I was just reading a review of a science fiction book and it included the following: “most of the Roman silver coins ever minted ended up in China, we are told. “. I’m not sure if this is fiction or maybe it refers to modern “hoarding” but is there any hint of non-fiction in this?
That's absurd, that claim itself is fiction, sure you might find a few Roman silvers along the trade routes, but that claim is just ridiculous.
IIRC, China didn't begin stockpiling silver until the Qing dynasty. They were a massive importer of Spanish silver, but any Roman era trade into China would have been marginal at best. If I had to guess, I would say that most Roman denarii that weren't stashed away for modern collectors was probably either melted down in India (the amount of silver minted by the Western Kshatrapas is staggering!) Or else it was dug up and melted to make medieval European coins. In fact, I have never even heard of a Roman denarius being found in China. Late bronzes yes, but not silver.
I would say that statement is a little exaggerated but true. A huge amount of silver net net moved to China via the silk road. Much of it was paid to Persians who controlled the route. After the Romans started debasing their silver, the Persians started melting down, rerefining and making their silver coins. Persian silver was NEVER debased, (drachms, not Seleukia tets), since the Persians got paid in good silver so made sure they struck good silver. Huge amounts of Persian silver was used to pay for the silk and other trade goods in China and melted down and made into Chinese sycee. So net net silver left Europe and ended up in China. I would just say much of it went through Persia, and resmelted there after Nero started debasement.
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine Europe ran out of silver in the 15th century. It is likely a lot of Roman silver was recycled in Europe, mostly as medieval coins, until it went to China. In the 16th century silver from the Americas helped, but it also mostly went to China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_silver_trade_from_the_16th_to_18th_centuries
Sogdian Traders, maybe one of the most authoritative books on the period, describes how all Chinese taxes were payable Persian silver. They used to be payable also in Roman silver until debasement. All such imperial revenue was melted down into sycee for the imperial treasury. This loss of silver to the silk road was the main reason late Rome and Byzantium really didn't have silver coinage. Most of it left to pay for eastern imports. Put it another way. Persia did not have silver mines per se, yet coined good silver coins for centuries. Where do you think most of this came from?
Who owns and what happened to most silver ever mined? It is long lost to the ages. Silver is not valuable enough to remain 99% still in human hands like gold.
China has adopted the silver standard for centuries way back to ancient times at least to the Tang and Song Dynasty.. However, silver was not a wide circulating currency unlike the West as bronze or other allowed cast coins were used backed by Imperial legal tender. Silver was used only for large valued transactions in the form of ingots or sycees which can be traced back to at least the SONG Dynasty and worth it's weight. Whilst China was aware of Rome (called Great Qin) since the Han Dynasty, the furthest recorded trade or diplomatic connection through the silk road was probably the Indo-Greek and Persian Empires.. Therefore whilst some Roman silver is not unusual to reach China, at best it is probably through trade and in smaller amounts. China was more inclined on barter trade.
Pliny the Elder wrote about this very issue and complained about the drain of money from the Roman economy. It's interesting to think that trade deficits were a major economic issue 2000 years ago just like today. India, China and the Arabian peninsula take one hundred million sesterces from our empire per annum at a conservative estimate: that is what our luxuries and women cost us. For what fraction of these imports is intended for sacrifices to the gods or the spirits of the dead? - Pliny the Elder
When I read historical accounts like these, I can not help thinking that it is possible or even likely that there are today those who would see our coins as something to be melted and converted to whatever their particular sub-culture demands. I met a couple once who was looking for old coins to be converted into wedding rings to meet their belief that such rings would carry good fortune not present in generic silver. Laws against metal detecting and owning ancient coins undoubtedly have caused the sanitizing of ancient precious metal objects into untraceable bullion bars. Of course there are many uses for precious metals other than storage of wealth. Back when I was deeply into silver based photography, I occasionally wondered if that roll of film in my camera had once been a tetradrachm. There is really no way of telling such things but it would be fascinating to know statistics on the past life of any given molecule. What are the current theories on the percentages of gold and silver being mined as opposed to recycled from some previous use?
Silver has a much greater loss due to its inferior cost and as well as reactivity. Gold, I have read, is still about 99% in human hands all we have ever mined. Silver, simply a guess, might be more like 15% or less. Silver is simply consumed as mined for the most part.
