Buying value of ancient coins

One of the fun things about ancient coins is trying to figure out how
much buying power they had at the time. There's some documentation in
ancient literature, including the Bible, about this, but not a great
deal.

Both Aristotle and Demosthenes, writing in the late fourth century BC
(during the time of Alexander the Great), indicated that subsistence
was 2 obols per day. Therefore, a tetradrachm had the value of about
12 days' subsistence, or about two weeks, and a stater about 60 days,
or two months.

The New Testament mentions that a denarius was a day's wages for a
laborer in the time of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, who ruled
from 27 BC to 14 AD.

There are other ancient references too.

Numismatists today have written about this as well. Writing
separately, both Martin Price and Wayne Sayles have said that a Greek
drachm was worth the equivalent of one day's wages of a common laborer
in ancient Greece, meaning a tetradrachm was worth four days' wages
and a stater twenty days' wages.

When I think of a tetradrachm, I think of it as being worth in ancient
times the equivalent of about $200 of buying power today. Ironically,
this is about how much they often go for today as collectable coins.

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Reid Goldsborough wrote:
One of the fun things about ancient coins is trying to figure out how
much buying power they had at the time. There's some documentation in
ancient literature, including the Bible, about this, but not a great
deal.

Actually, there are many numismatic and economic citations in the
Bible. You should spend more time with the Bible.

Both Aristotle and Demosthenes, ... indicated that subsistence
was 2 obols per day. Therefore, a tetradrachm had the value of about
12 days' subsistence, or about two weeks, and a stater about 60 days,
or two months.

By the word "stater" you mean a GOLD coin weighing about 6 or 7 grams.
The "stater" was generally considered the standard SILVER coin of the
ancient world and was called by that name. (It appears in the Bible
because the stater or two denarii or half a tetradrachm or the SHEKEL
was the required Temple Tribute. Payment to the Temple in silver
shekels of Tyre necessitated money changers in the Temple. There is a
story about that in the Bible.) Since coin names were names of
weights, "gold staters," etc., appear in the literature. Generally,
however, the "stater" was the "didrachm," a silver coin.

The New Testament mentions that a denarius was a day's wages ...
from 27 BC to 14 AD.

Clearly, there was a constant inflation in the stock of money. In
Athens in the early fifth century BC, the assembly paid itself what
they paid themselves to go into the field as warriors: an obol a day.
By the end of the century, they were paying themselves a drachm,
perhaps more a reflection on the pitfalls of democracy than of the
efficiency of the slaves at Laurion.

... both Martin Price and Wayne Sayles have said that a Greek
drachm was worth the equivalent of one day's wages of a common laborer
in ancient Greece ...

Subject, of course, to differences, in time and place, this is
generally correct for the classial and hellenistic eras and lands.
When coinage was invented, an obol a day was more common where coins
were first made. It is dangerous to generalize broadly across the
centuries and continents.

When I think of a tetradrachm, I think of it as being worth in ancient
times the equivalent of about $200 of buying power today. Ironically,
this is about how much they often go for today as collectable coins.

That _is_ the interesting fact here. Money maintains its value. (On
a related "note" I find it curious that the devalued and discredited
paper money of a failed economy can bring more in today's coin dealer
junkbox than it did when it was issued.) However, over all, relative
"worth" is difficult to assess. Comparing "a day's wages" helps us
conceptualize the cultural context of the coinage. Even so, the days
were long and hard, and no amount of money could have bought a
basketball. So, relative worth is, well, "relative."

Nonetheless, this is an interesting topic, you might even say
"fascinating."

Michael
ANA R-162953

On 21 Jul 2004 17:16:19 -0700, (Michael E.
Marotta) wrote:

Actually, there are many numismatic and economic citations in the
Bible. You should spend more time with the Bible.

Stop proselytizing. You should spend more time with the Tao Te Ching.

By the word "stater" you mean a GOLD coin weighing about 6 or 7 grams.
The "stater" was generally considered the standard SILVER coin of the
ancient world and was called by that name. (It appears in the Bible
because the stater or two denarii or half a tetradrachm or the SHEKEL
was the required Temple Tribute. Payment to the Temple in silver
shekels of Tyre necessitated money changers in the Temple. There is a
story about that in the Bible.) Since coin names were names of
weights, "gold staters," etc., appear in the literature. Generally,
however, the "stater" was the "didrachm," a silver coin

Actually, this isn't true. The word "stater" was never used in ancient
times. Stater is a modern word that just means "standard." A stater
was the standard denomination of a city-state, the coin from which the
city-state's other denominations sprang. A stater could be either gold
or silver.

When I think of a tetradrachm, I think of it as being worth in ancient
times the equivalent of about $200 of buying power today. Ironically,
this is about how much they often go for today as collectable coins.

That _is_ the interesting fact here. Money maintains its value.

It is interesting, but not because money maintains its value. These
tetradrachms had value in ancient times because of the intrinsic value
of silver. They weren't fiat money, as coinage (and paper money) is
today. So the value of a tetradrachm today, the $200 I spoke of
earlier, is its value as a collectible, not its value as money. The
silver bullion in an ancient Greek tetradrachm, weighing about 17
grams, has the value today of about $3.85.

Nonetheless, this is an interesting topic, you might even say
"fascinating."

On this, we agree.

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