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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John the Jute, post: 671003, member: 17740&quot;]<span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">I was fascinated by a comment Doug made earlier to-day in a thread in World &amp; Ancient Coins (the emphasis is mine):</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">His claim for the primacy of the ducat is well-founded ... but it is a matter about which reasonable people may differ. And I think I disagree with him.</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">What do you think?</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">My choice would be the silver dollar. It has its roots in the Guldengroschen of 1486 and the Joachimsthaler of 1518. It had two immediate advantages, one monetary and the other political. The monetary advantage was that, unlike gold trade coins such as the florin and the ducat, it could be regularly used as currency—it was the Renaissance equivalent of the $50 dollar bill. The political advantage was that its large silver surface gave space for the engraver to proclaim the importance of his city, country or empire. (The Renaissance equivalent of the LP cover?) As the taler, crown, peso or dollar it was used in the Old World and the New for nearly 500 years. It is not just minted to-day, it is still valid currency in several countries.</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">Other candidates would be</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Athenian silver Tetradrachm, or Owl,</font></span></p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Roman gold Aureus or silver Denarius,</font></span></p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Byzantine Solidus,</font></span></p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Florin,</font></span></p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Ducat (of course),</font></span></p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Doubloon,</font></span></p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Napoleon, and</font></span></p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">the Sovereign (also of course :<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />).</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">Such a collection would be an enormous task, and would probably take several decades—a length of time during which most people’s collecting focus changes. I doubt whether he really quit collecting: he changed to collecting numismatic books. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">Later,</font></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: black"><font face="Verdana">John</font></span>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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