Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Juan Blanco, post: 1610466, member: 41665&quot;]TopCatCoin-</p><p>Any size the Mint Director decides. That&#039;s how <i>coin seigniorage</i> works. </p><p>In the Fed&#039;s account, any US Mint coin is &#039;actually worth&#039; whatever he/she says. </p><p><br /></p><p>A very interesting problem of <i>coin seigniorage </i>occurred in 1828 with the introduction of the Platinum Rouble. A massive discovery (1824/5) allowed the Russian govt - the very first - to try coin the metal as circulating Pt specie.&nbsp; The Russian Imperial monopoly fixed an arbitrary HIGH value - based on scarcity prices - but was circumvented by smugglers and free-lancers.&nbsp; Local Russians didn&#039;t want the Pt coins (they preferred Silver and Gold and two forms of Paper currency) - and the local market was glutted!&nbsp;&nbsp; Westerners couldn&#039;t figure out what the metal was worth, as the Colombians (who had proposed to coin platina) dumped their stocks quickly.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Coined Platinum was overvalued. The ore was smuggled at much much lower rates. Savvy traders looked at the scrap market - by 1832, old platinum was worth 1 Paper Rouble per zolotnik or ~ $2.55 per ozt. ; but in coin, officially ~ $7.15 (in US Silver.)&nbsp; Understandably, &#039;regular people&#039; in the West couldn&#039;t figure out WHAT was happening:</p><p><a href="http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2011/07/russia-1830.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2011/07/russia-1830.html" rel="nofollow">http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2011/07/russia-1830.html</a></p><p><a href="http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2011/07/russia-1831.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2011/07/russia-1831.html" rel="nofollow">http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2011/07/russia-1831.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, there were local arbitrage opportunities ; eventually, the Russian Finance Minister denounced &#039;hated foreigners&#039; (smuggling in and/or counterfeiting Platinum Roubles) and the Platinum Rouble coinage was halted, then withdrawn in 1845.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in