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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,597 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1903 Posts |
It would seem to me that current "coins" being produced for general circulation other than the cent and nickel are better described as tokens and not coins. I make an exception for the cent and nickel because they actually represent a value intrinsically that is close to ( and in some cases actually greater than) their face value. The other "coins" do not represent an intrinsic value associated with their face value. This would make them a token and not a coin for by definition a token is...
noun. A thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of something abstract.
FIAT currency is definitely abstract, which is what these "coins" represent. Our older precious metal coins are indeed coins, but lets not fool ourselves into thinking what we have in our pockets ( other than said exceptions ) are "coins".
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Pillar of the Community
United States
687 Posts |
They most certainly are coins. The difference between a token and a coin is the issuer and the issuer's intent. And it's amusing that you'd exempt the cent and nickel since they are the original "fiat" coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
 coin [koin] Show IPA noun 1. a piece of metal stamped and issued by the authority of a government for use as money. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1903 Posts |
I posted this more as a thought provoking topic than anything just FYI, I don't intend on making any enemies on here :-)
Read up on Commodity currency vs Representative currency to see where my thought process derived from
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
No worries Roller.... I dont think youll make enemies over this.
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Valued Member
United States
187 Posts |
Quote:
The other "coins" do not represent an intrinsic value associated with their face value if I have $6.50 in change in my pocket,i call it a meatball sandwich.    Sorry,I couldn't resist. |
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Valued Member
United States
421 Posts |
Yes RMAN443 you could call it a meatball sub, they use a similar slogan for the $1.00 bill and mac donalds and there breakfast menu. Its just not a washington its a breakfast sandwich. Also sub way used to run the $5.00 bill commerical where the people can either eat the bill or a subway sandwich, which would you rather eat it says.
So enjoy your meatball sub!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10034 Posts |
I do see some logic in what unholyroller is asking. But if we started calling them tokens, then the general public might wake up and see them for the fiat money they are - what a disaster for the issuers! How many people do we really think are out there who know their money is nothing at all but an agreement? They actually assign worth to it. Can you imagine what would happen to society if they found out their entire world is based on absolutely nothing legitimate?  Roll finds of silver would become thing of the past!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
If you require them to have an intrinsic value close to the face value then many of our precious metal coins spent a long time as being nothing but "tokens'. After the weight was reduced in 1795 until the 1850's the cent and Half Cent were tokens. After 1864 to 1982 the cent was a token. The first design trime was a token, the nickel Three Cent was a token,the nickel five cent was a token until the 2000's. The minor silver coins became tokens due to the falling value of silver in the 1870's with the silver dollar following shortly afterward. By the 1930's the silver value in the dollar coin had reach a mere 20 cents, the minor coins were even lower. This was the case until the late 50's. So our silver coins being "tokens" have a long history. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
968 Posts |
Your definition of a coin describes what US coinage is today. It is tangible as it physically exists. Abstract might be something like credit or debit cards. It is a false dichotomy to say the opposite of "coin" is "fiat". I find this claim of a fiat monetary system really strange. In regards to Earl's point, what is so intrinsically valuable about gold and silver? Gold has very minimal commercial uses outside of jewelry. Silver has more uses, but nowhere near enough to justify its current value, and most of those uses (e.g. photography) are relatively recent developments while silver coinage has been around for thousands of years. In practical everyday terms gold and silver coins are effectively fiat money since we are trading goods and services for metal coins that have no other use outside of trade. Bartering is the only system that doesn't rely on an abstract agreement between people. Edited by Saruma
11/28/2011 11:50 am
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,597 |
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Posted 11/26/2011 11:21 am
