Themiclesian coinage

Themiclesian coinage (化, nhwrar) is manufacturing of money in Themiclesia. Money in Themiclesia evolved from widely-accepted commodities and was heavily influenced by neighbouring cultures. States began regulation of money in the 1st century BCE but did not monopolize it until the 4th century CE. Early money took various forms and materials, including cowrie shells, bronze, silver, and gold, but bronze and gold became the main monetary metals until silver was monetized in the 16th century.  Until the widespread acceptance of representative money, coins of high value were struck in gold and silver, though bronze coins continued to circulate to facilitate small transactions.

History

Cowrie and other commodities

In the protohistoric period, merchants of Maverican, Chikai, and Achahan cultures made references to trading with aboriginal peoples in Themiclesia for their lapis lazuli and turquoise. These gems were sometimes traded by weight or by piece, but cuneiform tablets suggest that they were exchanged by barter. Though lapis lazuli was valued by aboriginal peoples such as the Lithophone culture and Sarcophagus culture, it was not used as a medium of exchange.

In the 15th century BCE, the Sarcophagus culture began accepting gold for lapis lazuli stones, possibly under the influence of the Chikai culture; by the 13th century, gold had become the dominant commodity traded by Achahadian merchants for the stones. However, there is a considerable lack of evidence for the use of gold as a medium of exchange amongst the Sarcophagus culture itself for any good—the gold its members received were nearly always fashioned into ornaments and then used as funerary goods or worn as amulets.

Meng settlers brought with them a monetary practice to Themiclesia. The first writings credited to Meng settlers are inventories and trading records, with evaluations of various goods, such as tools, foods, and gems in terms of cowrie shell money. It appears different types of shells were valued differently as well—"large shells" are mentioned apart from ordinary shells, and those with striation or variegation were separately considered. Caches of seashells, some several thousand in quantity, have been found in tombs dating to the very earliest periods of Meng settlement.

Gold and jade were high-value imports to Themiclesia over the Lapis Road in the 8th through 4th centuries BCE, as evidently the population there had not found domestic deposits.

Bronze moneys

Various bronze objects were used in Themiclesia as money, generally in imitation to Meng practice. Lumps of unfinished ingots (反) were traded as commodities and hoarded as media of exchange. Bronze spades, knives, and axe-heads moneys also circulated by the 5th century BCE. Those articles made as moneys evolved, during the Classical Period, into symbolic representations of their commodity counterparts, being too small, flimsy, or distorted to be useful. On the other hand, these abstractions also tended to become standardized and marked for weight, enabling them to be commesured with moneys in a different shape. Because primitive bronze moneys evolved from cast bronze objects, most Themiclesian bronze coins up to the modern period were cast rather than struck.

In the 3rd century BCE, the first bronze coins appeared, shaped like discs with a hole roughly at its centre. The mintages up to about the Classical Period were evidently cast without a top mould, pouring molten bronze directly into an open receptacle. The side of the coin conforming to the mould generally had a concave topography, while the other side was flat, representing the level surface of the liquid bronze open to the atmosphere. The coin was then finished by forcing an awl through the hole and then filing away the flashing. The finishing process allowed the coins to be adjusted to a particular weight, as they were intentionally too heavy out of the mould.

The first standard bronze coin was the Round Six, which was first minted in 2 in the Tsins area but may have been an imitation of another coin in Sin. This coin was indicated to weigh 36 twa (28.8 g), but actual examples vary between 27.1 and 29.4 g. It was intentionally produced to co-circulate with the most popular bronze money in spade shape at that time. The Round Six had fewer sharp edges and points liable to snapping, which reduced the desirability of the money. It displaced other moneys in Tsins, Sin, and Drings regions over the next century. When the Tsins ruler established a hegemony over all Themiclesia-proper, one of the agreements made by his vassals was to allow the Round Six coin to circulate freely.

Gold coins

The origination of gold coinage in Themiclesia has been attributed to ritualistic practice in the Archaic Period, though lumps of gold have been traded by weight even in the Dark Ages.

