A moneyer is a private individual who is officially permitted to mint
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
. Usually the rights to coin money are bestowed as a
concession by a state or government. Moneyers have a long tradition, dating back at least to
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
. They became most prominent in the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
, and continued into the
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
. In Rome the position of
Triumvir Monetalis
The ''triumvir monetalis'' ( ''tresviri'' or ''triumviri monetales'', also called the , abbreviated IIIVIR A. A. A. F. F.) was a moneyer during the Roman Republic and the Empire, who oversaw the minting of coins. In that role, he would be respons ...
, held by three people at a time, was a minor magistracy awarded by the Senate, often the first office held by a young politician.
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
is one famous example;
John Hull is another with his founding of the Hull Mint for the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Moneyers were not limited to the ancient world. When European coinage was revived during the Middle Ages, moneyers again were trusted to create currency on behalf of kings and potentates. For a large part of that era, virtually all coins in circulation were silver pennies, and these often bore the name or other identification of the moneyer.
[Grierson et al. 2007]
See also
*
Roman currency
**
List of Roman moneyers during the Republic
During the Roman Republic, moneyers were called ''tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo'', literally "three men for casting (and) striking bronze, silver (and) gold (coins)". This was a board of the college of the ''vigintiviri'', or Board ...
*
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
*
Roman Republican coinage
Roman Republican currency refers to the coinage struck by the various magistrates of the Roman Republic, to be used as legal tender. In modern times, the abbreviation RRC, "Roman Republican Coinage" originally the name of a reference work on the t ...
*
Vigintisexviri
__NOTOC__The ''vigintisexviri'' ( ''vigintisexvir''; ) were a college ( ''collegium'') of minor magistrates (''magistratus minores'') in the Roman Republic. The college consisted of six boards:
* the ''decemviri stlitibus judicandis'' – 1 ...
Notes
Further reading
*Harlan, Michael (1995). ''Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 63 BC-49 BC'', Trafalgar Square Publishing.
*Harlan, Michael (2012). ''Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 81 BCE-64 BCE'', Moneta Publications.
*Sear, David R. (1998). ''The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 49-27 B.C.'', Spink & Son.
External links
Hollander, David B (2003). The Management of the Mint in the Late Roman Republic''Eligivs''. A prosopography of the mint workers{{in lang, it
* https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/MAMintDocs.studies.html
Numismatics
Directors of coin mints
*
Production of coins