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The Current Coinage of the World: Pesetas

Bronze. 80 Pesetas.. 40 do. .... .. £3 4 Ο ........

I I2 O Ο 5 Pesetas.... 2½ do. 4s. 10 Centimes .......... 25. 5 do. ...... 25 do. .. .....

I I o o Ο 2 do. ...

IS. 7 d. 2 do. 20 do. ........ 016 Ο I do. ..

IO do. o 8 o ........ 25 Centimes ....... 92d. 27/2d.

I do. ..... .............

Value.

Id. .../2d. 1/4d. d. 5 do.

Ο ......... 4 Ο There are bank notes 25, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 Pesetas, but these are legal circulation only where there are branches of the Bank of Spain, which exist in all the capital towns of the provinces.

St. Helena. - Same as Great Britain.

Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang, and Malacca).- = Penang Value.

Systematic Name. 100 Cents I Dollar Sweden. Same as Denmark. = English Value. 4s. 2d.* Switzerland. Same as France. She has no gold coins of her own, and has additionally some mixed metal coins-a Batzen = 1d.; Sweitbatzen, 2d.; and Halbbatzen, ½d.

Tripoli.- Tripoli Value. 40 Paras 20 Piastres Systematic Name.

I Piastre = English Value. 22d.

I Mahhub 4s. 2d. *This value is reckoned from the exchange of Spanish dollars for piastres, at rate of 100 Spanish dollars for 121/½ piastres. For value of dollar, see India. Tunis.- Gold.

Soultani.

Value. | Silver.

Value. Copper.

Value. 3s. 5 Piastre piece 3s. 4d. Karub ..2d.

Tunis.

IS. 4d. 8d. 2d. 4s. Rialein ...

Piastre Quarter piastre...... 185. ........ ... 9s.

Gold.

Turkey (The Ottoman Empire). — Medjidi (Lira) Yarim ..

Guimuh Medjidie. do.

Value.* Silver. at 18s. 2d. at 9s. 8d.

Yarim 4s. 6d. at 4s. 61/2d.

Tzeirek Gold. 1887...

The United Kingdom.- Double Sovereign....

Tzeirek do.

Piastre.

Half-piastre ........

Value. Bronze.

Value. Silver. £5 • Crown .... .... 5s. 2 • Half-crown Farthing.....

Value. 35. 7/2d. ..

IS. 9½. .. 92d. .. 2d.

Id .. 2s. 6d. Half-penny............... .....

Sovereign ..

Half-sovereign .. .....

I • Double Florin.. ...... ..45.

Penny. 010 Florin 25.

Shilling 12d. ..

Sixpenny-piece...... 6d.

Fourpenny-piece .... 4d.

Threepenny-piece... 3d.

Bank notes are in circulation from £5 to £1000, exchangeable at their face value for gold or silver.

The United States. - 10 Mills make 1 Cent bronze; 10 Cents, I Dime silver; IO Dimes, I Dollar silver; IO Dollars, I Eagle gold. Silver. 3 Cents 10 do. 25 do. (quarter dollar)... 50 do. (half dollar) I Dollar Gold.

I Dollar 3 do. 5 do. .. ..

Value. Bronze.

I 11/2d. 1 Cent 5d. 2 do.

Value. .. 2d. ......

IS. 1/2d. Dime 25. Id.

A.S. 2d. 5 Cents Value.

Paper. £0 4 2 2 I Dollar O I2 6 6 2 do. ...

I Ο ΙΟ 5 do.

I Id. 5d. 22d.

Value. £0 4 2 Ο 2 84 I O 10 .. .. 2 2 I 8 ..

IO 10 do. 20 do. 50 do.

I 4 3 4 84 100 *The value of these coins varies according to the rate of exchange. There are Imperial Ottoman Bank notes of 5 Turkish pounds, circulating only in Turkey. IO 20 do. 2 I 2 I 8 do. 4 3 4 50 do. do. 500 do. do.

IO .. 84 20 16 8 The paper money is both National and Treasury notes, and that of private National Banks of similar denominations, secured against loss to the holder by a deposit of bonds in the United States Treasury of 90 per cent. of the value of the notes issued.

Uruguay. The unit of account is the current dollar of 10 reals, each real being divided into 100 centisimos; it is only a money of account, there being no coin to represent it; but six current dollars are about equal to 5 specie dollars. The current coins are gold doubloons, silver dollars and their subdivisions. Venezuela.- Gold.

