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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 129148, member: 112&quot;]As I said previously - &quot;The reason dates and mint marks - and in the past they added assayer&#039;s marks too - were placed on coins was so they would know who was responsible for making them.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>You see coins back then were made primarily of gold &amp; silver. And they each had a very specific fineness &amp; weight that was required. And if that fineness and weight varied very much from what it was supposed to be - it could cost you your life. So they wanted to know who exactly it was that minted the coins. The dates, mint marks and assayers marks would tell them that.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, it was not uncommon for the King to suddenly decide that he wanted to change the fineness or weight of his coins. This allowed hom to keep more money in his treasury to pay for wars or debts. So at his whim, he would debase the coinage. Now after a year or two he might even go backwards and restore the previous specs. So it became necessary to be able to determine exactly when a certain coin was minted so that you would know what the weight &amp; fineness was supposed to be. Dates, mint marks &amp; assayers marks made that possible.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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