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<p>[QUOTE="EWC3, post: 4825995, member: 93416"]Yes indeed. The near universal academic focus upon so called "bullion famines" has troubled me for 40 years or so. It seems to me a kind of less than honest sanitisation of history. </p><p><br /></p><p>'simple answers and something to blame'</p><p><br /></p><p>Seems to me there are multiple other very big factors involved</p><p><br /></p><p>1) Gvt attempts to interfere with the currency in order to balance the books</p><p><br /></p><p>2) Gvt decisions concerning what form money itself should take</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Hoarding by those outside gvt in pursuit of profits - creating metal commodity scarcity</p><p><br /></p><p>I notice only one of these factors being discussed above [(1) - competently by Doug.]</p><p><br /></p><p>Concerning (2) – it seems very likely to me that (for example) gold would gravitate to Roman/Byzantine mints in the late ancient/early medieval period. Meanwhile silver would tend to go to Sasanid Persia where it was much more used as money</p><p><br /></p><p>Concerning (3) there was a permanent world wide problem with hoarding of coin by the wealthy in pre-modern times. Merely by hoarding it - one helped push the value of the metal up, and thus the costs of labour and other commodities down.</p><p><br /></p><p>I challenged Spufford about this when his big book (Money and its use in Medieval Europe) came out in 1988. He correctly recorded massive hoarding in medieval Europe – but tried to argue it was just a consequence of a pre-existing bullion famine due to mine decline. His argument was unsupported, and seemed hardly rational to me. Spufford ducked the debate opportunity.</p><p><br /></p><p>What troubles me most is that many ancient kings clearly understood this matter, but it is so little understood by modern numismatists – collectors or academics.</p><p><br /></p><p>That fellow Julius Caesar got it - the truth is out there</p><p><br /></p><p>Rob[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="EWC3, post: 4825995, member: 93416"]Yes indeed. The near universal academic focus upon so called "bullion famines" has troubled me for 40 years or so. It seems to me a kind of less than honest sanitisation of history. 'simple answers and something to blame' Seems to me there are multiple other very big factors involved 1) Gvt attempts to interfere with the currency in order to balance the books 2) Gvt decisions concerning what form money itself should take 3) Hoarding by those outside gvt in pursuit of profits - creating metal commodity scarcity I notice only one of these factors being discussed above [(1) - competently by Doug.] Concerning (2) – it seems very likely to me that (for example) gold would gravitate to Roman/Byzantine mints in the late ancient/early medieval period. Meanwhile silver would tend to go to Sasanid Persia where it was much more used as money Concerning (3) there was a permanent world wide problem with hoarding of coin by the wealthy in pre-modern times. Merely by hoarding it - one helped push the value of the metal up, and thus the costs of labour and other commodities down. I challenged Spufford about this when his big book (Money and its use in Medieval Europe) came out in 1988. He correctly recorded massive hoarding in medieval Europe – but tried to argue it was just a consequence of a pre-existing bullion famine due to mine decline. His argument was unsupported, and seemed hardly rational to me. Spufford ducked the debate opportunity. What troubles me most is that many ancient kings clearly understood this matter, but it is so little understood by modern numismatists – collectors or academics. That fellow Julius Caesar got it - the truth is out there Rob[/QUOTE]
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