The saucer-shaped gold coin is connected to the custom to receive envoys and foreign merchants in the precincts of a temple, as a consencrated space where behaviours are restrained according to certain norms. To the ancient mind, this meant that violence and deception are symbolically frowned upon under the gaze of the gods. At the same time, envoys were also expected to make a gift to the temple in which they were received, to assist in its upkeep or at least defray the host city's costs of the reception. In the Classical Period, an assembly of nobles was invariably called in a temple and conducted like a reception of envoys. The thing given to the temple, the pats (敝), was later standardized to be a gold ingot weighing 1 qik in diplomatic functions; these ingots were presented by Themiclesian envoys to other states as well.

Gold ingot was generalized to commercial activity as they were carried by merchants across cities not only for ritualistic offerings but also as a substitute for large hoards of less valuable coins. Additionally, because not all envoys prepare the gold in advance, there was typically a market for gold ingots, which established a rudimentary exchange rate between gold and circulating bronze coins. In this role, gold ingots retained their prototypical shape as a ritualistic gift, that of a saucer. A smaller gold ingot, in the shape of a bar, was also attested; the bar-gold was later standardized to a quarter the weight of the saucer-gold. In 125, Tsins officially regulated the exchange rate between gold and bronze and stamped the gold coinage as a marker of weight and quality. However, the circulation of gold money was not very general due to the limited quantity of gold available and the fear that small gold pieces were easily lost or worn away.

Under the influence of Hallian coinage, which in turn was influenced by Casaterran coinages, Themiclesia began casting and then overstriking disc-shaped gold coins in 782. The resulting coin was the Polaris, which saw circulation as far as Meridia and Casaterra due to its stable weight (19.2 g) and fineness of 23 carats. The early Polaris mintages retain a vaguely saucer-like shape but quickly became flat for convenience. These gold coins were minted largely from the gold imported from Maracaibo, where it was undervalued and traded for Themiclesian textiles and manufactured goods. While the early trade was dominated by aristocrats and military necessity due to the scale and duration of the undertaking and associated dangers, a century later private ships were the main parties in the Meridian trade.

After the Polaris, the Double Polaris and Twelve Mace gold pieces were introduced, though neither saw as wide circulation as the Polaris coin itself. Many Polaris coins were obtained by pirates, and from Hallia the coins were traded with Casaterrans. The coin has been found as far as Sylva and the continent of Vinya. Some numismatists consider the Polaris an international currency in the medieval period. In Themiclesia itself, the Polaris was widely accepted and simply called "gold" and no longer denominated by weight; thus, "52 gold" would mean 52 Polaris coins.

Silver coins

Silver was traded as bullion in Themiclesia prior to monetization, but its principal uses were as jewellery.

Around 1500 or slightly earlier, Themiclesian merchants began trading with Sylvans in northern Meridia. Due to the long-time importation of gold to Themiclesia, the exchange rate with silver was skewed in the latter's favour compared to the international standard. Around 800, the gold-silver ratio was between 1:8 and 1:10, whereas it was closer to 1:15 internationally. Undervalued gold was rapidly exported from Themiclesia as merchants rushed to trade with the Sylvans, who used silver coinage and were viable competitors with the Hallians in the Eastern Hemisphere. The balance of trade was not restored until the gold-silver ratio approached the international norm. The government also unilaterally declared that it would reduce the price of silver, though it was not able to make good on this promise until the Themiclesian dollar (below) was produced in significant quantities.

Fearing the rapid exportation of gold, the government first tried to ban trade with Sylvan merchants outright, but this was flouted and the government only stood to lose revenue to the black market it created. The merchants, in particular, balked at the policy as it effectively gave a commercial monopoly to the Hallians. Then, a ban on the importation of silver was enacted in 1514, seeking to force Sylvans to trade in gold and at a disadvantage, but neither did this become effective. A new source of silver was found and monetized in 1551, but by this point between 30 – 50% of Themiclesian gold had been exported. To ensure that Themiclesian merchants would readily trade in silver rather than gold, the new silver coin was minted in the internationally-accepted shape and weight to imitate the Sylvan dollar. Early mintages were even undervalued slightly (about ​¹⁄₁₂₈) to enhance their desirability.

The Themiclesian silver dollar circulated alongside the gold Polaris in the Meridian trade. It was accepted more readily than the Polaris, which was suceptible to counterfeiting and reduced desirability from wear.

See also

• Themiclesia