Old Burma. Tennaserim- Pegu huge lead dragon coin.

You are 100% correct about tin. From southern Thailand throughout the archipelago tin was used in place of copper as the base to coinage. This is also why silver was the base of coinage in this area of the world, and not gold. There were not many gold mines, but many tin/lead mines. Tin/lead mines naturally also produce silver, so the only precious metal found in any abundance in the area was silver.

If the area would have had large copper mines, then they would have had large amounts of both gold and silver, (like Europe), so would have probably, (like Europe), been more bimetallic.

 

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Exactly. Lead exposure is overrated. The danger in paint was children eating it. Ingestion of lead is many factors more dangerous than casual exposure to skin.

We have become too "soft" as a society, not letting our children be exposed to safe, low levels of a lot of things. I am willing to bet this is a part of the reason why allergies and other ailments are spiking.

 

Well, my boys love to fish, and they've been handling lead fishing weights for years - that's the reason the question even came up with my doctor pal. It turns out your skin is a fairly impermeable barrier when it comes to the few atoms of lead that might rub off on it. The Romans were poisoned not because they handled lead, but because they drank the water that flowed through lead pipes their entire lives.

This does go to the numismatic question: lead coinage would not have been harmful to anyone by ordinary use in commerce.

 

second post i've looked at today, secod time i've seen something i didn't know existed.

i think you're safe as long as you don't eat or lick your 500 g coin then. reminds of this quote, had to look up who said it...i couldn't remember.

"Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose.”

-- Claude Bernard, French physiologist

 

Great quote, and completely true. It similar to the old adage, "everything in moderation". I simply cannot understand how people cannot get this. Most Americans at least want a black/white answer, whereas the truth is always somewhere in between.

 

Oh, I more than agree to what you state, and I had or did most everything you describe (and much more, as I LOVED to burn / blow "schtuff" up!!!), however, lead would rub off on skin, kids put in mouths, folks toss them in fountains, etc etc, which are common misc uses for coins. It was more a musing of mine. Most coinage are made from a rather inert metal for humans. And coins were used much more then in transaction than today, due to our electronic transactions... I rarely use paper currency, and almost never use coins...

 

Very cool coin, Loong-S ... congrats

Yah, I only have one lead-example ... my sweet ol' Tessera

 

Nice cool tessera @stevex6 . Looks eastern Greek?

 

Don't think it will taste like candy

 

EGYPT, Uncertain, PB Tessera
2nd-3rd centuries AD
Diameter: 15 mm
Weight: 4.82 grams
Obverse: Head of Serapis right, wearing calathus; uncertain object before
Reverse: Griffin seated right, resting right paw on wheel
Reference: Milne –; Dattari (Savio) –; Köln

... thanks Loong-S

 

Another Type of Sea Dragon "coins" of Tennaserim.

 

That’s true! But they probably had no idea of the metal's toxicity. It is enough to remember that until the end of century XIX - beginning of century XX, children played with little soldiers made of lead. Nobody thought about saturnism. I have some coins already presented here in CT of a Spanish-Roman city called Balsa, currently in Portuguese territory, that used lead coins.