Aloha From Hawaii, A New Member

Aloha from Hawaii! New member here, residing on the island of Maui. I have a "very" small collection of gold coins, and a somewhat larger accumulation of silver. Many are contemporary, but quite a few are old. I am mostly interested in the history of the various countries in which I collect, such as England (Great Britain), Ancient Rome, and American history. I have mini-collections within the overall gathering that represent certain aspects of history. For instance, I have a complete collection of American circulating gold pieces in the 1800s, from the $1 to the $20. In keeping with that, I would like to share an article I recently wrote on buying power, and in the end how it relates to that mighty assemblage of American gold coinage:

Buying Power

Inflation with a continuous reduction in buying power has always been with us. The British Pound Sterling was once made up of 240 English silver pennies, and added up to one pound (Avoirdupois) of silver. Today, that pound of silver would be worth $388.00.

In the Roman Empire, the silver and gold in their bimetallic system were gradually but steadily debased until their circulating coins contained little or no precious metals. First the aureus and later the solidus, two gold coins introduced during the height of Roman power, prestige, and fiscal responsibility, were for centuries the standard by which the rest of the Western world measured their own coinage. At the end their worth was only fiat, or due to decree from the government — much as ours is today. America's coins today have nearly no intrinsic value.

Right now we are in a fortunate but temporary period in American history where our inflation is close to zero. We should enjoy it while it lasts. Economists warn us that there are current signs that inflation is about to go up. Also, those in the finance industry never enjoy periods of low inflation, since their livelihood depends on the worth of bonds and other interest-bearing financial instruments to be measured against the inflation rate.

All of the above brings us to America's history of inflation. In the 1800s on our bimetallic system, we used the gold coinage shown in the poster below. The pile of coins in the poster has a total face value of $41.50. Today, the numismatic and collector's value would be about $5,000, and the gold metal bullion (melt) value would be $2,000 - $2,500. Thus, the sarcastic caption on the top of the poster refers to the realization that paying our debts with old money would financially kill us through the power of inflation.