THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

TERMINOLOGY
of Italy. Comp. Ingot, Mark, and Ring-money. Even
in Anglo-Saxon England in the eighth century the
higher values were estimated by standards of weight,
not of currency, as in France heavy payments were
reckoned in livres = the Roman libra and the Venetian
lira. But, on the other hand, on the Continent it
was a usage to strike a special issue of gold money
where it was required for a given occasion, and Offa,
king of Mercia, presumably adopted this plan when
he engaged to pay the Holy See an annuity of 396
gold marcuses, a denomination not otherwise known
in that country. In England, in Anglo-Norman times,
the shilling was money of account, varying from four
to twelve silver pence ; there was no current piece so
called. Of the pound, libra, lira, or livre, the value de-
pended on the description of money and metal specified.
Money of necessity—A species of currency probably
known from the earliest times, but principally employed
subsequently to the more intricate relationships of poli-
tical bodies and states to each other. It is strictly
limited to coins struck in an abnormal manner and
metal on emergencies. The annals of Europe abound
with examples. (See Hazlitt, " Coins of Europe," p.
233 et alt.) In the second century b.c. we find the
Boeotians, while Greece was under a financial crisis,
passing bronze at silver standards or values.
Moneyer—The person who struck the coin, as dis-
tinguished from the engraver aver or artist. On the Mero-
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