Debasement: Manipulation of Coin Standards in Pre-Modern Monetary Systems, ed. Kevin Butcher

Abstract

This volume brings together essays by leading experts in pre-modern monetary history. While the contributions concern the period from the Hellenistic empires to the eighteenth century and countries as diverse as ancient Egypt and early modern Ireland, most are about ancient history. Methodologically, they are also diverse: some chapters draw on metallurgical analyses of coins themselves, others on the classical tool kit of the historian who focuses on the critical approach to textual sources. The same applies to the aims and outlook of the authors, some of whom are primarily economic historians concerned with the economic context and consequences of debasement, whereas others are numismatists whose focus is more on determining the characteristics of the coins in question, that is, on answering questions about their provenance, composition, etc. Despite all this, the volume appears to a large extent as a coherent whole, with its individual parts being tied together by...