Silver, Society and Coinage - An Article on the History of Silver

Used for coinage since 600 B.C., contained in all photographic paper, and a lot of the Jewelry you buy today has some in it. You may ask what this would be. I am talking about Silver. Silver is a commodity that has found a home in many homes and banks for many years. Yeah, I have silver in my jewelry box but what else is silver used for? Silver has many uses. The main use of silver from 600 B.C. was for coinage. Many other uses have been used over the years like silverware, tea kettles and tea sets, photographic paper and film, and jewelry. I am going to talk about basic facts and information about silver and uses of silver, but more prominently about the coinage and economic factors of silver.

Man first learned how to separate silver from its surrounding ores around 3000 B.C. Argentite (Ag₂S), horn silver (AgCl), lead, lead-zinc, copper, gold, and copper-nickel ores are main ores that silver is extracted from. Silver was first discovered in the land of the Hittites, which is current day turkey. Atomic symbol of Silver is Ag, melting point is 961.78^C, and the boiling point is 2162^C. As of today Mexico, Canada, and Peru are the main silver producers. Commercial fine silver, as used in jewelry or coinage is 99.9% silver. Silver has a white metallic luster, is harder than gold, very malleable and ductile, has the highest thermal and electrical conductivity compared other metals, and has the lowest contact resistance. Silver is stable in 0₂ and H₂0, but will tarnish when exposed to ozone (0₃), air containing sulfur, and Hydrogen Sulfide (H₂S). Silver alone is not toxic but most silver salts are toxic. Some basic uses of silver are jewelry, coinage, silverware, and photography (30% of US silver production is used for Photography.)

Silver can be hammered down so thin that it would take 100,000 sheets to make 1 inch thick, this makes silver very good for covering items with silver. Also the malleability and luster of silver make it perfect for decorating useable items that include porringers, tea kettles, spoons, decorative statues, and mirrors. Silver has been used for coinage for many years, starting with the Lydians and continuing till current day.

The Lydians were the first to use a silver coin in their barter system, before this time there was no money as we speak of it today. The silver used to make their coins came from were producing so much silver that their capital city was named "Silver" in their language. The Lydians traded one article for another before coins were used, then when silver coins were implemented; the silver coins were worth their weight in silver. After the Greeks saw how well this was working for the Lydians they decided to make use of this system their selves, with rich silver mines in the mountains near Athens they began to start making coins like the Lydians. These silver mines around Athens were called the "fountain running silver" by a Greek playwright because of the abundance of silver in the mines. Athens was given an edge within the Greek cities because of their abundance of silver for coins and other uses. This is shown when the powerful Persian king Xerxes invaded Greece in 480 B.C. Xerxes personal guard had spears, shields, and bows decorated with silver. The city of Athens used the silver to fund the construction of over 200 ships to help the fight with the Persians. While on land Xerxes was able to take control of Athens, the fleet of ships that Athens had made destroyed Xerxes fleet in a large sea battle known as the battle of Salamis. This cut Xerxes off from reinforcements and made him retreat; this also made Athens a major sea power in the process. Athens' power was based on its coins and silver mines it had acquired. Athens lost its power when the silver mine slaves revolted and joined Athens rival Sparta. This drove Athens into a state of almost bankrupt, making them go to the extent as to use copper coins. About 40 years later Athens regained control of the mines and once again became rich and powerful. By 310 B.C. Athens had exhausted all the mines and they were running dry. New enemies were a threat to the Greek cities but there was no more money to protect themselves so Greece called upon the Romans for help, Rome demanded 100,000 silver coins for helping the Greeks and that left the Greeks with no money which lead to Greece falling to Roman rule.

The Romans did not spend their silver coins very well; the wealthy of the society had polished silver used as mirrors, while wearing silver necklaces and earrings. Parties included relaxing on couches made of silver and wood and drinking wine out of silver goblets or wine glasses. If you were rich enough in Rome you could buy just about anything you can imagine. Tigers to fight in the arena, silk from china, or maybe pearls from India were some of the things you could by in the Roman markets. Rome did not spend their silver very well and this lead to a shortage of silver, the silver mines ran dry, this is what led to the desperation of the government recalling all coins, melting them down and adding other metals to make the coins have less silver in them. Because of this the citizens were demanded to pay all their taxes in gold or goods because of how little silver was in the coins now. Inability to handle gold and silver in a civilized way was what weakened Rome and let it succumb to barbarian tribes in 410 A.D.

