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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 30196, member: 57463&quot;]<b>My point has always been that to be workable the definition of &quot;coin&quot; must be <u>taxonomic</u>.&nbsp; The physical attributes of the object are what <u>integrates</u> it into a class, and <u>differentiates</u> it from other elements belonging to the same set. </b>&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>How do we classify a &quot;coin&quot; struck by a Roman general who never received approval by the Senate before being defeated by a rival?&nbsp; The general was only that, just a soldier with a lot of temporary comrades, and not a &quot;government.&quot;&nbsp; Yet, his coins are still coins. </p><p><br /></p><p>Are the Depression-era tax tokens of state governments &quot;coins?&quot;&nbsp; Mostly, we think not.&nbsp; We call them &quot;tokens&quot; because they stood for &quot;real&quot; money.&nbsp; Yet, they were issued by governments.&nbsp; Furthermore, if they are only &quot;tokens&quot; then, so, too are most bronze and even many silver coins. Of the multi-millions of U.S. silver dollars struck, only a few early issues actually contained a dollar&#039;s worth of silver.&nbsp; Most silver coins were only &quot;tokens&quot; for gold.&nbsp; (See Neil Carrothers&#039; <i>Fractional Money</i> for a complete historical analysis of the problem and the solutions attempted.)&nbsp; So, if a silver 3-cent piece is not a &quot;coin&quot; then what is it?&nbsp; Again, the strongest inquiry is one along taxomonic lines.</p><p><br /></p><p>A &quot;dictionary definition&quot; can never satisfy an expert.&nbsp; (In fact, the first dictionaries only listed the &quot;hard&quot; words, not the easy ones.&nbsp; For instance, there might be no definition for &quot;shoe&quot; but one for &quot;prevaricate.&quot;)&nbsp; Speaking of &quot;shoe&quot; you can look that up in a dictionary and run right into a brick wall when trying to decide how to classify a low boot or a sandal with a full upper.&nbsp; Such differences matter a great deal to fashion designers and also to transportation managers in logistics who have to file tariffs with government authorities.</p><p>So, too, with &quot;coins.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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