Spink Books Money That Changed the World: A History of Gold Coins and Gold Currencies

Half of the gold that the Allied powers recovered from Nazi Germany's looting of European central banks took the form of gold coins from the classical era of the gold standard, the period leading up to the First World War. The lions share of all the gold in the world has, at one point or another, ended up in mints to be worked for emperors, kings, nobility, ecclesiastical magnates, republics and private proprietors. In this book, the history of gold coinage and currencies is outlined, from the city states of ancient civilisation in Asia Minor in the seventh century BC, to the globalisation of trade and rise of powerful states in the modern world. Gold coinages and gold currencies have been one of the building blocks of human societies: intrinsic to urbanisation, state formation, the development of commerce and the prosecution of war. They have captured artistic imaginations; for over 2,500 years power, glory and beauty provide the backdrop for gold as a monetary phenomenon. Svein H. Gullbekk is Professor of Numismatics at the Museum of Cultural History, Oslo University. He has published several books and articles on numismatics, and the history of money as well as a series of books for the general public. He is currently leading an international research project on Religion and Money: Economy of Salvation in the Middle Ages funded by the Norwegian Research Council.