The Rise of the European Emperor
Chapter 938 Copper coins and 0 coins
At this auction, there was also a very interesting scene where Marin received a lot of counterfeit silver coins minted by himself...
These fake silver coins mainly come from the vassal states of western Germany close to France. They trade frequently with France and naturally receive a lot of French silver coins. Moreover, in comparison, those fake silver coins are more like real silver coins. The real silver coins are too rough, like fake ones.
This is still because Marin asked the mint masters to make the coin mold a little rough. If a better mold is used, it is estimated that the regular French silver coins can be thrown a few streets. Moreover, Marin could also see that those western princes did not realize that these were counterfeit coins.
It is no wonder that the silver coins of France itself contain more copper than silver, and the silver coins become very hard. If you want to bite with your teeth, you will definitely break your teeth. The fake silver coins made by Marin don't look much different from real silver coins in appearance, and no one knows the existence of zinc and nickel in this era. If you mix tin and copper, you get bronze instead of a whitish silver coin. Therefore, no one can tell the truth from the fake.
Marin felt a little bitter after receiving these fake French silver coins. After all, it's like lifting a brick and hitting yourself in the foot. However, since no one found out that they were counterfeit coins, Marin decided to take the fake silver coins he received and use them in France as soon as possible to buy livestock of fine breeds such as Charolais cattle and Berthullen horses...
But Marin didn't know that the fake silver coins he made were fake because no one could recognize them, so there was no need to take them to France in such a hurry.
To distinguish the authenticity of coins in ancient times, it is nothing more than to distinguish the authenticity of coins by means of hand feel, contrast size, and weighing and calculating density. If it is a gold coin, you can also bite it to see if it is soft. Silver coins will not work, because silver coins are too much mixed with copper, and they will definitely not be able to bite. But these methods are completely ineffective against the nickel-white-copper-silver coins that Marin made. Marin, a half-baked liberal arts student, even has a density similar to that of French real silver coins. How can you tell the difference? In terms of appearance, density, or coin corrosion resistance, Marin's nickel-nickel-copper coins are as good as real French silver coins. Therefore, those fake silver coins, which circulated happily in the French market, all flowed into Germany. If Kohler's men knew that counterfeit silver coins looked more real than real ones, they might not have even discovered them...
Strictly speaking, before the influx of American gold and silver into Europe, European countries lacked precious metals for minting money. The problem of insufficient currency is the lack of market vitality. Even, it will lead to the popularity of the primitive trade of barter. Therefore, Marin minted a large number of counterfeit silver coins that could not be seen in France, which not only did not entrap France, but instead promoted the circulation of money and goods in the French domestic market. Of course, he didn't miss anyone. For example, King Louis XII of France, his seigniorage profits were made by Marin...
In fact, in Europe in this era, due to the lack of precious metals, prices were low. And the low price, the consequence is that coins are difficult to change.
For example, in the German region, the daily wage of a male laborer is 2 pfennig silver coins. The problem is that the Finney is the smallest unit of currency in Germany in this era, and there is no smaller unit of change than it.
This makes it difficult for the other party to get change if you want to buy goods and use Finney small silver coins. For this reason, people in Germany now, in order to solve this problem, invented a method of using rye and salt as change. Alternatively, the bookkeeping method is used, and the currency is charged after the entire amount of 1 pfennig is reached. However, this is still very inconvenient.
In fact, Marin had thought about using copper coins. Moreover, in this era, Spain in southern Europe has begun to use a copper coin called Malawidi as the smallest unit of currency.
However, Marin also has his concerns. His main concern is that the current European copper price is too high, resulting in an inflated value of copper coins.
For example, the ratio of silver to copper in Europe is now 1 to 15. That is to say, 1 pure silver coin can be exchanged for 15 copper coins of equal weight. The problem is that the silver content of European silver coins is generally very low at present.
Like French and Spanish silver coins, copper already accounts for more than half of them. For example, the Spanish copper coin Malawidi was originally a small silver coin similar to the Finney. But with the reduction of silver content and the increase of copper content, the Spanish simply minted Malawidi into pure copper coins without adding silver.