The fall of the Roman Empire left Europe without silver for some time, silver was not mined for a long time in Europe after the downfall of Rome. One German king had his silver coins recalled his silver coins 3 times a year to be melted down and less and less silver was put in his silver coins. At the end of his rule the coins that were once silver coins were made of barely any silver at all. Different districts in Europe had different coins, different coins for each different king, this made trade even harder since if you brought coins from district A to trade in district B they were worth almost nothing at all to district B. Trade in general came to a crashing halt. Money was so worthless that people started making their own clothes and growing their own food. Two factors lead to the revitalization of Europe's economy, first new mines were discovered in Germany, and most importantly in 1192 the ruler of Venice, the doge, invented a new coin. He started using a standard coin he called a groat. The groat contained exactly two grams of silver. The amount of silver in each coin was always two grams. This coin caught on so well and was so reliable that it became the most popular coin in Europe. The English continued this legacy and set up silver coins that were called sterling, this is where sterling silver came from, which is equivalent to 92.5% silver and the rest is comprised of other ores, copper was most common of the ores.

The standardization of coins, setting up a base for a striving culture meant that they still needed more silver. If Europe was to exhaust its silver mines where was it to go? That is where the New World comes into play. The Spanish were the first to explore the New World in search of Gold and Silver. 1517 was when the first Spanish ship was blown off course and the Spanish were exposed to the Aztecs, it was not till two years later till Hernando Cortes made his way to what is now known today as Mexico. Montezuma sent presents of gold and silver to Cortez hoping that it would scare them from attacking someone so rich but it just fueled their greed. The Spanish took over the Aztecs and used them as slaves in their own silver mines to gather silver ore for the Spanish. After the Spanish had exhausted all silver in the mines of Mexico they had heard rumors of the Incas which were in what is now known as Peru in South America. Atahualpa the leader of the Incas was captured and sentenced to death by the Spanish, this lead to the Spanish claiming the entire Incan kingdom as their own. After the gold and silver were extracted from the mines in Aztec and Incan kingdoms it was shipped by llamas or mules to the coast where the Spanish had set up small ports that would ship the gold and silver to current day Cuba. Giant Spanish galleons came twice a year to ship the gold and silver back to Spain.

The Spanish didn't have this so easy as it sounds though; on their way to Cuba there were many attacks by pirates who were captains from England, Holland, and France. September of 1628 was when one of the biggest pirate raids took place. The Spanish were getting ready to leave Cuba for Spain, the fleet of treasure ships was protected by heavily armed men-o-war when 31 pirate ships drove them into a bay and not a single Spanish ship survived. The Dutch were the culprits and profited from this attack. At this time period other European countries were jealous of the Spanish silver and gold. European countries gave their captains permission to raid and loot the Spanish. The influx of silver to European countries led to the inflation of silver and gold in Europe which threw off the economy for some time.

In 1792 President Washington signed a law that established the first United States mint. This was the first of coinage in the U.S. Around 1793-1794 the first silver coins were minted in the U.S. Silver coinage has been a big part of our economy throughout the years and including today. Though the latest coins that included silver in circulation were the quarters minted in 1964 we have proof mint sets that are made every year that come in silver editions. These silver editions are not circulated but are left more for the coin collectors today. The Australian 1966 fifty cent piece was the most recent coin in circulation to contain silver which was made up of 80% silver and 20% copper. Mexico is the only exception of this which still uses silver in their circulating coinage.

Silver coinage, could you say that it is the backbone of our society? Coinage and economic factors are one problem all together. You could say that silver has been the rise and fall of nations. Look at Athens, Greece, a city that saved itself from imminent defeat by building an armada of 200 ships and defeating Xerxes in the water, becoming one of the biggest sea powers, and then running dry on silver having to turn to copper coins and finally the Roman Empire takes over because they can't take care of themselves. This leads to the Romans blowing their silver and being taken over by barbarians. Europe's trade stops all together because of lack of silver until the groat is invented which starts trade again. Just from looking from the beginning to end. The Greeks rose and fell by silver, the Romans rose to power because of the Greeks ran dry of silver. This leads to Rome falling because they had no more silver either. Now that we have more at our disposal we have phased out silver in our coinage but we have just replaced it with copper, nickel, and paper. As day by day Europe says that our money is getting more worthless to them. Is this something that has happened in the past? 3 dollars a gallon for gas, 7 dollars a pound for CHEESE, when is it that our money will be worth nothing, we will be getting paid too little to live off of and will have to just start living on our own in the woods. I think that this problem is very close if we do not keep the economy going strait. Maybe we need to find a new "silver" mine where we can refresh our economy. I say that we try to avoid the mistakes from the past, and work foreward to a better future where we don't let a commodity control our stability in the world. Can you call money a commodity? I think you can. Silver the rise and fall of nations, the death of societies. Don't let that society be us!

Works Cited

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Chemistry, Operations. "Silver." Silver. 15 Dec. 2003. University of California. 26 Apr. 2007 .

Goldsborough, Reid. "World's First Coin - Lydian Trite." The Lydian Lion. 30 Apr. 2007 .

Holt, Frank L. "Saudi Aramco World: a History in Silver and Gold." A History in Silver and Gold. 1994. Aramco Services Company. 1 May 2007 .

"Silver Factsheet." The Uses of Silver. Geocience Australia. 28 Apr. 2007 .

Wyler, Seymour B. The Book of Old Silver. 8th ed. New York: Crown, 1937. 1-447.