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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;goldducat, post: 2318617, member: 37873&quot;]Hi kaparthy, thank you for your question. It is a very interesting issue indeed.</p><p><br /></p><p>In fact, it is pretty simple. Let me give you an example using a florin, which is denomination similar to gold ducat. Florins were almost always heavier than ducats, and depending on the issuing authority florins also came in various weights while ducats were always issued with one standard weight of 3.5 gm. So we cannot say that a florin was always the same value, expressed in gold. On the other hand, we can say it about gold ducats - this is why gold ducats were well accepted by merchants worldwide. Gold ducat means always about 3.5 gm of .986 gold.</p><p><br /></p><p>The price of silver or gold used for minting coins was different in a different countries. Moreover, in some time periods some mints minted only silver coins, because ratio of silver to gold was very low, so minting silver coins brought larger profits for the mint than minting gold coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Value of a single coin was different in various countries. For example, in the 17th century in Poland the price of a gold ducat was higher than abroad. So all international transactions (export from Poland) were made in gold. As a result, in this time there was a way much more Netherlands ducats in use in Poland, than in The Netherlands!</p><p><br /></p><p>In Batavia gold ducats were accepted with a slightly higher value (by 2 stivers) than in Low Countries, so these coins were smuggled on ships by the crew. It is a long story to explain why they had to do it, it&#039;s enough to say that being hired on the ship cost a fortune. Smuggling coins to the VOC reduced these costs a bit. When they reached Batavia, they immediately deposited all the money they have, means also smuggled coins. The cashier gave the bill of exchange to everyone who deposited coins. In such document it was also said that such and such amount of money has to be paid after coming back to Europe. Those exchange bills were paid in cash at the higher local rate exchange in Batavia. Gold ducats gave not so high profit; mostly silver ducatoons in hundreds were smuggled in small boxes by private persons.</p><p><br /></p><p>At the end an intersting issue of the price of a ducat in the same country. Because bad money drives out good, the value of good coins was always increasing, meanwhile debased coins were accepted for a lower and lower rates. As an example, you may find some handbooks for the 17th-19th money changers in Poland, with double values in it: in &quot;good&quot; money and in &quot;bad&quot;, means debased money. Gold ducats were <u>always</u> found to be good money, so they were wanted everywhere.</p><p><br /></p><p>Already in early period the value of gold ducats in The Netherlands changed rapidly in time. I am not sure if you realize that in time period from 1574 to 1606 in The Netherlands the value of the ducat almost doubled. In Poland one ducat cost 80 groschen in 1619, in the following year it was raised to 120 groschen, in 1622 to 140 groschen and finally in 1628 to 160 groschen. So the price was doubled in 9 years! It does not mean that the same exchanged rates were made in all countries. They were not. And this is why the value of the same coin (denomination) was different in various countries.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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