This has led to the fact that in Spain, one silver coin can only be exchanged for several copper coins, and the value of copper coins is too high.
The original intention of Marin to promote copper coins was to match silver coins with change. However, one silver coin can be exchanged for several copper coins, which is really not much change.
Only like Huaxia, one tael of silver can be exchanged for 1,000 copper coins, and copper coins can play the role of change. Like Europe, where a silver coin can only be exchanged for a few or a dozen copper coins, it is difficult to use copper coins as change for silver coins.
For example, let us compare the wages of a German man at 2 pfennig a day to 100 yuan in later generations. Then, a fenney silver coin is equivalent to 50 yuan.
However, if it is exchanged for copper coins, given the high price of copper in Europe at that time and the low silver content of silver coins, one Finney silver coin can only be exchanged for a few copper coins. In this way, the value of a copper coin is almost equivalent to about 10 yuan...
That is to say, even if copper coins are used, their value is still as high as 10 yuan. Marin knew very well that even if the price of goods in Huaxia rose sharply in later generations, he still used a dime as the smallest unit of change. And between a dime and 10 yuan, there are three currency units of 5 cents, 1 yuan and 5 yuan...
In this way, the promotion of copper coins in Europe now cannot achieve the role of the smallest change. Unless the price of copper plummets...
If the price of copper falls to a ratio of 1 to 100 between silver and copper, then copper coins can fully play their role as change for silver coins. 1 Finney silver coin equivalent to 50 yuan can be exchanged for 100 small copper coins if it is exchanged according to the ratio of 1 to 100 silver and copper. And a copper coin is reduced to a level almost equivalent to 5 cents. Although it's still a little short, it's enough for changing money...
But that is just an assumption. The reality is that the lack of copper mines in Europe has led to high copper prices. Marin's idea is difficult to realize.
If the value of copper coins is too high, it is difficult to serve as a medium for small transactions. In this way, it is difficult for business to become active.
In fact, Marin also considered using paper money. However, after thinking about it, he still gave up. Because, there is a lack of effective anti-counterfeiting technology. Then, the counterfeiting of banknotes will be very easy. If a lot of paper money is counterfeited, the economy is likely to collapse.
It's not that paper money is not good enough, but that paper money was difficult to implement in ancient times. Not to mention that the public may not be willing to accept it. Just because counterfeiting cannot be curbed, it is not easy to promote banknotes. Moreover, Marin has difficulty guaranteeing that his descendants will not waste paper money and cause the economy to collapse. After all, his descendants are not transmigrators, but they don't have his cautious mind. Just like the Ming Dynasty in this era, the official printed treasure money indiscriminately, causing the value of treasure money to plummet. Even though the three-sentence and five-ling treasure banknotes of the imperial court are legal currency, everyone still refuses to buy them. In the end, what was in circulation in the Ming Dynasty was still copper coins and silver. As for the treasured banknotes, no one would believe it... It seems that during the Zhengde period, the treasured banknotes issued by the Ming Dynasty were abolished and became waste paper...
Therefore, to make coins, precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper must be used. But the question is, where does copper come from?
The Fayilun Copper Mine has begun to produce copper in large quantities, but it is estimated that it will take some years to reach the level of supplying the whole of Europe. Then, the introduction of cheap copper from India and China has become a shortcut. It's just that China seems to be short of copper too. So, is there only a copper mountain in Japan to develop? It seems that the development of Japan's Copper Mountain is still very low. Even Iwami Silver Mountain has not yet been developed, not to mention those copper mountains? Therefore, in the future, Marin not only has to play the important role of the developer of Iwami Ginzan, but also needs to provide technology to those Japanese daimyo and encourage them to develop Japan's copper mountain on a large scale, so as to provide enough cheap copper. In the original history, it seems that the price of copper in Europe was suppressed by the cheap copper shipped back to Europe from Japan by the Dutch...
And wait until the day when the copper price is suppressed, the role of copper coins as small change in small transactions can really come into play. Unlike now, because copper is expensive, copper coins cannot play the role of change at all, which greatly hinders the development of the European market economy...
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