Numismatics

The Axumites have created a civilization of considerable distinction.

They have devised an original architectural style and employ it in stone palaces and other public buildings in Axum.

They also erect a series of carved stone stelae, some of which are among the largest known from the ancient world, as monuments to their deceased rulers.

The Axumites leave behind a body of written records, that, although not voluminous, are nonetheless a legacy otherwise bequeathed only by Egypt and Meroë among ancient African kingdoms.

These records are written in two languages—Ge'ez and Greek.

Ge'ez is assumed to be ancestral to modern Amharic and Tigrinya, although possibly only indirectly.

Greek is also widely used, especially for commercial transactions with the Hellenized world of the eastern Mediterranean.

Even more remarkable and wholly unique for ancient Africa is the minting of coins over an approximately three hundred-year period.

These coins, many with inlay of gold on bronze or silver, provide a chronology of the rulers of Axum.

The Florin: The First International Currency (1252–14th Century)

The florin, originally the fiorino d'oro of Florence (Firenze), Italy, became the first widely accepted international currency in medieval Europe.

Origins of the Florin (1252)

• First struck in 1252, the gold florin contained 3.5 grams of pure gold and quickly gained trust and stability in commerce.
• The coin featured the fleur-de-lis (Florentine lily) on one side and St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, on the other.
• It became the dominant currency of European trade, thanks to Florence’s powerful banking institutions and widespread commercial influence.

Adoption and Expansion as an International Currency

By the early 14th century, the florin’s reputation for consistency and purity led other European states to borrow its format and issue their own versions.

• Italy – Venice, Genoa, and Milan minted similar gold coins.
• France – Introduced the franc à cheval, modeled on the florin.
• England – Attempted its own florin-based coinage under Edward III in 1344, though it was short-lived.
• Hungary – The golden forint became a major regional currency in Central Europe.
• The Holy Roman Empire – Several German cities adopted florin-based coinage.

Impact on Global Trade and Finance

• The florin became the preferred currency for international trade, particularly in:
  • The Mediterranean and the Levant, where Florentine bankers financed commercial ventures.
  • Northern Europe, where Hanseatic merchants used it for long-distance transactions.
  • The Crusader States and the Middle East, where it circulated alongside Islamic gold dinars.
• It strengthened the European banking system, as financial institutions like the Medici Bank and the Bardi and Peruzzi families conducted credit, loans, and trade based on the florin.
• By the 14th century, it was widely recognized across Europe, making it the first true international currency.

Legacy of the Florin

• The florin established the principle of a standardized, trusted gold currency, influencing the later rise of national currencies.
• It contributed to the growth of international banking, facilitating cross-border trade and finance.
• Many modern currencies, including the Hungarian forint and the Dutch guilder (florin in English), trace their origins to the Florentine gold florin.

The Florentine florin’s stability, wide acceptance, and impact on trade helped lay the foundation for modern economic systems, marking it as the first truly global medieval currency.

 

Silver had been discovered in February 1301 at Hory Kutné (Kutná Hora, Kuttenberg) in Central Bohemia.

Wenceslaus II had taken control of the mine by making silver production a royal monopoly, and issued the Prague groschen, which is to become the most popular of the early groschen-type coins due to its high silver content.

Kutná Hora is one of the richest European silver strikes ever: between 1300 and 1340 the mine may have produced as much as twenty tons of silver a year.

Having greatly restored Bohemian strength and prestige, and Wenceslas uses profits from silver to finance a successful campaign in Little Poland and gains the Polish crown in 1300.

The "fiorino d'oro" of the Republic of Florence is the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the seventh century.

As many Florentine banks are international supercompanies with branches across Europe, the florin quickly has by 1300 become the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions, replacing silver bars in multiples of the mark (a weight unit equal to eight ounces).

The influx of African gold permits the minting of Portugal's first gold cruzado coins by 1452.

A cruzado is equal to four hundred reis at this time.

French support for Rákóczi's struggle has gradually diminished, and a larger army is needed to occupy the already-won land.

Supplying the current army with arms and food is beyond his means.

He has tried to solve this problem by creating a new copper-based coinage, which is not easily accepted in Hungary as people are used to silver coins.

Rákóczi nevertheless manages to maintain his military advantage for a while.

A meeting of the Hungarian Diet (consisting of six bishops, thirty-six aristocrats and about a thousand representatives of the lower nobility of twenty-five counties), held near Szécsény (Nógrád county) in September 1705, elects Rákóczi to be the "fejedelem"—(ruling) prince—of the Confederated Estates of the Kingdom of Hungary, to be assisted by a twenty-four-member Senate.

