Most Number Of Denominations In Circulation At Once?

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Author	Replies: 10 / Views: 1,520
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 12:36 pm If you were a cashier in the US any time between the 1870s-1890s, you might see a lot of different things come in from your customers: 1 cent 2 cent 3 cent 5 cent (nickel and Half Dime) 10 cent 20 cent 25 cent 50 cent $1 (silver and gold) $2.50 $3 $5 $10 $20 That's not including the Half Cent (Did those circulate after 1857?) and the $4 Stella, which wouldn't have circulated unless you were working in... oh nevermind. What's the most complex coinage system that has ever existed at one time? The coins didn't necessarily have to be made during that time, as long as they all circulated together. We'll omit NCLT denominations, and foreign coins (unofficial legal tender or chopmarked issues) for the sake of simplicity. Right now my money is on the UK in the 1800s. Off the top of my head: Quarter farthing Third farthing Half farthing Farthing Halfpenny Three farthings Penny Three-half penny(1.5d) Threepence Four pence Sixpence Shilling Florin Double florin Half crown Crown Half soverign Soverign Two pounds Five pounds I know I'm missing some? Can any system top that? Report this Post to the Staff

hcmusicguy Pillar of the Community United States 814 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 1:42 pm I would say that in the British Empire, not all the subdivisions of the Farthing circulated together in the same place. And larger denominations (ie, 5s and up) probably did not circulate much either. Much like in the US, where the silver dollar (and the gold coinage) circulated little outside of the west. So the number of circulating denoms was probably not what we might think. Edited by hcmusicguy 03/29/2016 3:48 pm Report this Post to the Staff
DL20K Pillar of the Community Poland 3201 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 3:36 pm The following coins were officially in circulation in Poland in 1994. 16 different face values, excluding silver commemoratives from the 1970s and early 1980s issued in substantial numbers. 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 groszy (aluminum), 1, 2, 5 zloty (brass and aluminum), 10, 20 zloty (copper-nickel commemoratives, regular issues, and brass regular ones), 50, 100 zloty (copper-nickel commemoratives and regular issue of 1990), 500, 10000, 20000 zloty (copper-nickel commemoratives up to 1994). That's the theory. In practice, you'd might have been hard-pressed to find any of them in a cashier's till - notes were used instead. The exchange rate at the time was 1 cent = 250 old zloty. A whole roll of 10 groszy coins was therefore worth 0.02 cent. Banks did have such rolls in stock in 1995 when the changeover to the new zloty took place, though. Edited by DL20K 03/29/2016 3:40 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 3:48 pm Half dollars don't widely circulate, but they still do. The same could be said of the 2, 3, and 20 cent piece in the late 1800s. It would turn heads for sure, but I bet your average salesperson saw those coins at least once a year. I think a $20 gold back in those days had the purchasing power equivalent of like $2,000 today. When I was a cashier, I rarely saw someone carry and spend that sort of cash, but it did happen maybe once a month. People still needed to buy land or multiple head of cattle, so I imagine that the $10 and $20 did see some circulation, albeit limited. Report this Post to the Staff
billjones Pillar of the Community United States 1499 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 3:54 pm That is a hard one to answer for the U.S. In the beginning there are ten denominations authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. By 1854, there were two more, the Silver Three Cent Piece and the Three Dollar Gold Piece, that were on the books for a total of 12. In 1864 the Two Cent Piece was added, but the Half Cent was no longer produced. As a practical matter very few Half Cents were in circulation given the high grades usually found for the pieces that were issued in the 1850s. Also I have never read about people complaining about confusing Half Cents and Two Cent Pieces the way they did quarters and Twenty Cent Pieces in the mid 1870s. In 1875 the Twenty Cent Piece was added, but the Two Cent Piece was no longer in production. They were still circulating however, given the low grades for some of the pieces that are still around. The Silver Three Cent Piece had been replaced by the Nickel Three Cent Piece. If you want to say what could have been circulating that opens a can worms, I won't go into right now. So maybe the answer for coins then current would 12. Edited by billjones 03/29/2016 3:55 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 4:11 pm I want to say that after 1857 the Half Cent was just dropped. Its production was halted because it had no buying power, so people probably stopped pricing things at x.5 cents. One other good candidate would be the Russian system--1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 kopek and the ruble. Going back a ways, you also had 1/4 and 1/2 kopek coins, although the ruble probably did not circulate as much then. That was actually a surprisingly stable system, surviving more or less from the 1700s until 1991 when the bottom dropped out. Report this Post to the Staff
january1may Pillar of the Community Russian Federation 5172 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 5:34 pm Quote: One other good candidate would be the Russian system--1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 kopek and the ruble. Going back a ways, you also had 1/4 and 1/2 kopek coins, although the ruble probably did not circulate as much then. That was actually a surprisingly stable system, surviving more or less from the 1700s until 1991 when the bottom dropped out. You forgot 25 kopek (abolished in the 1910s). In principle, there were also a bunch of gold denominations (pre-1910s), but they would have been rather rare in regular circulation. And of course in the early 1990s there were extra 5 and 10 ruble coins (and 50, 100, and I think 20 ruble in 1992, though the lower kopek values would have been out of circulation by then). Report this Post to the Staff
oriole Pillar of the Community Canada 5239 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 5:50 pm In Russia the 5 Kopek was in silver and copper for a while until WWI. Previously the 10 kopek was also in copper. Report this Post to the Staff
GR58 Bedrock of the Community United States 11951 Posts	Posted 03/29/2016 6:24 pm Another thought .... Before 1857 Spanish Reales were legal tender, so 1/2, 1, 2, 4 and 8 Reales were also circulating. Northern states might also have seen a lot of Canadian coins being used. I have heard of books that some shop keepers had, I think they were called Reckoning books, or something like that. The books would give exchange rates for many different foreign coins. I am thinking mid 1800's, big city like New York, there would be a lot of different coins being circulated. Report this Post to the Staff
Pistareen Valued Member United States 309 Posts	Posted 03/30/2016 06:55 am This is a fairly easy one to answer. At least for America it would be on the day George Washington resigned as chief executive or thereabout. Congress has yet to pass the first of many bills to demonetize foreign coin so that every coin the world over that ever traded to Americans could be spent and did circulate all at once. Fancy Jeffersoinian decimal coins, English pounds / shillings / pence money of account as already described, along with French. Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, primarily and every odd denomination in their systems of coinage along with a smattering of world coins of every nation, cut pieces of coins trading at fractional amounts, you name it. Samuel Mordecai described banking in Richmond circa 1800 as pure misery due to the huge variety of genuine and counterfeit coin presented in any large transaction. Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 03/30/2016 1:05 pm But what about the ancient or medieval periods? The Roman monetary system was tightly control within the capital city, but in the provinces just about any bit of bronze would circulate. There are so many sizes and weights that we can't even begin to figure out what they were worth 2,000 years ago. The thing about official denominations is that somebody sat down and decided that yes, it is worth it to make a groat instead of expecting people to just carry a Threepence and a penny. Report this Post to the Staff
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