by Mitch Hight Most everyone has an interest in how coins are made. Equally as intriguing is just how the concept of money began. Coins, checks, plastic cards, paper notes and e-money are now commonplace in today's society, but what did our ancestors do before coins were available in daily commerce? In order to better understand the history of coin making technology, we must first become familiar with the basic evolution of money in general. Man has used various items for money including cattle, whales' teeth, elephant tails, yap stones, wampum, and cowrie to name just a few. The cowrie, an ovoid shell of a mollusc, was widely used by more people and societies than any other type of primitive money. While cowrie served as a good method for conducting the large number of small, daily commercial transactions to be carried out; cattle was the general store of value in many cases. The term "pecuniary" is derived from the word pecus, Latin for cattle. Certainly, as the variety of goods and services increased, so did the complexity of using pure barter systems - too cumbersome and complicated for the average man. Bride-money was invented to compensate for the loss of a daughter's services. Many societies even adopted a system of charging a set fee for killing a man. In addition to basic economic functions, payments for damage and loss, and other basic life situations, many factors contributed to the invention of money. To say that money was invented solely for the exchange of goods and services is a view too myopic and simplistic to be considered accurate. Money can be simply defined as a medium of exchange. A basic understanding of the origin, evolution and production of money is a requirement for anyone wishing to increase their knowledge in areas such as banking, finance, economics or numismatics. This discussion will not explore in depth the possible reasons for the invention of money, but will concentrate on the various methods and techniques employed over the centuries to produce coinage. The first metallic money dates back to approximately 2000-1800 BC and was made of bronze. These bronze pieces which traded based on weight, were often formed into the shape of cattle, which again were used prior to the general acceptance of metals as a valuable commodity. The primary reason behind the origins of coinage is a matter open for debate. One school of thought is that the first coins were struck for religious reasons. Another suggests that they were made solely in order to help facilitate trade. Still another theory promotes the idea that man began making coins strictly for accounting and administrative reasons. I believe that the invention came about from a combination of these theories and others. A Coin is defined as a device-marked piece of metal, issued by a governing authority and intended to be used as money. So, when does our discussion of coin making technology actually begin? Most numismatic scholars, historians and archaeologists agree to give credit for the introduction of coinage to the Lydians as they were the first to combine the universal acceptance of metal as a precious commodity, a design denoting authority or ownership, and the custom of forming metal into objects of standard weight with markings to indicate their value. The Kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor, now a part of the Republic of Turkey, was to survive just long enough to witness its coinage become the accepted standard for the period. King Ardys of Lydia (652-615 B.C.) established a mint in the Lydian capital of Sardis where coins were produced from a naturally occuring alloy of gold and silver known as electrum. Lumps of electrum were found quite readily in the mountains and streams close by. The lumps were softened by heat, or annealed and placed on a plate with a roughened face. Then they were struck with a hammer and punch. These first coins were quite random as to size, weight and purity; nevertheless, they served an important role for the period. Two major advances were made in the production of coinage during the reign of King Alyattes (610-561 B.C.), the son of King Ardys. First, an established weight of 168 grains was set as the standard for a Stater, and fractional coins of the Stater were produced as well. Secondly, a reverse design was now employed on most coins replacing the plain or blank reverse. The coins struck during Alyattes' reign were struck with both an anvil and hammer die. This allowed for a design to be simultaneously struck on both obverse and reverse sides. The infamous Lydian King Croesus (561-546 B.C.), created the first official coins in the true sense of the word. This king's coins were issued by a state authority and guaranteed by the monarch. They had the official design (a lion's head) of the empire, and the coinage metal content was pure. He even went so far as to prohibit the use of electrum, allowing only pure silver and gold coins to circulate freely. He is also credited with establishing the first bimetallic standard, in this case with the ratio of silver-to-gold set at 13 to 1. According to ancient records, two primary methods were used to separate gold from silver. The Amalgam Process combined liquid mercury to finely crushed electrum ore. The mercury combined with the gold to form a gold amalgam, which was then heated to vaporize the mercury leaving gold of about a 98% purity. In this process, the gold, silver and mercury could all be recovered. Distillation of gaseous mercury yielded liquid mercury for subsequent re-use. In the Cementation process, the electrum ore was crushed and melted together with a simply clay. This caused the silver to be destroyed through oxidization, leaving behind gold, again with a purity of about 98%. This process wasted the silver content, but did produce the desired gold purity level, not to mention it was a heck of a lot safer than playing around with mercury. With the newly discovered techniques used to separate silver and gold, Croesus managed to maintain a surprising degree of consistency with most gold coins being about 98% pure gold. It comes as no surprise that the coins of Lydia became so widely accepted in trade. The Kingdom of Lydia came to an end in 546 B.C. when they were conquered by the Persian King, Cyrus the Great. Cyrus' successor, Darius the Great (521-486 B.C) began striking a new coin known as the Daric. Darius introduced a small amount of copper in order to overcome the problem of pure gold being too soft for daily use. The daric comprised 95% gold, 3% copper, and 2% silver and other impurities. This coin would become the new standard throughout the areas under Persian rule and the Mediterranean for nearly 200 years to come. Mitch Hight has been involved in numismatics for over 30 years and is a life member of the American Numismatic Association. Mr. Hight may be contacted at P.O. Box 8123, Colorado Springs, CO 80933

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