The elephant, with or without the castle, symbolizes the Royal African Company, founded in 1660, whose activities on the Guinea Coast of Africa resulted in the importation of much gold into England. The elephant and castle appeared on some coins from 1674 onward. The elephant appeared on some coins each year from 1663 to 1665 and in 1668. “Guinea” was not an official name for the coin, but as most of the gold for the early coins came from Guinea in Africa, the name stuck. The guinea was a coin of about one-quarter ounce of gold minted in Great Britain between 16. The cost of gold continued to increase, especially in times of trouble, and by the 1680s, the coin was worth 22 shillings. An increase in the price of gold during the reign of King Charles II led to the market trading it at a premium. The first guinea was produced in 1663, and the denomination was originally worth one pound, or twenty shillings. The origin of the gold as indicated by the tiny elephant beneath the portrait of the King. This William III Five Guinea Coin from 1699 was made of gold, which had come from the Guinea region in West Africa, which gave the coins their name. Coinage proper was only introduced by the Roman Republican government c. The Greeks in Asia Minor had pioneered the use of coinage as early as the 7th century BC. Bullion bars and ingots were used as money in Mesopotamia since the 7th millennium BC. The Roman adoption of metallic commodity money was a late development in monetary history. In 367 AD, the emperors ordered all gold coins paid in tax to be melted down into bars before being turned back into coin. One of the reasons was to make sure the continued purity of the gold coinage. The type of money introduced by Rome was unlike that found elsewhere in the ancient Mediterranean it combined several unique elements.īullion consisting of metal currency bars were more common in the Roman Empire and had been produced right up to its decline. These Gold currency-bar stamped with rectangular stamps record the name of the procurator, and sometimes the name of the assayer. The owners never collected them, and the cache lay undiscovered until they were found in 1887. The hoard was found in Czofalva, Hungary, These were discovered as part of a hoard buried in the late 4th century, for safe-keeping. These Roman Gold Bars from 375 AD represent the few Roman gold cars to survive. The Ying yuan is an early gold coin minted in ancient China with the oldest known from about the 5th or 6th century BC. In 546 BC, Croesus was captured by the Persians, who adopted gold as the primary metal for their coins.

The denominations ranged from one stater (weighing about 14.1 grams) down through half-staters, thirds, sixths, twelfths, 1/24ths, and 1/48ths to 1/96th stater (about 0.15gm). This lower gold content suggests that one reason for the invention of coinage in that area was to increase the profits from the King’s right to issue coin with a lower gold content than the commonly circulating metal.Īlthough irregular in size and shape, these early electrum coins were minted according to a strict weight-standard.

T he gold content of naturally occurring electrum in modern Western Anatolia ranges from 70% to 90%, in contrast to the 45–55% of gold in electrum used in the ancient Lydian coinage of the same geographical area. The name of King Croesus of Lydia remains associated with the invention. Gold objects and metal ore were used in commerce in the Ancient Near East since the Bronze Age, but gold coins originated later, during the 6th century BC, in Anatolia. The ancient Greeks called it ‘gold’ or ‘white gold’ instead of ‘refined gold.’ Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver.Īncient Lydia was famous for its god that was found in the sands of the River Pactolus. They were made of Electrum, which is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. This Electrum Gold Coin from Lydia, dated to 650 BC, represents the first coins from the ancient kingdom of Lydia (today in modern Turkey). Ancient Gold Coins and Gold Bars Electrum Gold Coin from Lydia, 650 BC

Ancient gold coins