europe! Until next time!

 Disclaimer: This article is for general information purposes only. While we aim for accuracy, the information provided is subject to change and may not suit your specific circumstances. Always do your own research and consider seeking independent advice before making any financial decisions.