Rákóczi and the Senate are assigned joint responsibility for the conduct of foreign affairs, including peace talks.

Rákóczi’s army is forced into retreat after 1706.

Another meeting of the Diet held at Ónod (Borsod county) on June 13, 1707, declares the deposition of the House of Habsburg from the Hungarian throne, on Rákóczi’s recommendation, and with Bercsényi’s support, but neither this act, nor the copper currency issued to avoid monetary inflation, are successful.

Louis XIV refuses to enter into treaties with Prince Rákóczi, leaving the Hungarians without allies.

There remains the possibility of an alliance with Imperial Russia, but this does not materialize either.

Peter decrees the establishment of the Saint Petersburg State University on January 28, 1724.

He also establishes in this year the St. Petersburg Mint, which will centralize coinage in Russia and begin to produce different kinds of badges and medals used for decorating.

The campaign along the parched shores of the Caspian had obviously put a great strain on Peter's health, already undermined by enormous exertions and also by the excesses in which he occasionally indulged himself.

Peter, whose overall health has never been never robust, had earlier this winter begun having problems with his urinary tract and bladder.

A team of doctors in the summer of 1724 performs the necessary surgery releasing upwards of four pounds of blocked urine.

Peter remains bedridden until late autumn.

Restless and certain he is cured in the first week of October, he begins a lengthy inspection tour of various projects.

Peter has his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remains Russia's actual ruler.

All of Peter's male children have died—the eldest son, Alexei, had been tortured and killed on Peter's orders in 1718 because he had disobeyed his father and opposed official policies.

Alexei's mother Eudoxia had also been punished; she had been dragged from her home and tried on false charges of adultery.

A similar fate had befallen Peter's beautiful Dutch mistress, Anna Mons, in 1704.

Peter and Catherine have an estrangement over her support of William Mons (the handsome brother of Peter's former mistress and secretary to Catherine) and his sister Matryona Balk, one of Catherine's ladies in waiting.

Peter has fought his entire life a somewhat hopeless battle to clear up corruption in Russia.

Catherine has a great deal of influence on who can gain access to her husband.

Mons is promoted to the rank of imperial chamberlain on Catherine’s crowning, and he and his sister have begun selling their influence to those who want access to Catherine and through her Peter.

Apparently this is overlooked by Catherine, who is fond of them both.

Peter finds out, has Mons apprehended on charges of peculation (embezzlement) and betrayal of trust and, after a brief and brutal inquest by Pyotr Tolstoy, the head of the Secret Chancellery, has him publicly drawn and quartered on November 16.

His sister, who had been publicly flogged during her brother's trial, is exiled.

Peter and Catherine will not speak for several months.

Rumors fly that she and Mons had had an affair, but there is no evidence to support this.

The Maria Theresa thaler (MTT) is a silver bullion coin that has been used in world trade continuously since they were first minted in 1741, at that time using the then-standard Reichsthaler value of nine thalers to the Vienna mark.

The thaler had been debased in 1750 to ten thalers to the Vienna Mark (a weight approximating half a pound of fine silver).

The new standard is effectively adopted across the German-speaking world when that standard is accepted formally in the Bavarian monetary convention the following year.

It is owing to the date of the Bavarian Monetary convention that many writers erroneously state that the Maria Theresa Thaler was first struck in 1751.

Named after Empress Maria Theresa, who rules Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia from 1740, the word thaler gives rise to daalder and daler, which will become dollar in English.

Governor Macquarie is credited with producing the first official currency specifically for circulation in Australia.

Foreign coins have been common in the early years of the New South Wales colony but much of this coin leaves the colony as a result of trade with visiting merchant ships.

Macquarie, to secure a reliable supply of coins, purchases forty thousand Spanish dollar coins in 1812 and has a convicted forger named William Henshall cut the centers out of the coins and counter stamp them to distinguish them as belonging to the colony of New South Wales and prevent them being useful elsewhere.

The central plug (known as a "dump") is valued at fifteen pence and the rim (known as a holey dollar) becomes a five-shilling piece.

In 1812 also, the first detailed inquiry into the convict system in Australia by a Select Committee on Transportation, supports, in general, Macquarie's liberal policies.

The committee thinks that fewer tickets of leave should be issued, however, and opposes the governor having the power to grant pardons.

The committee concludes that the colony should be made as prosperous as possible so as to provide work for the convicts and to encourage them to become settlers after being given their freedom.