IO 5 I do. do. do. ..... ..... .....

Value.

Silver.

Value. 20 Venezolanos £400 I Venezolano 4s. 2d. 200 Half-venezolano..2s. Id.

I002 Decimo Iod. 042 I do. 5d. 21/2d. ..

Centavo-piece..

Bronze. 2 Centavo-piece.. do.

I Value.

I/2d. 1/4d. ...........

West Indies. Namely - Jamaica, Trinidad, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, Bahamas, Barbadoes. Accounts are kept sometimes in £, s. d. sterling, and sometimes in dollars and cents, as follows:-100 cents = 1 dollar = 45. 2d. English value. The gold coins are the English sovereign and half-sovereign; Spanish, Mexican and Columbian doubloons; United States eagle, half-eagle and quarter-eagle; 2 dollar and I dollar pieces; quarter-dollar and California 20 dollar-piece. Silver coinsthe crown, half-crown, florin, shilling, sixpence, fourpence, threepence, twopence, and the quattie dollar, half-dollar and quarter-dollar of the United States, Spain, Mexico and North America. Bronze coins, British-1d., 12d., and 1/4d. THE "guinea" got its name from the Coast of Guinea in Africa, whence the "Shilgold for it was first brought. It was first 20s., then 21s. 6d., and finally 21S. ling" and " penny" are both Saxon words, and the penny was first coined in silver. " Farthing" is a corruption of "fourthing," or the fourth of a penny. The average life of a coin is 25 years. The total weight of British money in circulation is about 4750 tons.

British gold coin as fixed by law is 11 parts gold, I part copper; silver is 18 dwts. of copper in the pound. The sterling standard makes the pound troy of gold, consisting as it is properly understood of 22 carats--or 24 parts of pure gold, and 2 of alloy, is divisible into 46 sovereigns plus 14s. 6d. In the case of silver, the pound troy consists of II oz. 2 dwts. of fine silver, and 18 dwts. of alloy, and is capable of being divided into 66s.

The standard gold coin of England consists of 22 parts of pure gold and 2 parts of copper. The pound sterling is represented by a gold coin called a sovereign, and from a pound troy of standard gold are coined 46 sovereigns; so that the weight of each is exactly 5 dwts. 317 grs., or nearly 123.274 grs. The Mint price of standard gold is £3, 175. 101/2d. per oz. The standard silver coin consists of 37 parts of pure silver and 3 parts of copper; and a pound troy of this metal furnishes 66s., so that the weight of a shilling is 3 dwts. 151 grains; and the Mint price of standard silver is 5s. 6d. per oz.

A million sovereigns weigh at standard weight of 123.27447 grs. troy-256,- 821.8298555377 oz. troy, or within a fraction of 7.8618 tons avoirdupois. Eleven millions of sovereigns placed upon one another would reach to the height of 102 miles; if there were stretched on the ground, edge to edge, a band would be 152 miles long.

The word "carat" is the name of the seeds of the Abyssinian carat-flower, which, being very equal in size, were used when weighing gold and precious stones. The "carat " to-day merely signifies the 24th part of the weight of any piece of gold, or alloy of gold. If the piece weighed is all gold, it is said to be 24 carat gold. The coinage is 22 carat fine.

The word "money" is from the temple of Juno, "Moneta," in which money was first coined. "Cash" is from the French "caisse," a chest in which money is kept.

The value of the first Saxon coin which went by the name of a shilling, was fivepence, but it was reduced to fourpence about a century before the conquest. The true English shilling was first coined in 1504.

English pennies are worth, intrinsically, less than a farthing; the silver in a new shilling is worth 103/4d.

The aggregate number of coins in circulation in the United Kingdom is not less than 1,230,000,000. Of these 20,000 are bad sovereigns. The government profits annually about £100,000 in the difference between the face and intrinsic values of its silver coins. Gold wastes 14 per cent. in 16 years' wear; silver from 2 to 5 per cent. in the same time. The annual loss by wear in gold coins is about £48,000. Sea water contains nearly 1 gr. of gold to the ton of water, held in solution by the iodide of calcium. It has also been estimated that the ocean holds in solution at least 2,000,000 tons of silver. 1 Pure gold can be beaten into leaves 280000 of an inch in thickness. In this state it is slightly transparent, and light passing through it has a green color. Gold can be drawn into wire so fine that 550 feet of it will only weigh 1 gr.