The Latin Monetary Union
(Euro's grandma)
In 1865 Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Greece created
The Latin Monetary Union.
The gold and silver coins of these countries had same weight, diameter
and precious metal content and could freely circulate within the other
State members just like it will be with the
Euro on January 1, 2002. The coins had the following characteristics:
Lira, Franc, Drachma, Peseta, Leu....... | weight | % of precious metal | ASW / AGW |
0.5 | 2.5000 g. | 0.835 silver | 0.671 oz |
1 | 5.0000 g. | 0.835 silver | 0.1342 oz |
2 | 10.0000 g. | 0.835 silver | 0.2685 oz |
5 | 25.0000 g. | 0.900 silver | 0.7234 oz |
10 | 3.2258 g. | 0.900 gold | 0.0933 oz |
20 | 6.4516 g. | 0.900 gold | 0.1867 oz |
50 | 16.1290 g. | 0.900 gold | 0.4667 oz |
100 | 32.2580 g. | 0.900 gold | 0.9334 oz |
France, 5 Francs
Belgium, 5 Francs
Italy, 5 Lire
After a while many other countries started minting their coins following
the above standards, although not all of them formally joined the Union:
Spain, Romania, Austria, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Serbia, Montenegro, S. Marino
and the Papal State.
This system based on silver and gold (called bimetallism) created a
fixed exchange rate also with countries whose monetary unit was based on
different standards but nevertheless bound to
gold (gold standard). The exchange rate between different currencies
corresponded to the
exchange rate of the two gold standards. For example, the British pound
was equal to 7.322 g. gold while the monetary unit of the Latin Monetary
Union was equal to 0.29032 g of gold, so one GBP corresponded to 25.22
Lire, Francs, Pesetas, Balboas....while the exchange rate with a US dollar
was equal to 5.18.
The gold standard system came to an end with World War I, while gold
as international money remained until 1971, when Nixon put an end to the
dollar convertibility.
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Bibliography: Cronaca Numismatica n. 97, May 1998
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 2, p. 216 voice "Bimetallism"
World Coins, Krause publications, 2000 ed.